The Milwaukee Bucks have been busy this offseason, with their most notable move involving dishing out big money to Myles Turner. That move has commanded the spotlight, overshadowing the fact that Milwaukee has also assembled a roster with a handful of tremendous contracts value-wise. This could end up having a major impact on their success.
Bucks have countless players on team-friendly contracts
This summer, the Milwaukee Bucks signed Kevin Porter Jr., Ryan Rollins, Gary Trent Jr., Cole Anthony, Taurean Prince, Jericho Sims, and Gary Harris for the minimum or just above it. They even have Amir Coffey signed to a training camp deal, which many are calling the steal of the summer. Teams across the NBA wish they had that kind of pull with minimum deals.
Let's start with the point guard rotation. Porter, Rollins, and Anthony will make a combined $12 million next season. Dennis Schroder, a quality backup in recent years, signed with the Sacramento Kings for $14.8 million. At shooting guard, Trent will earn $3.7 million, while others like Nickeil-Alexander-Walker signed on for $15.2 million. Caris LeVert is at $14.4 million. Luke Kennard will take home $11 million.
Sure, the point guard rotation isn't perfect, but there's a lot to like. Anthony and Porter are former starters in this league, and Rollins is rising. Any of them could be due for breakouts in 2025-26. At shooting guard, Trent is a game-changer, as he evidenced by averaging 18.8 points per game in the playoffs this past season. Having him cheap for a second straight season is crazy.
The point is that the Milwaukee Bucks have so many players on the payroll who could earn far more elsewhere, but they've decided to take a discount. It speaks to what the team is building but also to general manager Jon Horst's work in the front office. There aren't many other teams that can say they have accumulated as many low-cost impact pieces as Milwaukee has lately.
That goes without even mentioning players like AJ Green, who is set to take home just over $2 million this year, or Bobby Portis, who is back for $13.4 million. Portis isn't anywhere near the minimum, but given how close his numbers resemble Naz Reid's, the Sixth Man of the Year making $21.5 million, it's a great team-friendly deal.
All of this comes after the Milwaukee Bucks cut ties with Damian Lillard to make room for Turner, which created a significant financial burden. Jon Horst's ability to navigate what could have been disastrous deserves applause. The roster isn't perfect, sure, but given what they had to work with, Milwaukee did a great job after the Turner signing.
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