Milwaukee Bucks Rumors: Ersan Ilyasova waived amid trade controversy
By Dalton Sell
This has been an eventful week for the Milwaukee Bucks, and the conspiracies continue to pile on as the team waives Ersan Ilyasova Thursday.
It seemed relatively clear that Ersan Ilyasova was not going to return for the Milwaukee Bucks next season, and now, that is indeed the case.
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the team waived the 12-year NBA veteran on Thursday afternoon, the $7 million owed to him next season being just too expensive given his production this season. The Turkish big man averaged just 6.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 0.8 assists per game across 63 games this season.
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On top of that, he played the second fewest minutes of his career at 15.7 minutes per game, the least since his rookie season in 2006-07, partially because he got replaced in the rotation mid-season by Marvin Williams.
Under normal circumstances, parting ways with Ilyasova would not be much of a story, given that he will not wrap up his third stint with the franchise.
However, these are far from normal circumstances, and this waiving spells bad news for the Bogdan Bogdanovic news that has been a hot topic of discussion lately.
Ilyasova, along with Donte DiVincenzo and D.J. Wilson, was involved in the package that allowed impending restricted free agent Bogdanovic to come to the Bucks via a sign-and-trade. In the past 24 hours, the deal has been under heavy speculation due to tampering concerns, as although an agreement reportedly came to light on Monday, teams cannot discuss anything involving free agents until Friday.
The Milwaukee Bucks waving Ersan Ilyasova is detrimental to pulling off a sign-and-trade for Bogdan Bogdanovic.
Ersan’s expiring $7 million salary for next season was a key component in the Bogdanovic deal. With it and the approximated $7.5 million owed between DiVincenzo and Wilson, the Bucks could have offered Bogdanovic a deal worth somewhere around a base salary of $14 million annually.
With Ilyasova and his hefty contract no longer in the picture, another layer of suspicion looms large. Right now, there is absolutely no telling where things are heading with this trade, as different perspectives continue to come into play everywhere. For reference, The Athletic’s Sam Amick reported last night that:
"“As it stands, source says the Bogdan-to-Milwaukee scenario is off the table from his vantage point. The Bucks have been hopeful that it could be saved, but all signs point to him heading elsewhere ultimately.”"
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst followed with a claim of his own on Wednesday’s late night appearance on SportsCenter, saying:
"“Bogdan Bogdanovic’s representation has been adamant that this is not agreed to, Bogdan himself has told people himself I’ll see what offers I get on Friday. Look, he wants to play for the Bucks, okay? He was in contact with Giannis Antetokounmpo, this is what he wants, we’ll see what happens.”"
At the moment, the only thing to do is wait and see what transpires. With Ersan officially off the books, however, any hope in trying to revisit Bogdanovic trade talks could officially be dead.
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Time will tell if that is indeed the case moving forward, but these latest developments are undoubtedly nerve-wracking for the Bucks.