The pros and cons of a potential P.J. Tucker reunion for Milwaukee Bucks
By Lucas Valind
Free agency is coming up fast for the Milwaukee Bucks. After controversially letting P.J. Tucker walk in free agency last season, it appears that the team will have an opportunity to make things right. Shams Charania reports that Tucker will decline his player option with the Miami Heat for the 2022-2023 season and become a free agent.
Tucker was a key cog for the Bucks when they won the NBA Championship in 2021, and these are the pros and cons of potentially bringing him back.
The cons of the Milwaukee Bucks bringing back P.J. Tucker in free agency
At the age of 37, Father Time is only closer to catching P.J. Tucker. Even though age hasn’t caught up yet, you never know when the time will come, as it varies from player-to-player.
Tucker is an interesting case in his fight against Father Time, though. Tucker has never had a large role offensively, so age probably won’t have too big of an impact there. Instead, Tucker’s largest impact comes on the defensive side of the floor.
Tucker being a defensive-minded player first may make it more difficult to determine exactly when he starts to decline. It’s usually easy to tell when a player loses a step offensively because you’ll see drastic shifts in their offensive averages, but it’s much harder to gauge that defensively.
Signing Tucker would mean that Milwaukee would have to use their TPMLE (Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception). Tucker’s asking price would probably require Milwaukee to spend all of their money for the TPMLE on Tucker, which some might not view as the brightest move on a player that is 37.