Milwaukee Bucks: Standing pat at trade deadline could be the right call

Cons of an all-in deal

The risks in making an all-in trade, though, could be massive, especially when we look at the long-term picture.

Any of the names that are being floated out there as being available will carry a cost with them, namely young/controllable assets. Milwaukee already lacks these.

The only first-round pick they control for the next three seasons, is the Indiana pick from the Malcolm Brogdon sign-and-trade, which will likely convey in this coming draft. Donte DiVincenzo is Milwaukee’s only player on a rookie scale contract who has any kind of serious value to the team. D.J. Wilson is essentially iced out of the team at the moment, and Sterling Brown finds himself in a similar spot ahead of a summer where he’s set to become a restricted free agent. That leaves the Bucks in an already difficult spot long-term.

Milwaukee also lacks cap space to do much of anything until the summer of 2022, which is the same summer that Giannis Antetokoumpo could become an unrestricted free agent, if he was to opt against a supermax extension. And if Antetokounmpo was to sign an extension next summer, as all Bucks fans hope, Milwaukee’s total salary would only soar even higher.

Thus, the Bucks will not be able to turn to free agency to do anything other than make signings around the edges of the team on extremely cheap contracts, much like they’ve done the past two summers with Pat Connaughton, Wesley Matthews, and others.

Making an “all-in” move would complicate this already difficult financial and personnel situation even more. It could put the Bucks in the kind of untenable situation that’s unraveled others in the not so distant past. LeBron James’ two stints in Cleveland are the perfect example of where these kinds of moves can backfire, even if they pay off in the short-term. It’s very difficult to keep a team at the top of the league on a year-to-year basis. Given Giannis’ age, sustained success is a possibility for the Bucks if they can navigate the next few years intelligently.

Another risk of making an all-in move like is that it could disturb the amazing chemistry this team has built so far. One of the best things the Bucks have going for them, over the other top contenders this season, is that the core of their team is essentially unchanged from a season ago. The trust and understanding that these players have built up, not just from last season, but throughout this one, is a MAJOR reason why they’ve blowing teams out of the water on a nightly basis.

Any move they make at this juncture, that changes that dynamic in any significant way, could unsettle this dynamic. As Bill Simmons has argued in his Book of Basketball 2.0 podcast, having a team with great chemistry with players who understand what their roles are, and who are willing to make sacrifices for the betterment of the whole, is the secret to winning titles. Should the Bucks really make a move that could endanger their special chemistry?

Going “all-in” also fails to bring any certainty with it that it will actually improve your title odds. Yes, it may make the Bucks slightly more likely to win, but as we saw with Golden State last season, having all the talent in the world doesn’t matter if unforeseen trouble pops up. There’s a lot of variables that can derail your run.

One final argument against making a trade like this is that this deadline simply lacks the kind of talent that could be the “missing link” for the Bucks. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski recently reported that not many “front-line, significant players” appear to be on the market right now. You don’t make a trade just for the sake of making one.

The Bucks should certainly explore all of their options in the coming weeks in their pursuit of a title. However, they should seriously consider avoiding any kind of deal that could endanger their short-term and long-term ability to compete. Making a move of that sort, if it were to fail, could be what leads to Giannis leaving a few years from now. It’s worth remembering that getting him to sign a new deal is one thing, but the ability to keep him happy throughout his next deal should not be overlooked.

For the Bucks, it’s not worth doing anything that will reduce future flexibility without improving their already commanding position in the championship stakes.