This offseason holds a multitude of questions for the Milwaukee Bucks. In order to compete for a home playoff series in 2025-26, they will need to make some major roster upgrades. They have a bit of space to fill out key needs in free agency, but the main way to make any kind of splash would be via trade. That approach begins and ends with dealing Kyle Kuzma, the team's only movable player with the salary to match high-level incoming talent.
Ranked by their hypothetical appeal to the Bucks, five incoming packages are outlined below.
1. New Orleans Pelicans: Dejounte Murray (point guard)
Bucks send: Kuzma, AJ Green, Tyler Smith, 2031 first-round pick, 2025 and 2031 second-rounders
This one might be a stretch. It's also the type of move that would inspire legitimate excitement about next season. Set to make $31.5 million in 2025-26, Murray has three years left on his deal and is still in the middle of his prime.
This season for the Pelicans, he battled through injury and a down year but still managed to produce 17.5 points and 7.4 assists in 31 games. At 6-foot-6, he is tall for a point guard and capitalizes accordingly on the boards (6.5 per game). Had he played a full season, his two steals per contest would have tied his career-high.
As a point guard, he fills an obvious need for the Bucks as Damian Lillard will likely miss major time next season. Not only is Murray an immediate fix, he would give Milwaukee their point guard of the next several seasons if they do not re-sign Lillard, who will be 37 when his contract expires. If Lillard comes back strong (no small uncertainty after an Achilles injury at his age), playing him alongside a younger duo of Murray and Giannis Antetokounmpo is a vision almost too good to be true.
Unfortunately, it might be. Would New Orleans accept the exchange above? The 2031 first-rounder should be a valuable one, Smith has potential and Green is a proven sharpshooter on the rise, but they could get better elsewhere. The Bucks might have to involve a third team in the trade to provide additional draft capital. Drawing them in would require parting with a decent rotation piece, of which Milwaukee has few, if any, to spare. Even parting with Green, a popular player and extension candidate, would hurt.
Pulling off the move, however, would stabilize the Bucks for several seasons.
2. Brooklyn Nets: Cam Johnson (forward)
Bucks send: Kuzma, Smith, 2031 first-rounder, 2031 second-rounder
At the 2025 trade deadline, Johnson seemingly appeared in mock trades for just about every projected buyer. The Nets didn't get an offer they liked and held onto him. The Bucks' hypothetical package could be seen as something of a low-ball offer, but after failing to move Johnson in the midst of a career season, with time ticking on his contract (two years left), perhaps Brooklyn is ready to adjust its expectations.
If Kuzma isn't actually as bad as he looked in Milwaukee, it isn't a terrible return for the Nets. Certainly he is at a buy-low inflection point. Just two years ago, albeit for a tanking Wizards team, he averaged 22 points per game. If he plays a bit better, Brooklyn could end up getting something for him in a move down the line.
For the Bucks, the logic is simple. While Kuzma struggled to consistently hit from the corner, Johnson made 39 percent of his threes in Brooklyn. He scored 18.8 points per game and would be a defensive upgrade. That volume should drop in Milwaukee, but he is still a better version of what Milwaukee hoped to get from Kuzma when they traded for him. The Bucks would be further mortgaging their future to do it, but installing Johnson at small forward would be a major win.
3. Utah Jazz: Collin Sexton (point guard), John Collins (forward)
Bucks send: Kuzma, Pat Connaughton, Chris Livingston, Andre Jackson Jr., cash (to make the money work), 2031 first-rounder, 2025 and 2031 second-rounders
If Collis exercises his $26.5 million player option, both Jazz players will have a single season left on their contracts, making them less valuable for the Bucks but also less costly. On the flip side, Utah would prefer expiring salaries to taking on Kuzma for two years. Moving such contracts from tanker to contender goes against the grain, but the trade would clearly benefit both sides.
For the Jazz, the proposed package gives them a better pick, the 2031 first-rounder, than they could expect to get for either player. The 2025 second-rounder offers immediate draft compensation and the 2031 pick, assuming Milwaukee's already extended window has firmly swung shut in six years, should come early in the round. Jackson could still become a serviceable role player; Livingston has not impressed, but still just 21, remains a relative unknown. Finally, like other non-competitive teams, they can afford to buy low on Kuzma.
On top of that, neither Collins nor Sexton seems likely to re-sign with Utah. 21-year-old Keyonte George is poised to run the point for the next few years. Alongside centerpiece Lauri Markkanen, who is also naturally a power forward, Collins was never an ideal fit. Kuzma isn't either, but is at least a small forward by trade.
As the Jazz aggressively mailed it in this season, they often sat starters for ostensible "rest days." Removing Collins and Sexton from the roster would help relieve them of that pretense and develop young talent and draft picks in earnest.
For the Bucks, Sexton would fill the void at point guard (18.4 points, 4.2 assists, 40.6 3-point percentage). Because Giannis is a point-forward, anyway, Collins would be a fine fit in Milwaukee and redistribute the production lost in Lillard's absence.
Averaging 18.9 points and 8.2 rebounds while shooting 52.7 percent from the field and 39.9 percent from deep, Collins might see his volume dip as a Buck, but if he can keep his efficiency up, that would not be a problem.
At least for next season, he would also help tide the team over if Bobby Portis opts out of his own player option to seek a more lucrative long-term contract than the Milwaukee Bucks can afford.
4. Utah Jazz (again): Sexton
Bucks send: Kuzma, 2031 first rounder (lottery protected)
This trade is largely predicated on the Jazz moving Collins (or Markkanen) to another team this summer (or flipping Kuzma like a hot potato). Otherwise, stacking those two with Kuzma is borderline untenable.
In either case, if the Bucks are set on competing next season, they can acquire talent that would be more expensive on non-expiring contracts. A first-rounder, particularly a good one like Milwaukee's, is better than what Utah would get in most deals. Under different circumstances, it might be an overpay, but paying for another year of Kuzma ups the price.
Getting only one player instead of two, the Bucks can scale back the offer by including lottery protection. A top 10 pick would still be something of a steal in return for Sexton on an expiring deal. The Milwaukee Bucks need immediate help, however, and getting off Kuzma is an added bonus.
5. Bulls: Ayo Dosunmu (point guard) and Jalen Smith (forward/center)
Bucks send: Kuzma, Jackson, 2025 and 2031 second-rounders
This trade is all about unloading Kuzma while also filling key holes for next season. A free agent after 2025-26, Dosunmu is coming off a season in which he averaged 12.3 points and 4.5 assists. More stopgap than replacement, he could start or come off the bench at point guard in Lillard's absence.
Smith is a stretch big who can rebound (5.6 per game) and is under contract for two more years and $18.4 million (all guaranteed money). His 3-point shooting dipped back down to 32.4 percent, closer to his career mark of 33.1, after an outlier performance in 2023-24, so his value is not as high as it was when Chicago signed him a year ago.
Still, both Smith and Dosunmu would help the Bucks in critical areas while getting them out from under Kuzma's salary and poor roster fit. As free agency looms, the team has neither a healthy point guard nor center.
From the Bulls' perspective, rather than let Dosunmu walk in 12 months, why not get something for him, and for Smith, too? Moreover, if Kuzma did turn things around, Chicago would win the trade automatically. Hoping to compete for a title before the Giannis window closes, the Bucks don't have time to wait and see. The Bulls, on the other hand, have no reason to hurry; having begun this year with the Zach LaVine trade, rebuilding is the most viable approach.
Some return packages would be better than others, but the bottom line for Milwaukee is that almost any move involving Kuzma is better than none. Hopefully, general manager Jon Horst looks to make it happen this summer.