The Milwaukee Bucks roster is already set for the upcoming season, but that doesn't mean it cannot be upgraded. Teams are probably already thinking about potential trade targets who can give them a boost at some point in the season, adding some new weapons or covering previous flaws via new players.
Bleacher Report's writer Greg Swartz has covered who he thinks should be the three ideal trade targets for every NBA team, including, obviously, the Milwaukee Bucks. Now, we'll break his picks and decide whether the Bucks should pass on or pursue them while also ranking them.
3. Keon Ellis, Sacramento Kings
After barely playing in his first year in the NBA, Keon Ellis caught fans by surprise with a sensational sophomore season, especially in the last stretch. After Kevin Huerter's injury, he got promoted to the starting five and used his defensive skills to secure that spot, becoming a key member of Mike Brown's rotation and really helping the Sacramento Kings on both ends of the floor.
Ellis is quick and pretty aggressive on defense, which makes him a very uncomfortable player to match against. He locked up some big stars and made his presence felt, ending up as the player with the best defensive rating on the team among players who averaged at least 10 minutes a game, per NBA.com/stats, becoming arguably the best defender on the team.
However, he is far from being a one-trick pony. He averaged 5.4 points and 1.5 assists a game, which isn't an impressive feat, but those numbers don't tell the whole story. In the first half of the season, he hadn't become such a key player yet, and there were some nights when he just played a few minutes, noticeably holding his averages down, but once he got the starting role, things changed quite a bit.
From March onwards, he averaged 8.5 points and two assists while shooting 45.7 percent from three, a sizeable improvement for a player whose role doesn't really have to do with his offense. He even got some great performances, like the night he scored 26 points against the OKC Thunder, proving to have some potential on that end of the floor.
With all that said, why is he ranked third then? Well, a factor that it's hard to ignore is the fact that this one doesn't look like a realistic trade. Ellis' defense makes him a unique player in the Kings roster, so even if they have a bit of an overbooking in the shooting guard position, he isn't likely to be the one to be moved. It makes way more sense for Sacramento to bet on his development rather than sending him elsewhere.
Also, from the Bucks' point of view, they might want a more experienced player to go for a long playoff run. Despite being 24 years old, Ellis had only a real NBA season, and there's a similar yet more experienced player on the list who could make a bit more sense. Don't take this wrong, Ellis would be a great catch, but it feels so unlikely that there's really no point in going too deep with him.
The Verdict: Pass, too unlikely