The Bucks are currently 14-9, tied for fifth in the East with the Wizards, and have just one win gap with the second Bulls. The Bucks' goal this season is definitely to defend the title, and with Lopez undergoing surgery and a lack of center positions, the Bucks signed Cousins as the last member of the team's big roster. But the Bucks' roster still needs to be strengthened, and the Bucks are bound to make a move before the trade deadline.
Since taking over as chief decision maker, Bucks general manager Jon Horst has said he is willing to trade before the deal deadline. Over the years, in order to win the championship, Horst has not made less trades. In December 2017, the Bucks traded in Eric Bledsoe from the Suns. The following year, Horst took out some junk contracts, plus a first-round draft pick from the Cavaliers trade to George Hill. In 2019, the Bucks traded for Nikola Mirotic with several second-round draft picks. Last year, he traded P.J. Tucker from the Rockets to help the team win its second championship in franchise history. This offseason, the Bucks traded from the Grizzlies to Grayson Allen and signed Aaron to a two-year, $20 million early contract extension in October.
The deal deadline for this season is February 10, 2022 local time in the United States, and the Bucks have some trading assets that can be used to buy players who can really strengthen the lineup, while also making decisions about players who will become free agents.
Di Vincenzo is their most attractive trading asset of the season, and he will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season. The 24-year-old, who started 66 games last season and averaged 10.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game, has yet to play this season due to an ankle injury, so the position is likely to be replaced by Grayson Allen, and for the cash-strapped Bucks, trading Di Vincenzo before the deadline is a matter of course.
In addition, Jordan Envera is also an attractive player. He has proven that he has a certain ability to score and has worked hard to shoot and train defensively. Head coach Budenholzer took a fancy to him, and after the start of the season, Nwoula went into the rotation and got plenty of playing time (averaging 18.4 minutes per game) to have 7.2 points and 3.5 rebounds.
The Bucks currently have only two types of contracts in the roster: very large contracts and very small contracts. Brooke Lopez ($13.3 million), Ju Holliday ($32.4 million), Chris Middleton ($35.5 million) and Alphabet Brother ($39.3 million) make up the vast majority of the team's salary space. The fifth-highest salary was Connaughton's $5.33 million, while Di Vincenzo, Portis, Allen and George Hill all had salaries between $400 and $4.675 million. After them, there are the base salary players and rookies.
Given the Bucks' luxury tax profile, there are strict rules on how much of their salary they can recover in the trade. They can only receive up to 125% of the player's salary plus $100,000. Bucks can get up to $5.94 million if they give away Divinchenzo; up to $7.8 million if they give Divonchenzo + Nvola; up to $10.1 million for Divonchenzo + Hood + Ojele; up to $12 million for Divonchenzo + Hood + Ojele + Nvola.
Considering that their salary range for acquiring players is likely to be between $5.94 million and $12 million, even if the Bucks can get the opposing team to agree, they don't have many deal targets to choose from.
These are the numbers that bucks executives will have to consider between now and the trading deadline. If a player's salary for the 2021-22 season is between $5.94 million and $12 million, it depends on whether the counterparty will give up the player for the bucks' terms (plus one or two future second-round draft picks). If a player's salary is outside that range, there is no possibility of a trade.
What do you think the Bucks will do before the trade deadline, who will be sent away and who will come? Comments are welcome.