Milwaukee Bucks Rumors: Details emerge on failed Bogdan Bogdanovic bid

The Milwaukee Bucks’ play for Bogdan Bogdanovic has cast a shadow on their offseason and new details have emerged as to how things broke down.

As the Milwaukee Bucks prepare and gear up for training camp ahead of their 2020-21 season, the dust is starting to settle on their many moves this offseason.

Their offseason was filled with thrilling highs and confusing lows as they head into a massive year for many reasons. But no one move or thread encapsulated that more than what exactly happened with their ploy to bring in restricted free agent Bogdan Bogdanovic in what would have been a sign-and-trade deal with the Sacramento Kings.

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In a recent episode of ‘Tampering’ as part of The Athletic NBA Show, The Athletic’s Sam Amick, who has been plugged into this situation from the start, laid out how much the Jrue Holiday may have thrown a wrench into the inner workings of bringing in Bogdanovic via a sign-and-trade deal:

"“But when the Holiday move happened, the ripple effect was that Bogdanovic, in all intents and purposes, became a fourth option, which my reporting bears out that he wasn’t necessarily feeling that.And secondly, the money, I don’t know the specific numbers, but the money was impacted once they got Holiday and what they could offer Bogdanovic. It seems as if whatever agreement was in place before, and Bogdan’s camp has said all the way through that there never was an agreement from him, but he was talking to Giannis on a fairly routine basis. Giannis was pushing very hard and wanted Bogdanovic on that team. As an aside, I was also told George Hill that had been recruiting Bogdan before the Holiday trade and that there was a sense of ‘Wait a minute, man? I thought I was coming to play with you?’"

Bogdanovic has since gone on to the Atlanta Hawks after signing a four-year, $72 million offer sheet that the Kings declined to match and the Bucks obviously pivoted to a backup plan of sorts to fill out the rest of their roster.

How much of an effect will the Milwaukee Bucks’ failed pursuit of Bogdan Bogdanovic linger over their 2020-21 season?

Certainly, some of the details as far as Giannis Antetokounmpo’s involvement in recruiting Bogdanovic and how Holiday’s arrival may have played a part in things breaking down have become public knowledge, thanks to Amick shedding more light on the story.

Among the new details to come via Amick on the podcast was the involvement that Hill played in trying to lure Bogdanovic to Milwaukee before he ultimately included in the Holiday four-team trade. Given that both Bogdanovic and Hill played together in Sacramento during the 2017-18 season, there was a previous relationship there that the Bucks had been working to their benefit.

The overall picture Bucks fans get just shows how the many moving parts and the urgency they have felt in trying to sway Antetokounmpo into signing his supermax extension this offseason was and is very real. Missing out on Bogdanovic doesn’t change that as they have come away with one of the best two-way players in the game with Holiday.

Still, the communication breakdown that has reverberated long after the Bucks moved from pursuing Bogdanovic amid a tampering investigation that is still ongoing. As of this writing, Antetokounmpo still has not made his final decision on his supermax offer and will reportedly meet with the Bucks’ management this week to gain further clarity on his ultimate choice.

It’s very likely that no one or party will fess up as to why things broke down as they did, but the factors that Amick has laid out in his reporting and on podcast appearances has to been taking into account. All while Bucks fans will continue to ponder what if Bogdanovic had ended up coming to Milwaukee and those questions will continue on into the start of the season.