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<\/a><\/p>\nHere is my best attempt at trading Morant to Milwaukee that both makes sense and doesn\u2019t make me wrinkle my nose. I constructed this as a three-for-three swap: while Memphis\u2019 15-man roster is full with guaranteed deals, and they\u2019re far enough away from the tax that they could waive players to accommodate the needed salary-matching pieces from Milwaukee, they don\u2019t have any obvious release candidates. Their only expiring players are 30-year-old Australian center Jock Landale and young wings GG Jackson II and Vincent Williams Jr. Anyone else they\u2019d waive would need to be stretched over at least three more years, so while they could do a three-for-one and cut two guys, they could also reroute two players they receive from Milwaukee elsewhere and keep everyone.<\/p>\n
Instead, here the Bucks use the minimum salary exception to take on Landale and the remainder of their room mid-level exception (left over after signing Kevin Porter Jr. last summer) to acquire Jackson. That keeps the Grizzlies at 15 while the Bucks don\u2019t take back more salary than would be otherwise permitted. Memphis does still get some value here: Kuzma\u2019s salary is expiring this offseason and could come in handy in a future trade. As disappointing as Gary Trent Jr. has been this year, he has a good track record and is affordable. Should he opt out of $3.8m in 2026\u201327, Memphis would have his Early Bird rights and can re-sign him for a first-year starting salary of up to $14.6m for four years max.<\/p>\n
Porter can also opt out of his $5.4m salary next year, but is eligible for that same contract, as they\u2019d also have his Early Bird rights. I question whether he has a future in Milwaukee: he was benched this week, his shot has fallen off a cliff, and would have the ninth-highest turnover rate in the league if he qualified. I also think he may be who Giannis is talking about when he alludes to teammates being selfish. KPJ is out indefinitely with an oblique strain, but it\u2019s not as if the 18-24 Grizzlies are going anywhere with Morant running point, so they can hand the keys over to Cam Spencer for a while. Moreover, Porter and Trent are veterans who could be retained easily. They would create a solid-enough backcourt post-Morant around building blocks Jaylen Wells, Cedric Coward, and Spencer, plus Scottie Pippen Jr. and Ty Jerome once healthy.<\/p>\n
Scotto also reported that \u201cthe Grizzlies have desired Milwaukee\u2019s 2031 or 2032 first-round pick and Most Improved Player of the Year candidate Ryan Rollins\u201d in the Morant talks with the Bucks. Any Milwaukee first and\/or Ryan Rollins is an unequivocal non-starter. This is not the Ja Morant of three years ago: this is the Ja Morant who shoots terribly, has behaved terribly off-court, and has hardly been healthy. A first-round pick, let alone one when Giannis will be 36 or 37 years old, or a promising two-way combo guard aged 23, is laughable. After Trae Young was dealt to the Wizards without them having to include any draft assets, there\u2019s zero reason the Bucks should include picks for Morant. Young has a higher salary, is a year older, and really not any better.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Young can opt out of his contract this summer, and seems likely to extend in Washington. Meanwhile, Morant has two years and $87.1m remaining on his deal. Frankly, bailing the Grizzlies out of all that money is a favor, so they should be including assets in any Morant trade, especially given his injuries and makeup problems. That\u2019s why Milwaukee should be accepting nothing less than several plus assets, be they players or draft picks, to get Memphis out of the Ja business.<\/p>\n
Even if Morant\u2019s entire situation is worse than Young\u2019s, plus an extra year and $38.1m due, I don\u2019t think the Grizzlies will need to include a first to move off him. A couple far-off seconds (note: in 2031, the pick Memphis is sending would actually be the most favorable of theirs, Miami\u2019s, or Indiana\u2019s) seems fair, though. They also give up Landale, who\u2019s having a career-best season, and shouldn\u2019t be playing ahead of Santi Aldama or Zach Edey, when the latter returns from injury. Finally, Jackson has a textbook NBA frame and showed flashes as a rookie, but doesn\u2019t play all that much off their bench, and his three-point shot has regressed. A lottery ticket worth it for Milwaukee.<\/p>\n
All told, this trade saves Memphis a minimum of $57.5m over the next two seasons, even if KPJ and GTJ opt in. For those savings, give Milwaukee something for their trouble.<\/p>\n
In short, it\u2019s bad. Morant shoots poorly, isn\u2019t a quality defender, has injury concerns, and character issues. Would he be good for the team\u2019s culture? Doubtful. Would he be a positive locker room presence? Not banking on it. Would he improve this disappointing Bucks team? Well\u2026 yes. A lot of guys would.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s more because of this roster\u2019s lack of talent than anything else, but he\u2019d be the second-best player on many teams right now, not just Milwaukee. He does some things well, to be sure. He\u2019s a gifted passer who\u2019s never averaged fewer than 7.3 APG and gets to the line as well as almost anyone. Milwaukee has been horrendous nearly all season during non-Giannis minutes, and at least with Morant out there, they could break even: he can still take over games.<\/p>\n
The issue is playing with Giannis, who already seems a bit displeased that the ball isn\u2019t in his hands enough. Morant is ball-dominant, and while that can work alongside Giannis (he and Lillard were among the league\u2019s top 10 pick-and-roll duos last year by points per possession), his outside shot is bad enough that you can\u2019t even squint to see it work. He certainly won\u2019t help perimeter defense; he\u2019d need to be hidden while Ryan Rollins (since there\u2019s nobody else) deals with the point of attack. I think he and Giannis could be a statistically great combo in the pick-and-roll, but would that equate to team success as it did with Dame? I have my druthers.<\/p>\n
My primary question here is: would Giannis like playing with Morant? If Giannis is into the idea and makes him more likely to extend when eligible in October, then I can get down with this deal. You also have an extra couple seconds to use in whichever way, a flyer on a young wing, and a decent big man who could replace some of Bobby Portis\u2019 production, should he be moved. It would also be fine if Milwaukee took a little less value alongside Morant than the seconds, Jackson, and Landale, but they should try to squeeze out what they can. If Giannis doesn\u2019t seem excited about playing with Morant, then better to save your salary-matching pieces for a better fit.<\/p>\n
What say you? Is this offer palatable enough for you to say yes to Morant? Would the Bucks need to receive more for you to hold your nose, and if so, what? Or should they just not bother altogether? Let me know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019ve had quite a run of big names in this year\u2019s trade candidate series, including a few former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":555894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3775],"tags":[7,103,1565,9803,9804,102,121,3871,6],"class_list":["post-555893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-milwaukee-bucks","tag-basketball","tag-bucks","tag-bucks-analysis","tag-bucks-rumors","tag-bucks-trade-rumors","tag-milwaukee","tag-milwaukee-bucks","tag-milwaukeebucks","tag-nba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115945585780994466","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555893","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=555893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/555894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}