The Milwaukee Bucks are making a franchise-altering move, as they are trading long-time Buck Khris Middleton, former first-round pick AJ Johnson, and a 2028 first-round pick swap to the Washington Wizards for Kyle Kuzma, Patrick Baldwin Jr., and a 2025 second-round pick.
After winning the NBA championship in 2021, the Bucks have parted with two key pieces of that run, Jrue Holiday and now Middleton. Both players being sent to teams where they’ll either become veteran leaders on a tanking team or be a trade candidate for a contender. That doesn’t sit right with me as a Bucks fan, the franchise shows no respect by sending them to teams with zero foundation. You not only disrespect the player by making these trades, but you also break up a huge part of the franchise’s recent success. The duo of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Middleton specifically won championships, made all-star teams together, led the Eastern Conference, and now it no longer exists.
In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Antetokounmpo said this about his relationship and time with Middleton, “I’ve been around Khris more than I have been around my brothers in life. My incredible moments on the court with him,” he then paused for a few seconds and continued on to say, “definitely everybody’s going to miss him.”
No one’s shocked by the move, not even Antetokounmpo. It’s been public for days that the Milwaukee Bucks were shopping Khris Middleton to teams across the NBA, and there wasn’t any short coming of rumors attached to it. Bradley Beal, Jimmy Butler, and Zach Lavine are some of the names included in those rumors. Ultimately, the Bucks ownership decided it was best for the team to make this move, and I can see why.
Milwaukee will be under the second apron once the trade is processed, opening lots of avenues for the team to improve. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, “To help build out their roster now and in the future, Kyle Kuzma is reducing a portion of the trade bonus in his contract.” This now allows the team to continue developing this roster. The door has creaked open, we now can sign post-deadline buy-outs or make another trade. It’s speculated that the Bucks will now look to move on from the contracts of Pat Connaughton and Bobby Portis for another significant piece.
This deal proves to Bucks fans that ownership heard us. We now have something to be excited about. As emotional as the departure of Middleton is, our roster is freed up. Milwaukee was able to walk out of this deadline retaining Damian Lillard and Antetokounmpo, and now have the opportunity to better the roster. I wrote a piece about a week ago, and I talked about potential moves Milwaukee can make. In that piece, I wrote about the future of the Bucks and how there’s no real hope, but I now confidently say, the door is creaking open. We, the fans have something to be excited about, the franchise is no longer stuck in roster limbo. In celebration of Middleton, I like to recall the corny famous quote, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
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