Milwaukee Bucks: Trading Eric Bledsoe for a clear upgrade will be difficult

The Milwaukee Bucks may like to trade Eric Bledsoe this offseason, but building a package to land a clear upgrade will be challenging.

With the Milwaukee Bucks‘ season already at an end, the focus has immediately shifted to what the team can do to prevent a repeat disappoint for the third consecutive season next year.

Among the earliest reports to emerge in the aftermath of losing to the Heat, it seems apparent that Giannis Antetokounmpo will not be traded, Coach Mike Budenholzer will remain in his job, and that the biggest potential change could be the Bucks’ intent to trade away Eric Bledsoe.

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Bledsoe is a very good point guard who has been a driving force in Milwaukee’s leveling up over the past few seasons, and he’s now also a two-time All-Defensive Team member to show for it. But his postseason woes are well-documented at this point, and Bledsoe didn’t really do much to change that narrative over the past month or so.

Given just how high the stakes of playoff basketball are for the Bucks as they try to capitalize on the window of title contention currently at their disposal, those continued issues make Bledsoe’s significant role in the team virtually untenable. It’s not tough to understand why the Bucks may have finally reached the point of enough is enough.

But what exactly does the next step look like, and who could the Bucks get to replace Bledsoe and rid them of those concerns for good.

The name that’s been most readily floated so far is that of future Hall of Famer Chris Paul. There’s no doubt that Paul would make for a clear upgrade, but the Bucks’ ability to make a deal work is questionable to say the least.

With Chris Paul owed $41.3 million for next season compared to just $16.8 for Bledsoe, the Bucks have a lot of salary to fill just to make a deal work that would, in principle, be centered around swapping those two point guards.

The easiest route would be to package Khris Middleton with Bledsoe, but that would obviously defeat the purpose of making such a deal in the first place.

An alternative route may require Ersan Ilyasova’s contract to be guaranteed for next season, and Robin Lopez to pick up his player option, only for Ilyasova and RoLo to also be bundled with Bledsoe, George Hill, and D.J. Wilson.

A deal of that nature would likely require notable future draft compensation to be sent to the Thunder too, and in moving Hill it would also see the Bucks need to part with another of their most valuable rotation pieces. For as much as it would provide a clear and important upgrade in the starting lineup, it would decimate the Bucks’ already wafer thin guard depth, which wouldn’t become a smaller issue when the incoming starter is set to enter an age 36 season.

Beyond that, there’s simply no guarantee that the Thunder would have interest in such a deal for Paul. It’s entirely possible they could receive offers that provide better players in return, and better draft picks.

This is an issue the Bucks would have with other top tier point guard targets too, albeit to a lesser extent. The relatively modest contract extension that Bledsoe agreed to actually begins to work against the Bucks for salary matching purposes in the trade market.

Someone like Jrue Holiday would seem like a more realistic trade target, but then it remains to be seen whether the Pelicans will be willing to entertain that prospect to begin with.

It seems highly likely that one way or another, Bledsoe’s time with the Bucks may come to an end this offseason. But for all that Milwaukee may intend on fishing for star replacements, their current cap situation, contract mix, and a general lack of assets they’d be eager to move will make that a difficult process.

It’s for that reason that fans shouldn’t be surprised if an eventual Bledsoe deal ends up equating to a net gain rather than an immediate and obvious point guard upgrade.

Considering how the Bucks’ depth was shown up in the postseason, a deal for Bledsoe that offered Milwaukee a reliable point guard with a more dynamic offensive skill-set, along with a couple of additional solid depth pieces at other spots across the roster, should and could well be of interest.

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What constitutes a good and realistic trade return in moving on from Eric Bledsoe is not a simple proposition. The Bucks will have to get creative to find a positive solution, but they’ll also need to entertain deals that constitute an overall gain rather than a simple point guard upgrade.

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