4 Contracts Bucks must shed during the offseason

Khris Middleton

Now, this is the one that has potential to upset a good deal of readers. Plenty will probably see that I included Khris Middleton and wonder what on earth I was thinking, but hear me out on this. Yes, Middleton is an extremely talented and valuable player, and his play is still crucial to the Bucks' success. But given his contract situation, getting him off the books is an option that I think should at least be explored.

When it comes to players who were part of the 2021 championship team, no one was more valuable than Middleton not named Giannis Antetokounmpo. In the six Finals games against Phoenix, Khris put up 24 points and 5.3 assists per game, hitting clutch shot after clutch shot and helping Milwaukee ultimately finish the job.

But with that being nearly three years in the past, we have to look at a few facts. The first of which being that Khris is already 32 years old. He is already getting up there in age, and he is not exactly the prototype of a player that can play exceptionally well into his mid to late 30s.

The second fact we need to look at is the fact that Middleton will be owed a hefty $34 million by 2025-26. It is hard to imagine paying him that much right now, much less the version of the player he will be two years down the road. After going down in the 2022 playoffs, Khris has had consistent injury troubles, and that certainly does not bode well going forward.

Keeping around an aging player who can not play a full season and having him take up a large fraction of your payroll is not a recipe for success. It will not be an easy decision to make given all that he has done for this franchise, but moving off Middleton is something the Bucks will have to consider.