Milwaukee Bucks: 3 biggest hurdles for making a Chris Paul trade

Milwaukee Bucks: 3 biggest hurdles for making a Chris Paul trade – The financial impact

To kick this all off, let’s dive into the most significant hurdle in the Bucks trying to build a package for Paul.

Simply trying to absorb Paul’s $41.3 million salary for next season requires the Bucks to send out any and all expendable salary they have on their books. That applies to guaranteeing the $7 million Ersan Ilyasova is owed for next season as well as Robin Lopez’s expiring $5 million salary, provided he picks up his player option for next season.

A trade package like Eric Bledsoe, George Hill, Ilyasova, Lopez and D.J. Wilson would theoretically send the Bucks over the line for a deal. That is far from a wholly appetizing offer from Oklahoma City’s perspective, though, and it goes without saying that sending draft compensation and swapping filler with Donte DiVincenzo would whet their appetite in that regard.

Even so, gutting the Bucks’ roster down to the bone under this scenario would leave them with as many as 11 roster spots to fill. On top of that, keeping a core of Antetokounmpo, Paul, Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez and their combined salary of $114.6 million would near the projected cap projection of $115 million that ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported back in January.

Of course, that surfaced in a pre-coronavirus pandemic world, but the point of limited flexibility and resources that will be available to the Bucks this offseason still remains.

Even as Bucks ownership has pledged to their leading star that they will go into the luxury tax next season, the question of how much they will go into the tax will surely be tested under any scenario that they would trade for Paul.