Fans approve of the Lillard/Turner transactions, but prefer a different starting point guard
A couple days back, we took the temperature on the Bucks’ bombshell acquisition of Myles Turner in free agency, signed to an out-of-nowhere four-year, $107m contract. Of course, in order to open up enough room to sign Turner with cap space, Milwaukee needed to waive Damian Lillard, who stands to miss most of next season as he recovers from a torn Achilles. As you likely know, the catch is that Dame has two years and $112.6m remaining on his deal, and to create enough cap room, that salary will be stretched over the next five seasons at $22.5m annually on the Bucks’ books. That will count towards Milwaukee’s cap and tax calculations until 2030. Considering all that, how do fans feel about the sequence of events?
Pretty good, it turns out! I have long thought about Turner as a worthy Brook Lopez replacement, and we’ll see him play alongside Giannis in several months, continuing the stretch-five legacy Lopez began. Though I do admit, I’m surprised the approval number is so high for the mere fact that this hamstrings the Bucks to some degree for quite a while. While Turner is obviously a high-caliber starter and $24–28m annually is a great price for him, I’m a bit concerned about the added cost of another $22.5m each year (plus one, even) to employ him. I assume a lot of voters are too, but that may be outweighed by justified optimism about having Turner, plus the added benefit of sticking it to the Pacers.
An issue that’s magnified by saying goodbye to Dame, though, is the long-term solution at the point. While yes, Lillard will be 35 in ten days and may not have played earnest minutes until 36 had he stuck around, the Bucks now only have one guy who can man the point: Kevin Porter Jr. He’s being retained for about $5.1m this season with a player option for next and he only just turned 25, but is he the guy? Let’s see what everyone thought…
Not great! Many presumed KPJ was the heir apparent to the starting point guard gig after taking over for Dame in Game 5 of their first-round series, plus the success of lineups led by him and Giannis down the stretch of the regular season while Dame was out with blood clots. But in many of those games, Ryan Rollins—who is now an unrestricted free agent and could not return—started and Porter came off the bench, closing games. I wonder how this number would have differed if Dame remained on the Bucks and there was optimism he’d return to the backcourt next spring. Now, though, without any other ballhandlers on the roster currently, a majority of respondents want someone to start over KPJ.
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