Bucks Realistic Trade Target Viewed as $68M Scoring Guard

Can Milwaukee add some firepower for the 2024-25 season's home stretch?

Dec 2, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; New Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum (3) is defended by Atlanta Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic (13) in the fourth quarter at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Can the Milwaukee Bucks add additional firepower for the 2024-25 NBA season's home stretch?

They clearly look to be a cut below the three best clubs in the Eastern Conference — the 34-6 Cleveland Cavaliers, the 28-12 Boston Celtics, and the 27-15 New York Knicks.

Milwaukee head coach Doc Rivers has done an admirable job of shaking up his lineups and rotations, injecting two rising young guards to enhance the Bucks' defense and athleticism (in the case of new starting shooting guard Andre Jackson Jr.) and scoring punch (in the case of reserve swingman AJ Green).

Eight-time All-NBA power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo has been close to his MVP form, although he has slipped a bit defensively. Seven-time All-NBA point guard Damian Lillard has recovered nicely from a disappointing 2023-24 debut season with the team, although he, too, is not quite his prime self.

But former three-time All-Star Khris Middleton has shown genuine signs of slippage. Yes, he's still scoring pretty efficiently under a minutes restriction.

On the other end, however, he's lost yet another step, to the point where Rivers has relegated him to a bench role in favor of the younger, less injury-prone Taurean Prince. That's a less-than-optimal outcome for a guy making $31.7 million this year.

Center Brook Lopez also seems to have taken perhaps a half-step back.

Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report opines that Atlanta Hawks wing Bogdan Bogdanović could be a realistic trade target for Milwaukee this season — capable of offering some extra scoring and ballhandling punch, either off the bench or next to Lillard.

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"Bogdanović's role in Atlanta has been cut due to an infusion of young talent," Swartz notes. "In Milwaukee, he'd find far more minutes for a team that doesn't possess much depth."

"Another player capable of taking on a third scorer role, Bogdanović also has playoff experience with the Hawks in three of the past four years," Swartz adds.

One of those years, of course, arrived against the Bucks themselves, who took them out in a six-game Eastern Conference Finals clash en route to the 2021 league title.

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This year, the 6-foot-5 swingman is averaging a career-low 10.7 points on a lacking .388/323/.913 slash line, along with 2.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 0.9 steals a night.

On the 21-19 Hawks, these stats represent a far cry from the kind of bench scoring output that helped him finish among the top six in Sixth Man of the Year voting for two of the past three seasons.

The 32-year-old could theoretically thrive as a Gary Trent Jr. upgrade for Milwaukee.

More Bucks:

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