3 former Milwaukee Bucks for the team to pursue in free agency
One of the big themes of this past Milwaukee Bucks season was bringing back old faces for another year after being away from the team. George Hill, Wesley Matthews, and Greg Monroe were all guys who had memorable stints with the Bucks before this season before coming back to play a role big, small, or somewhere in between.
Well hey, what’s wrong with going back to what you know? One of the biggest risk factors in free agency is signing a guy you aren’t sure how they’ll fit into your system. You can mitigate that by simply signing a guy you’re already familiar with!
A few former Bucks on the market this offseason could fill a role for the team next season if the organization decides to bring them back. Someone cue Baby Come Back by Player!
The Milwaukee Bucks could bring back Robin Lopez in free agency
I genuinely don’t think Robin Lopez has had more fun in an NBA season than this past one he spent with the Orlando Magic and that’s including the season he got to play with his brother in Milwaukee.
Lopez signed a one-year, $5 million contract with the Magic last season in a move that was a bit of a head-scratcher. Orlando was not expected to be very good and they met expectations in that regard as they finished 22-60, got some lottery luck, and are picking first overall in the upcoming draft.
Orlando also had several young big men who wanted to play this season ahead of Lopez which led to him only playing 36 games and 17 minutes a night. He got a bunch of DNP’s as guys like Mo Bamba and Wendell Carter Jr. played the majority of the frontcourt minutes.
Milwaukee needs frontcourt depth heading into next season regardless of if they bring Bobby Portis back and Lopez was a popular trade deadline or buyout market target to help fill that. Ultimately, he loved being in Orlando and that may prove true this offseason if the Magic want to bring the veteran back to mentor their young guys.
Still, we saw Lopez can still be a very effective player for a competitive team when given the chance.
On a Washington Wizards team that snuck into the playoffs, Lopez was arguably their most effective big man. He averaged 9.0 points on 66 percent true shooting, 3.8 rebounds, and 0.6 blocks in 19 minutes a night. He scored nearly 65 percent of the time on 2-point shots! It was impressive to watch him get whatever he wanted with his post moves.
He wouldn’t be asked to do a ton with the Bucks (as we saw in his one season stint) but he can help box out, grab some boards, defend the rim, and provide some spacing (he shot 33.3 percent on 1.6 3-point attempts with Milwaukee), as well as be effective inside offensively.
Perhaps he wants to play for a competitive team again and reunite with his brother! The Bucks would certainly welcome Lopez’s talents back to the team if he did decide that’s what he wanted.