Grade the trade: Bucks add lockdown defender in mock deal with Raptors

With the NBA Draft just around the corner and free agency starting, trade rumors are rife, and the Milwaukee Bucks are rumored to be shopping multiple players on the current roster.

After a second consecutive first-round playoff exit, ESPN's Brian Windhost said that Doc Rivers would like to tweak the Bucks core a bit. Outside of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, anyone could be on the move.

Defensively, the Bucks struggled all season, having traded away Jrue Holiday, and even prior to this season, the loss of P.J. Tucker was felt. Many wings have been brought in and tested in order to find that defensive stopper, recently Jae Crowder, and none have worked.

With the Bucks having two draft picks this year, one in the first round, there is the chance they trade them in order to shake up the roster. Rumors are circling around Brook Lopez, Bobby Portis and Pat Connaughton potentially moving as some of the bigger contracts among the role players.

The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor suggested a trade that would see Lopez head north of the border to Toronto in a straight swap for former NBA champion Bruce Brown. It looks simple, but would both teams be willing to do it? Let's take a look.

The mock trade between the Bucks and Raptors

Player-for-player swap trades seem to occur less and less in today's NBA, but we did recently see the Chicago Bulls and Oklahoma City Thunder trade Alex Caruso for Josh Giddey, so this one isn't out of the realm of possibility.

The salaries match, so there is no worry there. The Bucks would lose a key piece of their roster and the perfect frontcourt partner for Giannis, but Lopez is now 36, and with the aging Milwaukee roster, they do need to perhaps let go of the nostalgia and make moves to make the most of the top-end talent they have.

Toronto is very much in a rebuild, having acquired Brown from the Indiana Pacers in the Pascal Siakam deal. Brown is a very good role player but doesn't fit their timeline, and making the most of his value as a recent NBA champion with the Denver Nuggets could be the move for the Raptors. Both players are heading into the final year of their contracts.

It is a very interesting deal, and picking up a high-end target in Bruce Brown could be the best way for the Bucks to find a missing piece for their roster in order to win a championship. Let's take a look at the deal from both sides of the trade, starting with the Milwaukee Bucks.