1 Mock trade proposal for each of Bleacher Report's targets for the Milwaukee Bucks

Currently, the odds of the Milwaukee Bucks making a trade before the start of the season seem slim.

They seem content with their current 15-man group and want to see how they play together. Yet, as the season progresses and the 2025 NBA Trade Deadline inches closer, they will certainly be among the teams looking to make an upgrade, as they always do. When it comes to targets, Bleacher Report writer Greg Swartz recently posed three, including Jordan Clarkson, Kris Dunn and Keon Ellis.

Let's analyze three potential trade packages involving these players coming to the Milwaukee Bucks.

A trade involving the Bucks and Jordan Clarkson

First and foremost, it has to be said that any trade involving Jordan Clarkson coming to Milwaukee is pretty unrealistic.

Due to second apron restrictions, the Bucks cannot combine salaries in any trade. That means that they would have to trade away one of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Khris Middleton or Brook Lopez to absorb the guard's $14.1 million salary. Obviously, the top three are safe, and recent reports suggest that Lopez is off the table in trade talks as well.

Still, even if the Bucks were willing to make this deal, Clarkson doesn't fit the current construction of the roster at all. He's a nice player, but Milwaukee doesn't exactly need another microwave scorer off of the bench; they need defenders, and Clarkson is not that. Trading away one of their top defenders for Clarkson would certainly be a headscratcher, even with the second-round pick.

The deal makes more sense for the other two teams, as the Jazz add a pair of draft picks and two players who could be flipped in a future trade for more assets. The Rockets were known to make a strong run at luring Lopez away from the Bucks in 2023 free agency, and this particular trade would allow them to get the big man that previously slipped through their fingers.

Any Clarkson trade will look awkward on Milwaukee's end due to the salary restrictions, and this is just one primary example.