{"id":542468,"date":"2026-01-17T09:14:34","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T09:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/542468\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T09:14:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T09:14:34","slug":"bucks-rumors-giannis-morant-rollins-monk-ellis-portis-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/542468\/","title":{"rendered":"Bucks Rumors: Giannis, Morant, Rollins, Monk, Ellis, Portis, More"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday\u2019s loss to San Antonio marked the halfway point of the Bucks\u2018 season, and the team\u2019s 17-24 record is its worst first-half mark since 2015\/16, writes Eric Nehm of The Athletic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Although Nehm describes Milwaukee as looking \u201clost,\u201d the front office has held firm on its stance that star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> isn\u2019t going anywhere this season and that it wants to add an impact player alongside the two-time MVP, writes Jamal Collier of ESPN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always manage to pull something off,\u201d a team source told Collier.<\/p>\n

Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant<\/a> is one potential target the Bucks have been linked to as of late. According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype<\/a>, Memphis has sought guard Ryan Rollins<\/a> and Milwaukee\u2019s lone tradable first-round pick (in either 2031 or 2032) in discussions with Milwaukee about Morant.<\/p>\n

However, the Bucks have been \u201cwary\u201d about including that first-round pick in any trade talks to date, per Collier, who hears from rival executives that that first-rounder would likely only be on the table for a \u201cstar.\u201d Morant, who has made two All-Star teams, certainly fit that bill at one point but may no longer be viewed that way, as he has battled injuries and seen his production decline in recent years.<\/p>\n

As Collier writes, the Wizards\u2019 deal for Trae Young<\/a> might be instructive when considering the sort of trade that makes the most sense for the Bucks. Washington gave up no draft picks and a significant expiring contract as part of the package for Young, with the Hawks looking to get off the hook for his $49MM player option in 2026\/27.<\/p>\n

Milwaukee is in a good position to make a similar move for a player on a non-expiring deal, says Collier, noting that Zach LaVine<\/a>, Malik Monk<\/a>, and Jerami Grant<\/a> are a few of the trade candidates with multiyear contracts who have been linked to the team. Collier also cites Heat forward Andrew Wiggins<\/a> and Hornets Miles Bridges<\/a> as a couple more examples.<\/p>\n

The Bucks have had exploratory discussions with the Kings about a deal that would send Bobby Portis<\/a> and a minimum-salary player to Sacramento in exchange for Monk and Keon Ellis<\/a>, league sources tell Scotto. A trade for a higher-salary player such as Morant or LaVine would require Milwaukee to sacrifice more rotation pieces for matching purposes, but the team has considered that possibility, gauging the market for forward Kyle Kuzma<\/a> ($22.4MM cap hit) as well as Portis ($13.4MM), Scotto writes.<\/p>\n

As Collier observes, the Bucks would be more equipped to make a significant splash during the 2026 offeason, when they\u2019ll have up to three first-round picks available to trade (2026, 2031, and 2033). But the club \u2013 which has a +7.7 net rating with Antetokounmpo on the floor in 2025\/26 \u2013 hasn\u2019t given up on this season, even if some rival executives aren\u2019t convinced Milwaukee should continue with its win-now approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some point, you\u2019re just digging deeper and deeper,\u201d an Eastern Conference exec told ESPN. \u201cThere might not be light at the end of the tunnel. It might just be a hole.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thursday\u2019s loss to San Antonio marked the halfway point of the Bucks\u2018 season, and the team\u2019s 17-24 record…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3775],"tags":[500,7,507,103,123,178,5673,3211,124,1267,10510,102,121,3871,6,2763,3212],"class_list":{"0":"post-542468","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-milwaukee-bucks","8":"tag-andrew-wiggins","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-bobby-portis","11":"tag-bucks","12":"tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","13":"tag-ja-morant","14":"tag-jerami-grant","15":"tag-keon-ellis","16":"tag-kyle-kuzma","17":"tag-malik-monk","18":"tag-miles-bridges","19":"tag-milwaukee","20":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","21":"tag-milwaukeebucks","22":"tag-nba","23":"tag-ryan-rollins","24":"tag-zach-lavine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115909680748473148","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}