Milwaukee now employs Myles Turner and doesn’t employ Damian Lillard. Wait, what?
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My goodness. To say that yesterday’s actions by the Bucks were stunning, stupefying, flabbergasting, jaw-dropping, etc. would all be understatements. Like many of you, us here at Brew Hoop are still trying to make sense of the moves that sent Damian Lillard and Pat Connaughton packing from Milwaukee, bringing in Myles Turner among others. So we need to take things one at a time as we analyze what this means for the Bucks on the floor and on the cap sheet.
As we’re recombobulating our very twisted brains surrounding this blizzard of transactions, we need your opinions, though. We’ll start very broad with your appraisal of the big one: signing Turner and Damian Lillard to make that work. The latter cannot be separated from the former. In a sense, the Bucks are paying approximately $47.4m for the right to have Turner play basketball for them next year: his four-year, $107m reported contract will start around $25m in year one, and they will pay Dame $22.5m to not play basketball for them. That number will go up to $51.1m in 2028–29 in Turner’s last season (which is a player option), but even if he should leave in summer 2029, the Bucks will still have to pay Dame that same $22.5m for one more year after Turner’s potential exit. Knowing all that, was this all worth it?
Secondly, Milwaukee is currently down to three guys who could be considered point guards: newly re-signed Kevin Porter Jr., two-way guard Jamaree Bouyea, and two-way rookie Mark Sears. Ryan Rollins’ qualifying offer was rescinded and it’s looking pretty doubtful he’ll return. Of course, Giannis looks likely to run the offense a lot next season from the frontcourt, so it’s not as if the rotation doesn’t have only one initiator. But obviously, this won’t do and the Bucks are in need of point guard help. The question is, though, where should that leave KPJ? He was the odds-on favorite to start at the one with Dame out, but with Dame gone, could that make him Milwaukee’s longtime solution there? That’s another question, so we’ll phrase it as you see below. Should he still be the guy?