According to a Forbes report, the Milwaukee Bucks are among the many teams that Kentucky sophomore Immanuel Quickley has met with ahead of the 2020 NBA Draft.
Now less than a month away from the 2020 NBA Draft, the Milwaukee Bucks will remain on the clock with the 24th overall pick.
There are a number of directions in which the Bucks can go in to find a player that can help them or avoid making the selection entirely. While those questions remain, links between the Bucks and various draft prospects continue to trickle out little by little.
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The latest revolves around Kentucky sharpshooter Immanuel Quickley. According to Adam Zagoria of Forbes, the Bucks are among the many teams that the Kentucky sophomore has met with over the extended pre-draft process:
"“The 6-foot-4, 190-pound Quickley has met twice virtually with the Knicks, Pistons and Thunder, according to his longtime trainer Jide Sodipo. The Knicks pick at 8, 27 and 38, the Pistons at 7 and the Thunder at 25 and 53.Quickley has also met with a slew of teams once — the Nets, Celtics, Heat, Lakers, Clippers, Hawks, Jazz, Bucks, Magic, Suns and Pelicans. Multiple mock drafts have the Maryland native projected as a late second-round pick.”"
While there’s no shortage of teams that have inquired about Quickley ahead of next month’s draft, the Milwaukee Bucks’ interest in the 21-year-old isn’t surprising, given his skill set.
Quickley profiles as a lights out 3-point shooter that is equally capable of hitting shots both off the catch as well as moving off the ball to take advantage of lapses by opposing defenses.
In his 30 appearances for the Wildcats this season, Quickley averaged 16.1 points on .417/.428/.923 shooting splits, 4.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 0.9 steals over 33 minutes per game. For that production as well as the Wildcats’ success, Quickley was named the 2020 SEC Player of the Year and earned a first team All-SEC selection.
What may be interesting to some is the fact that Quickley has been primarily viewed as a second round pick in this draft. ESPN currently ranks Quickley 52nd on their top-100 board while The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie ($$) ranks Quickley 41st on his most recent Big Board.
Of course, the Bucks currently don’t have a second round pick in next month’s draft and they haven’t had a second round pick for the last two drafts. That is always subject to change, but there are certainly some financial hurdles that loom over why one why shouldn’t just assume the Bucks will trade into the second round of the draft.
Still, this is certainly the case of the Bucks, led by general manager Jon Horst, doing their due diligence and learning more about Quickley. With the pre-draft process having being extended for this long, that has given the Bucks and all 29 other NBA teams ample enough time to meet with a number of prospects in this class, even those who may not necessarily be within their range.
The fact that the former Wildcat provides and hit the very boxes that are among the biggest needs the Bucks need to address this offseason adds some intrigue to this report.
Milwaukee having an interest in one of the best shooters in this draft class shouldn’t come as surprise, but it certainly will be one if Quickley does eventually come to Milwaukee come November 18.