Milwaukee Bucks Rumors: Held interest in Alex Len earlier in the season
The Milwaukee Bucks have returned back to their winning ways after having won their last three games.
Now at 19-13 on the season, the Bucks are entering a critical stretch where their organization evaluates where their roster stands ahead of their inevitable playoff run. With the trade deadline nearly a month away and the potential need to shore up their depth as well as fill their last vacant roster spot, there will be plenty of speculation centered around the Bucks this trade season.
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Of course, the Bucks have already rumored to be active throughout the season and have kept their proverbial irons in the fire, with one such example being Alex Len.
According to a recent piece by The Athletic’s Fred Katz ($$), the Bucks were among the teams to have had in interest in the journeyman center after he was waived by the Toronto Raptors early on in the 2020-21 season. After getting waived by Toronto, Len joined the Washington Wizards where he has since rebounded following a poor start to the year.
Since joining the Wizards, Len is averaging 6.9 points on .646/.231/.607 shooting, 3.9 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 1.2 assists across 15.1 minutes per game.
The Milwaukee Bucks are rumored to looking for frontcourt help.
There are certainly two things that stand out from the Bucks’ reported interest, with the first point being the Bucks have looked hard at bolstering the makeup of their current frontcourt.
Rumors of their interest in veteran forward P.J. Tucker have recently picked back up and they were among the many teams to reach out to Nic Batum before he joined the L.A. Clippers where he has since flourished.
Of course, with Len being a more traditional center, he doesn’t bring the same skill set as the likes of Batum or Tucker and would bring more cover behind Brook Lopez. But with the Bucks experimenting more with different defensive coverages, it would have been a big question to see how Len would fare outside of the Bucks’ drop-back defensive scheme.
The second and most important point to consider, especially as we inch closer to the deadline, are the financial obstacles facing the Bucks when it comes to exploring a move. After all, the Bucks are are hard-capped and are $441,539 under the cap apron as ESPN’s Bobby Marks recently noted ($$).
Not only are the Bucks not allowed to go over the apron this season, but they’re obviously limited in the draft and trade assets they have that would be deemed expendable. For those reasons, the Bucks would have had to walk a every fine line if their interest in Len would have led to offering up a minimum deal for the rest of the season.
For all of the financial restrictions staring at them, it would make more sense for the Bucks to be aggressive on the buyout market just as they have for the last two seasons with buyout signings like Pau Gasol and Marvin Williams.
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The next month should be an interesting one to monitor as it relates to the Bucks’ activity on both the trade and buyout market. We’ll just have to see whether it leads to anywhere in the end.