Milwaukee Bucks: Grading their 2019 offseason
By Dan Larsen
Malcolm Brogdon Traded to Indiana for Draft Picks
With Lopez and Middleton back in the fold, all eyes turned to restricted free agent Malcolm Brogdon.
The Indiana Pacers signed Malcolm Brogdon to an offer sheet of four years, $85 million. With the Bucks unwilling to match that offer, and the Pacers eager to strike a deal to land their guy, both sides worked out a sign-and-trade deal that sent Brogdon to the Pacers in exchange for a future first-rounder, and two second-round picks. The former is, according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe, lottery protected through 2025.
One book-keeping note that I don't think is out yet: the first-round pick Indiana sent to Milwaukee in the Malcolm Brogdon sign-and-trade is lottery-protected from 2020-2025 (six drafts!) and then unprotected in 2026, sources say.
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) July 2, 2019
Doing a sign-and-trade deal came as a surprise to many. Brogdon was coming off a season where he had become just the eighth player in the history of the league to have a 50-40-90 season. Like Lopez, Brogdon’s skill-set on both ends of the court made him a seemingly perfect fit to play in Milwaukee’s system. He was also Milwaukee’s second best performer in their Eastern Conference Finals series against the Toronto Raptors.
Allowing Malcolm Brogdon to leave could be a mistake. I outlined shortly after the trade why that could be. Though the subsequent moves Milwaukee made could pan out next year (we’ll discuss those moves in a minute), and the cap space and picks they have moving forward could be really helpful to them too, trading him was a very risky move.