Ranking Bleacher Report’s 3 ideal trade targets for the Milwaukee Bucks
By Dalton Sell
For just a few days, the Milwaukee Bucks were among the prominent suitors across the NBA for Bradley Beal.
With Beal being traded to the Phoenix Suns, the Bucks are obviously out of the running. While that stings, there may be some other solid targets out there for the team to go after. Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley recently proposed three targets for the Milwaukee Bucks to consider trading for, and they are intriguing.
With that said, let us rank those three names in terms of which the Bucks should target, from the most desirable to the least, though there is no bad target here.
Ranking Milwaukee Bucks trade targets. 3 – Gary Harris, Orlando Magic
Just before the 2022-23 NBA season, Orlando Magic guard Gary Harris suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee. The two guard missed a good chunk of the season but still managed to play in 48 games, having started 42 of them. Excluding his rookie season, Harris saw the smallest role of his career this past season, and his numbers reflected it. That is understandable, given the injury he suffered. Buckley thinks the guard would be a good Bucks’ target, and it’s hard to disagree.
Harris could be the complementary offensive sparkplug the Bucks need alongside their core group. For his NBA career, Harris has averaged 11.5 points while shooting 44.8 percent from the field and 37 percent from deep. He’s coming off a year where he shot 43.1 percent from long range, his new career-best. With numbers like that, he’d fit seamlessly with Giannis Antetokounmpo and the key scorers on this team to alleviate some of the pressure off of them nightly. Adding Harris would be a way for Milwaukee to get another wing as well, which they could always use.
Heading into the off-season, the Orlando Magic must decide if they want to guarantee Harris’ $13 million salary for next season or let him go. If they go with the latter, the Bucks should certainly be among the teams looking to sign him. If the Magic opt to keep him, the Bucks should still kick the tires on a trade. Harris lands third on his list because, with a $13 million salary, there are fans who may question if the Bucks should look elsewhere, given what they’d have to give up to get him.