Following their resurgent campaign in 2018-19, the Milwaukee Bucks elected to stand pat for the most part in the offseason, with their biggest acquisition being veteran Wesley Matthews.
Matthews, who grew up in Madison and played collegiately at Marquette, had carved out a role for himself as a solid 3-and-D wing in the NBA. Having gone undrafted in 2009, Matthews worked his way up the chain and established himself as one of the more well-known undrafted players during the past decade at that point. While most Bucks fans were not exactly ecstatic with the addition of Matthews – mostly because they had just lost their promising young starting shooting guard – the singing had potential. So much so that Jordan Treske gave the initial deal an A, which made sense when it happened. After seeing how Matthews’ time with the Bucks transpired, let us take a look back and give it a new grade.
The financial value of Wesley Matthews’ deal with the Milwaukee Bucks
Matthews signed with the Bucks on a two-year deal worth the minimum, which clocked in at a tick over $5 million. Given his reputation as a reputable role player in the association, this was a no-brainer for Milwaukee. For a team that had very little spending money to utilize in free agency, bringing in Matthews, who would ultimately become the starting shooting guard throughout the season, was a massive win for the Bucks.
At the time, Matthews was coming off a rather turbulent 2018-19 season split between the Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks, and Indiana Pacers. Despite that lack of stability, Matthews made the most of it by averaging 12.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game. Those are not the flashiest numbers by any means, but to secure a player with that production on a cheap deal was nothing short of fantastic when it initially went down.
Looking at it in hindsight, nothing has changed with the thought process on this deal more than two years later. Given the role that Matthews played and how important he proved to be during his time with the Bucks, a minimum deal was a steal. They certainly got a hometown discount in this deal due to Matthews’ Wisconsin roots, and there are no complaints there. It has always been a challenge for the small-market Bucks to reel in free agents, and although Matthews was not a star player, he was a solid acquisition for cheap. They only ended up paying for the first year of the deal as well as Matthews opted out after that.