The pros and cons of the Milwaukee Bucks trading Donte DiVincenzo

The pros: Does Donte DiVincenzo actually fill a need for the Milwaukee Bucks?

At his age and given the growth he’s shown for the Bucks thus far, DiVincenzo is absolutely an intriguing trade prospect to other teams. Though he’s shown himself to be rather injury-prone thus far in his career, he’s still a tireless worker who does all the little things that don’t show up on the stat sheet when he does play. He’s also an elite defender and rebounder at his size while being able to stretch the floor at the two-guard spot.

However, that’s precisely the problem: other, more offensively reliable Bucks like Pat Connaughton and Allen already do those things. Neither of them is (and possibly ever will be) the defender DiVincenzo is, to be sure, but he is also not the scorer that they have shown they can be. Both Allen and Connaughton have added hefty scoring punches with their shooting to build around the inward gravity of Giannis Antetokounmpo.

On the defensive end, the Bucks have already signed Wesley Matthews who has been as dogged a ball hawk as ever and who provides more strength and switchability than DiVincenzo does. Per NBA.com/stats, Matthews through seven games is holding opposing forwards to 4-of-13 shooting from the field (30.8 percent) and guards to 8-of-20 (40.0 percent) shooting when he is the closest defender. He’s doing this while shooting a very respectable 9-of-20 (45.0 percent) from beyond the 3-point line.

This is only to say that what DiVincenzo can contribute may be redundant, even if he is objectively a significant upgrade in certain areas of the game. Given the team’s new set of needs at the moment, it could be worth offloading his contract to land another big man. He’s a fine player, but with the makeup of the team’s roster right now, letting go of him could fill a more pressing need for the win-now Milwaukee Bucks.

There’s also the matter of his injury history. As of this writing, he’s only played a total of 172 out of 285 possible games during his tenure as a Milwaukee Buck. That means he’s only been available to suit up 60.3 percent of the time. Regardless of the value he brings to the basketball court, the best ability as a player is availability. It’s not entirely his fault, as players have different body types and durability. But at the same time, is it really that big of a loss to move on from someone who misses nearly half of the team’s games?

After all, there are bigger holes in this team’s makeup that general manager Jon Horst needs to plug. Even with the arrival of DeMarcus Cousins, the Bucks could look to shore up their frontcourt with more defensive-minded bigs. They also don’t have a true small forward not named Khris Middleton, and with P.J. Tucker gone, they may need to look for another big wing to take on the Jimmy Butlers of the league.

Considering DiVincenzo has just come out of the league’s coronavirus protocols, the Bucks simply can’t afford to keep waiting on him to suit up. With how things have gone this season, and given that he has not actually shown much yet on the court, the reality as it stands is that he is more a luxury than a need right now. Whether that luxury is maximized or given up is, of course, entirely up to the organization.