4 Khris Middleton sign and trades to keep Milwaukee Bucks in contention
The Bucks trade Middleton to the Hawks
Once upon a time, the Bucks tried to acquire Bogdan Bogdanovic in a sign-and-trade; instead, tampering got in the way, and “Bogey” ended up on the Atlanta Hawks instead. Now things come full circle, as the Hawks get a co-star for Trae Young, and the Bucks get two starters in return.
The Hawks would have a formidable perimeter trio with Middleton, Young, and Dejounte Murray starting at the one-through-three. That’s a lot of shooting and three players who can create their own shot. The Hawks would need to find some replacement bench players, but AJ Griffin, Saddiq Bey, and Jalen Johnson give them plenty of young options already on the roster.
The Bucks can start Bogdan Bogdanovic at the two and DeAndre Hunter at the three, or they can bring Bogey off the bench and continue starting Grayson Allen. Either way, that’s a great offensive player and a great defensive one, even if Hunter has failed to reach his potential. Garrison Mathews is tossed in as a movement shooter for the Bucks’ bench.
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None of these trades are perfect, and it’s possible that Middleton doesn’t want to work with the Bucks and just leaves for a team that already has maximum cap space. If he is, however, each of these would allow the Bucks to keep competing at a high level and try to push for another title in the coming years.