3 Reasons the Milwaukee Bucks dodged a bullet by not trading for Bradley Beal
By Franco Luna
It's strange to think about now, but there is a world where Bradley Beal is on the Milwaukee Bucks today in place of Khris Middleton had things turned out differently.
When the Bradley Beal sweepstakes were on in the league in 2023, it wasn't surprising that many teams were inquiring as to the Washington Wizards' asking price for the wily guard. He is, after all, one of the association's most prolific bucket-getters. Considering how top-heavy both the Eastern and Western conferences were at the time, it only makes sense for contenders like the Bucks to join in on the arms race.
The Milwaukee Bucks almost made a franchise-altering trade
As revealed by the Phoenix Suns guard himself when he appeared on the Run Your Race podcast, though, Milwaukee allegedly faced a pivotal moment last year when they explored trading Middleton for Bradley Beal. Here is what Beal said:
"Miami didn't want to do it for whatever reason, didn't know why. Milwaukee, I was like, ahhh, I was straddling the fence. I didn't really like [that] they were trading Middleton. They probably hate I'm telling this story, but whatever. They were trading Middy, but Middy had a player option, so he has to opt in to get trading. I don't know many people [who] want to opt in to willingly get traded to D.C., not at that time."
To be fair, the front office's openness to moving on from its star swingman made sense for its time considering the circumstances. Middleton had faced a litany of injuries and was showing signs of having lost a step.
At this point, it's probably not a stretch to say that his injury history has been long and storied. Middleton missed the Bucks' final 10 playoff games in 2022 with a sprained medial collateral ligament. A year later, Khris Middleton had surgery on his right knee after the Bucks were eliminated from the playoffs in the first round.
Ultimately, they decided against it, and for this writer, that decision will eventually prove to be a significant win for the franchise. Let's dissect it. Here are three reasons why the Bucks dodged a bullet by not making that trade.