Zach LaVine is one name floated over and over again in Milwaukee Bucks trade rumors. As an efficient scorer and shot creator, he is everything they could want. The problem is, LaVine does not address the Bucks' core weakness: size at small forward. He is labeled a wing, but at 6-foot-5, he is on the smaller end and not known for his defensive prowess.
While that doesn't make him an incompatible trade target in himself, the Bucks' outgoing trade package would almost certainly feature Kyle Kuzma, their best answer for wing size and defense. If ignored, it's a flaw in the LaVine fantasy that would only aggravate the roster's biggest problem. By itself, substituting LaVine for Kuzma might not move the needle in a positive direction at all.
Bucks must keep core roster bug in mind as they eye big-name maneuver
Quibbling over a Kuzma-Lavine exchange? It sounds ridiculous, and maybe it is. LaVine is clearly the better player. This season, he's averaging 20.2 points on 48.7/38.5/86.7 shooting splits. Kuzma, meanwhile, clocks in at 13.5 points per game on splits of 51.5/32.9/73.1. Offensively, even with Kuzma's improvements, it's not much of a debate.
It all boils down to addition versus subtraction. From the Bucks' side of things, just about every mock trade conceived includes Kuzma, and it's probably the only way a LaVine deal gets done. Aside from Giannis Antetokounmpo, the team doesn't have a salary to match LaVine's $47.5 million paycheck. Kuzma doesn't even account for half of that. Unless the Bucks jumped ship on Turner, they would have to combine Bobby Portis and another small salary to make the move work, or involve a third team.
Say they do the deal. LaVine would then slide into the starting small forward spot. At 6-foot-5, he fits in theory, but the Bucks have already seen how trotting out a slew of similarly sized guards works in practice. Larger wings push them around. On top of that, the Bucks were counting on Gary Trent Jr. and AJ Green to be better defenders than what LaVine has shown himself to be, despite superior athleticism. Defensively, they could be in for a downgrade.
Where LaVine would help them massively is in shooting efficiency and shot creation alongside Ryan Rollins and Kevin Porter Jr. in the backcourt. His presence as a smooth-shooting wing would add a dimension to the offense. What it would not do is answer the Bucks' serious personnel questions at small forward.
Kuzma isn't some lifesaver or even a prototypical three, but he's the best and perhaps the only forward-sized wing defender they have. Replacing him with LaVine does nothing to address that; it just makes the problem worse. The Milwaukee Bucks would have to hope that the offense-defense tradeoff would work in their favor.
All of the above is to say nothing of LaVine's availability issues. While he has been fairly healthy dating back to last season, he played just 25 games in 2023-24 and has averaged under 60 games per year in his career. He left Sunday's game with an ankle sprain and will be re-assessed in a week.
Concerns over the trade aren't about LaVine or Kuzma specifically - in a vacuum, that would be a no-brainer swap. It's about fit and team needs, in addition, of course, to the other assets the Bucks would be giving up.
There's a way to make this work. Netting a wing defender in a separate move would compensate for LaVine's semi-redundant positional fit. Most likely, however, the logistics of a LaVine trade wouldn't allow them to do both in the same maneuver. Before pulling the trigger, the Bucks must have further plans in place to avoid exacerbating the roster's most glaring deficiency.