Beloved Bucks bruiser officially makes unsurprising career move

After 20 years of professional basketball, P.J. Tucker has announced that he's hanging up his shoes. The forward, having just turned 41 days ago, had not played in the NBA this season and appeared in just three games last year, so this announcement felt inevitable. Now, it's official, as the one-time NBA Champion with the Milwaukee Bucks gets to ride off into the sunset.

Former Bucks forward calls it a career

When discussing the history of the Milwaukee Bucks within the last decade or so, P.J. Tucker has to come up. He was an essential piece in helping the franchise getting over the top to win its first title in 50 years back in 2021. Without his contributions, there's a good chance the Bucks are still looking to break their drought dating all the way back to 1971.

Trading for Jrue Holiday was Milwaukee's big splash that season, but something still felt like it was missing for the Bucks. A defensive-minded forward would have gone a long way, and that's exactly what Milwaukee traded for at the deadline in Tucker. He was exactly what they needed at the time and played a crucial role in the title run.

Nightly, Tucker welcomed the toughest assignment defensively, whether it was Kevin Durant, Jimmy Butler, Devin Booker, or anyone else during Milwaukee's playoff outings. He flat-out hounded anyone he guarded, wearing them down with his physicality. Durant had himself an incredible series against the Bucks that year, but Tucker tired him out just enough to help Milwaukee squeak by.

Shortly after, the Milwaukee Bucks were crowned NBA Champions.

Controversey still looms over Tucker's Bucks exit

Tucker should have been back in Milwaukee. It felt inevitable that he would be. However, after the title run, the free agent fled to Miami. No one truly knows what went on behind closed doors, but Tucker has seemingly hinted on multiple occasions that this was not his choice. It always sounded like he wanted to be back, but it was the Bucks who went in a different direction.

It was a foolish mistake.

The Milwaukee Bucks have spent the last five years trying to replace him. First, it was Semi Ojeleye, who didn't last a full season in town. The team would soon trade five second round picks to acquire Jae Crowder, arguably the closest thing to Tucker in the NBA from an archetype standpoint. It still haunts the team to this day, given how little the forward contributed.

To this day, the Milwaukee Bucks are still looking for a defensive-minded forward who can embrace the toughest defensive assignments nightly.

It featured an ugly split, but the Bucks will never forget Tucker's efforts in 2021.

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