Bucks named as a suitor for Bradley Beal and Malcolm Brogdon

Will the Bucks bring back Brogdon or bring in Beal?

After staying mostly quiet on the trade front in the early days of the offseason, the Milwaukee Bucks have been one of the most active teams in NBA Free Agency. The signing of Myles Turner and the subsequent waiving of Damian Lillard have vastly changed the makeup of the roster, and it appears the Bucks aren’t done yet. Jake Fischer of The Stein Line reported that former Bucks Rookie of the Year and current unrestricted free agent Malcolm Brogdon has drawn interest from the franchise that drafted him. However, Fischer reports that Brogdon would be seen as a backup plan if the Bucks cannot ink a deal with former All-Star Bradley Beal once the Phoenix Suns buy him out. Fred Katz of The Athletic had a report stating that Milwaukee is one of a handful of teams that Beal could consider joining:

Just over two years after the Suns created their big three of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal, Durant is a Houston Rocket, and Beal seems likely to be bought out by the Suns soon. Once Beal clears waivers, the Bucks will compete with other teams for his services, including the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, and Minnesota Timberwolves. The Clippers would seem to have the inside track for Beal; they have access to the $5.7m taxpayer MLE. Elsewhere, the Lakers could engage in some maneuvering to utilize their $5.1m BAE, while the two other franchises have only the veteran minimum exceptions available to them. Katz mentioned the Golden State Warriors as a team that is in the mix, and if they sent out Jonathan Kuminga in a sign-and-trade while receiving no money back, they would have access to the full MLE, but that situation continues to drag on for the Dubs.

He would fit seamlessly into the starting shooting guard spot next to James Harden, after the Clippers traded away Norman Powell for John Collins in a three-team deal with the Miami Heat and Utah Jazz. If I had to rank the teams in the list of four in terms of likelihood, it would be the following: Clippers, Bucks, Lakers, Timberwolves. The T’Wolves would make for a fun trio of Beal, Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle, but it seems like an odd fit positionally with Beal at point guard. Not saying that Beal can’t play that spot, but I’m sure he would rather stay at the two guard at this stage of his career. The same goes for the Lakers, but at least they have the option to run Austin Reaves at the three, Luka at the one, LeBron at the four and Deandre Ayton at the five.

Now here is where the Bucks fit into all of this. Beal would instantly become the second scoring option behind Giannis and number one in the perimeter pecking order, so if Beal still wants a high usage rate, the Bucks would be his ideal landing spot. It would be a great fit with the Bucks as well from their side of things. They despartley need a go-to bucket getter on the outside to complement Giannis on the interior. Gary Trent Jr. and Kevin Porter Jr. can get their own shot on occasion, but Trent is much better in the catch-and-shoot game and Porter is too streaky of a player to count on a consistent basis for what the Bucks need. I don’t think there’s a Bucks fan out there who wouldn’t want an efficient 17 PPG from the two spot, while being flanked by Ryan Rollins and Trent (banishing Kyle Kuzma to the bench to prevent crimes against good basketball).

There are few more teams at the table for Brogdon: the previous five mentioned along with the Suns, New Orelans Pelicans, and Sacramento Kings. We’ll see what the Kings opt to do with Malik Monk, but the fit with Brogdon doesn’t make much sense after they signed Dennis Schroder plus Monk still on the roster. I’m not sure Brogdon wants to go to a rebuilding team in the Pelicans or the Suns at this stage of his career. Brogdon’s market, according to Fisher, will be impacted by wherever Beal opts to go, with the Wizards willing to facilitate a sign-and-trade to get Brogdon out of Washington. As for his fit with the Bucks, with all of their previous moves going official yesterday, they have $3.6m of their room mid-level exception left.

Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints reported that he expects the Bucks to target another veteran guard for backcourt depth next to KPJ and Rollins. Brogdon would seemingly fit that mold, and with so many players gone from the 2010s era of the Bucks, it might be nice to bring back a familiar face to Milwaukee. The problem with Brogdon has been health, playing in just 64 games over the last two seasons between Portland and Washington after winning Sixth Man of the Year with the Boston Celtics in 2022–23. He would provide a bit of everything the Bucks need and could be a good table setter for the offense, but between the two options seemingly at the Bucks disposal, I’d of course go with Beal. He fits much more of what the Bucks are in desprate need of compared to Brogdon. Although who knows, they maybe be able to sign both of them.