Reaction to the Milwaukee Bucks and Serge Ibaka agreeing to find a trade

Serge Ibaka has been away from the Milwaukee Bucks for weeks now for what was described as “personal reasons.”

It seemed like there may have been some frustration behind Ibaka’s absence, and that notion was seemingly confirmed by The Athletic’s Shams Charania Friday. According to the NBA insider, Ibaka and the Bucks have agreed to find the veteran a new home via trade before the February 9 trade deadline. After a brief tenure, Ibaka’s time with the Bucks is over, and he will be elsewhere soon.

Reactions to Milwaukee Bucks and Serge Ibaka agreeing to find a trade

As alluded to previously, it was speculated that Ibaka’s absence might have been fueled by some frustration. In a recent interview with the Spanish outlet Gigantes, Ibaka dodged questions about his role with the Bucks and Coach Mike Budenholzer, which made some believe he was not happy with his role in the rotation. Indeed, Ibaka has averaged a career-low 11.6 minutes per game this season and has tallied plenty of DNP-CDs. The 33-year-old clearly believes he has some fuel left in the tank and can contribute with a more prominent role.

It was somewhat surprising that Ibaka re-signed with the Bucks in free agency last offseason for this very reason. With Brook Lopez coming back fully healthy, Bobby Portis inking a new contract, and Giannis Antetokounmpo still in the mix, there was not a clear-cut role for Ibaka, and he had to of known that. Perhaps the veteran believed he would be given an opportunity to give those three an occasional breather, but it never panned out that way.

Whatever the case, the next step for Ibaka and the Bucks is finding him a new team. A team that comes to mind is the LA Clippers. As once again reported by The Athletic insider Shams Charania (subscription required), the Clippers are in the hunt for a backup big man via trade. Ironically, it was the Clippers who traded Ibaka to the Bucks in the first place, but perhaps the two could do a deal to send him back to LA. SNY’s Ian Begley also mentioned Ibaka as a potential trade target for the Knicks, who will be without Mitchell Robinson for the next few weeks after a recent procedure.

The most obvious scenario is the Bucks packaging Ibaka in a trade for Jae Crowder, who they have been after for months. Ibaka’s salary, around $2.9 million, is not much in NBA terms, but it could be valuable when packaged with larger salaries in a Crowder deal. That would be killing two birds with one stone by getting a player they clearly covet while moving on from another who is not happy at the moment. That is just one potential scenario here, as the Bucks will have options in the next few weeks leading up to the NBA trade deadline on February 9. It was already set to be an interesting next couple of weeks, but this news adds fuel to the fire.

The Bucks are bound to move Ibaka soon, so stay tuned to see where he ultimately ends up.