With the Milwaukee Bucks involved in a slew of trade rumors, it is time to play pass or pursue with some intriguing targets linked with the team.
The Milwaukee Bucks will likely be going through some major roster reconstruction when the NBA lifts its trade moratorium on November 16th.
With trade talks heating up across the league, fans anxiously await to see what is in store as the Bucks gear up for a title-or-bust run in 2020-21. In the months building up this, Milwaukee has been mentioned in a handful of trade rumors involving some intriguing candidates, while others not so much.
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Without further ado, here is whether the Milwaukee Bucks should pass or pursue some rumored trade targets this offseason.
Luke Kennard, Detroit Pistons
The Luke Kennard speculation for the Bucks stemmed from earlier this year and flew far under the radar.
Talks initiated from a previous episode of the ‘Game Theory’ podcast when host Sam Vecenie of The Athletic discussed some rumors with James Edwards III, a fellow Athletic penman and Detroit Pistons writer:
"“I know that Milwaukee has had interest in Kennard for at least a year and people remember, Milwaukee obviously handled business, but the year Milwaukee and Detroit played in the first round of the playoffs, Kennard was the leading scorer for the Pistons in his first playoff series.”"
From Milwaukee’s perspective, Kennard is a justifiable trade target. He has accumulated a career 40.2 percentage from 3-point range over the first three seasons of his career, a number that should undoubtedly pique the Bucks’ interest. On top of that, the 23-year-old took significant strides with his playmaking this season, upping his assist average from 1.8 last season to 4.1 in 2019-20. Playmaking and shooting are two areas that Milwaukee needs to address this offseason, and Kennard checks off both.
It should be noted that Kennard played in just 28 games this season as he battled bilateral knee tendinitis for a majority of the season. When he was able to take the court, the 2-guard looked fantastic, averaging 15.8 points on .442/.399/.893 shooting splits, 3.5 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game.
With the extended hiatus due to Detroit not being invited to the NBA’s restart, Kennard has recently assured that he is back to full strength and set to make an expiring $5.2 million next season, should be on Milwaukee’s radar. Piecing together a package could be challenging, but if the opportunity is there, the Bucks should jump at it.
The verdict: Pursue.