{"id":18713,"date":"2019-02-07T19:21:27","date_gmt":"2019-02-08T00:21:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=18713"},"modified":"2026-02-28T15:13:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T20:13:17","slug":"milwaukee-bucks-acquire-nikola-mirotic-new-orleans-pelicans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2019\/02\/07\/milwaukee-bucks-acquire-nikola-mirotic-new-orleans-pelicans\/","title":{"rendered":"Milwaukee Bucks Acquire Nikola Mirotic from New Orleans Pelicans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With the NBA Trade deadline coming to a close, the<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/nba-teams\/milwaukee-bucks\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Milwaukee Bucks<\/a> may have pulled off a steal. The Bucks and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/nba-teams\/new-orleans-pelicans\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Orleans Pelicans<\/a> have reached an agreement on a three-team trade, reports ESPN. The Milwaukee Bucks acquire <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mirotni01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Mirotic<\/a><\/strong> from the New Orleans Pelicans.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>Milwaukee Bucks Acquire Nikola Mirotic from New Orleans Pelicans<\/strong><\/h1>\n<h2><strong>The Reported Deal<\/strong><\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Bucks will send Jason Smith and Stanley Johnson to Pelicans for Mirotic, per source. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/D28YlR6zQ5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/D28YlR6zQ5<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wojespn\/status\/1093568982848811009?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 7, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>According to ESPN Insider Adrian Wojnarowski, the Bucks agree to send <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/smithja02.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jason Smith<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/johnsst04.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stanley Johnson<\/a><\/strong> to the Pelicans for Mirotic. In addition, the trade will include the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/nba-teams\/detroit-pistons\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Detroit Pistons<\/a> and send multiple second-round picks to the Pelicans for Mirotic.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How Does This Help the Bucks?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>For the Bucks, they have a player who can shoot the three effectively and rebound. Playing alongside <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davisan02.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Davis<\/a><\/strong> in the frontcourt, Mirotic has averaged nearly 17 points a game, shooting 37 percent from three. Also, Mirotic is\u00a0on the final year of his contract at $12.5 million. This gives Milwaukee more room in the off-season to re-tool or re-sign the core of the current team, however, swapping two players for one will give the Bucks an open roster slot to work with.<\/p>\n<p>Mirotic is a coveted stretch-four who will space the floor for <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/antetgi01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a><\/strong> and the surging Bucks. The Bucks are currently in first place in the East with a 40-13 record. The Bucks are making improvements shooting the ball, averaging 13.3 made three-pointers per game, ranking second behind the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/nba-teams\/houston-rockets\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Houston Rockets<\/a> (15.4). Adding Mirotic to their roster helps them tremendously on both ends of the ball, increasing their chances for a strong playoff run.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How Will This Affect the Pelicans?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Getting rid of Mirotic definitely creates more questions on what the Pelicans game plan is in terms of strengthening their roster. They were seemingly poised to make great strides with a strong core of Mirotic, Davis, and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/holidjr01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jrue Holiday<\/a><\/strong><strong>.<\/strong> However, injuries spread throughout the team and Davis requested a trade.<\/p>\n<p>It made sense to make a move on Mirotic if there were no intentions on re-signing him. This was especially\u00a0important with the uncertainty of Anthony Davis&#8217; situation.<\/p>\n<p>While the Pelicans may not receive any notable players yet, they are scrambling through deals that give them reliable assets.<\/p>\n<p>Main image credit:<br \/>\n<a id=\"9H5celq0TwFXcyxP-1qNVg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/469227545\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'9H5celq0TwFXcyxP-1qNVg',sig:'KiowXGYAJFoZNOcYhTxFKTIUKAdxfzl3kXLNkAk5Ey8=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'469227545',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Bucks and New Orleans Pelicans have reached an agreement on a three-team trade. The Milwaukee Bucks acquire Nikola Mirotic from New Orleans Pelicans&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2853,"featured_media":18742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[240,340,1794,219,220,449,1790],"class_list":["post-18713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bucks","tag-anthony-davis","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-jason-smith","tag-milwaukee-bucks","tag-new-orleans-pelicans","tag-nikola-mirotic","tag-stanley-johnson"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2853"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18713"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":179468,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18713\/revisions\/179468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}