Grading Khris Middleton’s lucrative new deal with the Milwaukee Bucks
By Dalton Sell
The most important item on the Milwaukee Bucks’ off-season to-do list was re-signing All-Star forward Khris Middleton to a brand new long-term deal.
Despite some rumblings that opposing teams with cap space could try to lure the forward away from Milwaukee, Middleton inked his signature quickly into 2023 NBA Free Agency. Milwaukee now has its core locked up for the foreseeable future, as they also signed Brook Lopez to a brand new deal as well. With that said, let us stick with Middleton and grade his new contract.
The financial aspect of Khris Middleton’s new contract with the Milwaukee Bucks
Khris Middleton’s new deal is a three-year contract worth $102 million. With that in mind, he’ll make an average of $34 million over the next three years. Given that Middleton turned down a $40 million salary for next season by declining his player option, he took a nice little pay cut to focus on more long-term cash. Per Spotrac, the contract contains a player option in 2025-26.
With this new deal, Middleton is tied for 57th in terms of the highest-paid players in the league when looking at total salary. Given his stature, that’s certainly not a bad deal for Milwaukee. The three-time All-Star and NBA champion very well could have played hardball with the Bucks’ front office or gone elsewhere trying to get more money, which he certainly could have, but it’s great to see that he wanted to stick around in the 414.
In short, this is a quality deal for the Bucks. They really had no choice but to pay Middleton, and a contract like this is beyond reasonable for a three-time All-Star who is still just 31 years old.