As the NBA's regular season inches closer, it's only a matter of time before the Milwaukee Bucks trim their roster down to 15 standard players. At the moment, they are at 17, so two players will soon get the boot. Among them will likely be Pete Nance, solely because he had a non-guaranteed contract on the books and could be easily cut.
Cutting Nance makes sense for the Bucks financially
In his latest article, The Athletic's Eric Nehm (subscription required) notes that cutting Nance would leave the Bucks around $13 million shy of the NBA's luxury tax line. Another move would still need to happen to clear the other spot, but cutting Nance and then a standard contract player would make far more sense financially than just releasing two players with fully guaranteed deals.
In an ideal world, the Bucks won't have to cut anyone and could find suitable trade partners to take on two of their players. Caris LeVert and Kyle Kuzma are two names who make plenty of sense there, but it wouldn't hurt if Milwaukee trimmed its overflowing backcourt either by dealing AJ Green or Kevin Porter Jr., who could certainly fetch them assets.
From a financial perspective, though, Pete Nance's back is certainly against the wall.
Letting Nance go would be a shame
The Bucks clearly like Pete Nance. They waived him earlier this offseason just to bring him back on a fresh new non-guaranteed deal. Now, they could do it once again. It would be business as usual, but hearing that never makes it any easier, especially after the forward showed some legitimate glimpses of potential last season and in the Summer League.
Nance never stole the show, but he was always solid as a jack of all trades. He was the type of glue guy in the second unit who held everything together with his scoring, shooting, passing, rebounding, and overall activity. Keeping him around on a low-cost deal would make plenty of sense for Milwaukee after losing two key frontcourt members in Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis.
Yet, at this point, it feels like Nance is just biding time before the Milwaukee Bucks cut him loose for a second time this summer. There is still time, and the Bucks are still in the hunt for Peyton Watson, so there is no telling how they will go about this roster maneuvering. Perhaps there is a world where they can dump two contracts and keep Nance on the payroll, despite the long-shot odds.
Stay tuned for more Milwaukee Bucks analysis.
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