The Milwaukee Bucks love trading for stars. Sometimes, it works out well. Sometimes, it does not. No matter what, they are bound to try again this summer, and with so much smoke surrounding Donovan Mitchell's future with the Cleveland Cavaliers, it feels inevitable that the Bucks will at least check in on him after the team was just swept in the Eastern Conference Finals. It's a move full of risk.
Milwaukee's back is already against the wall in terms of climbing back into contention, and a trade for a high-cost guard could sink them even further... or it could be just what they need.
Bucks need a pitch to keep Giannis
Giannis' future with the Bucks is as unclear as it's ever been. With no clear pathway to contention after missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade, no one could fault him for being skeptical about the future of the team. As evidenced by trades for Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard, the Bucks know their best chance to keep Giannis is to trade for a co-star. He signed extensions after both.
At the time of this writing, Mitchell is the biggest name rumored to potentially hit the market this year. Will he officially hit the market? It all depends on how he feels about an extension that the Cavs will offer him this summer. Per The Athletic's Fred Katz, if Mitchell does not accept it, Cleveland will put in some thought about trading him. It's a similar situation that the Bucks are in, ironically.
Mitchell trade would be risky
The Bucks are no strangers to risks. They traded all of their future assets for Jrue Holiday. Years later, they did the same for Damian Lillard, disrupting their championship core. Last summer, in a shocking move, they cut Lillard to sign Myles Turner, sacrificing financial flexibility for years to show Giannis just how committed they were to contending. Nothing will stop them from trying again.
Mitchell poses plenty of risks. Right off the bat, if Cleveland does trade the guard, any team that takes him on will have to pay him. And he's not signing for cheap. He will be eligible to sign a four-year deal worth $272 million with Cleveland. If he waits a year, that number skyrockets to $352 million over five years. That's a lot of money for a 29-year-old coming off a decent but not exceptional playoff run.
The Bucks, or any team that employs Mitchell, must consider the ramifications of paying one player that much. In Milwaukee's case, they'd be paying Mitchell AND Antetokounmpo lucrative new deals. The NBA has become all about depth. Paying two players that much could cripple the rest of this roster and bury them even further, rather than dig them out of their current hole.
There are questions about how Mitchell may hold up in the coming years as well. Again, he's 29, so his best basketball is being played right now, but that extension could look brutal soon. Also, Mitchell is a smaller guard, standing at just 6-foot-2. Unless you can surround them with adequate talent, as the Knicks have done with Jalen Brunson, small guards are becoming a thing of the past.
Trading for Mitchell wouldn't be all bad. With Giannis, the Milwaukee Bucks could have one of the best duos in the entire NBA. Yet, is it worth the cost, both financially with a new contract and the assets to pry him from Cleveland? Would it get the Bucks any closer to contention or just set them back even further? Are the Bucks willing to take another risk? Only they know the answer.
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