As we reacquaint ourselves with this year’s NBA Draft, which is set to take place next month, the Milwaukee Bucks would benefit with holding on to their pick.
The topic of conversation that the Milwaukee Bucks are at a crossroads this offseason aren’t exaggerated.
After their playoff woes against the Miami Heat that saw the Bucks get bounced out of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, their future rests firmly in the hands of superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo. As much as we focus on their long-term prospects, the Bucks’ present is in need of touching up after their championship-or-bust season ended up in the latter category.
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Of course, one avenue for the Bucks to improve upon their outlook this offseason comes by way of next month’s NBA Draft where they hold the 24th overall pick, which they acquired via the Indiana Pacers last summer.
The Bucks bowed out of last year’s draft when they traded the 30th overall pick, along with Tony Snell, to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Jon Leuer in a move that was designed to open up more flexibility with the number of free agents they had to retain after a 60-win season and a run to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Now in the face of their latest and greatest playoff disappointment in recent memory, a similar set of circumstances face the Bucks as they try to reload and reconfigure their foundation in order to improve their bid for an NBA title next season.
And with it, the Milwaukee Bucks’ lone draft pick this year looks to be hanging in the balance as they reportedly look for upgrades to their roster.
It’s understandable why the Bucks may be left no choice than to deal away the 24th overall pick as they suss out the trade market as its due to decisions made to where their chest of draft assets is as depleted as it currently is.
Case in point, the Bucks’ pick for this year’s draft, the 30th overall selection, was dealt away in the Eric Bledsoe deal and now sits in the hands of the Boston Celtics. Thankfully, the Bucks currently own their first round selection for next year’s draft, but their next three first round selections are currently in limbo to the Cleveland Cavaliers as a result of protections that came about in the George Hill trade.
Projecting that far into the future of when the Bucks will restock up their draft capital is not only hard, but who knows what even the Bucks look like a year from now, given the uncertainty around Antetokounmpo.
Of course, this is where the Stepien rule looms large in this regard as NBA teams can’t trade their first round pick in consecutive years. But because the Bucks acquired their current pick through Indiana as part of the Malcolm Brogdon sign-and-trade deal, that affords them to part with it and potentially sweeten up a trade package for a veteran player that helps them contend for an NBA title year.
The ultimate counterpoint or question to that is could the Bucks find a player that checks those boxes through the draft this year?
After all, the Bucks’ internal development within their established foundation has flat-out eroded over the last year, with Donte DiVincenzo being the exception to that rule. The Bucks have recently taken on flyers such as Dragan Bender and Christian Wood in hopes of hitting paydirt, but those pursuits haven’t benefited the Bucks in that regard so far.
There’s no question that the Bucks under general manager Jon Horst will continue to take on development projects as a way of building up the back end of their roster and eventually landing on a gem that could break through the team’s rotation. But until that happens, it’s hard to prove and say that will be a viable route to build up their team moving forward.
That all brings us back to why the Bucks might be served to pushing through and keeping their pick in hopes of landing on a contributor that can help them now and in the future. That may be hard to do with a draft class that’s as unpredictable to project as this one has regularly been referred to.
Again, we’ll start to reacquaint ourselves with this draft class and players that could help the Bucks now and in the future. All that is required is to hold on to their draft selection to do so.