{"id":62123,"date":"2024-01-24T12:15:45","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T17:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=62123"},"modified":"2024-01-24T12:15:45","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T17:15:45","slug":"nba-rumors-milwaukee-bucks-looking-to-trade-two-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/01\/24\/nba-rumors-milwaukee-bucks-looking-to-trade-two-players\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Rumors: Milwaukee Bucks Looking to Trade Two Players"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Milwaukee Bucks are not standing pat as the trade deadline approaches. Yahoo Sports&#8217; <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/adrian-griffins-dismissal-likely-signals-more-moves-for-the-bucks-153321153.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jake Fischer<\/a> reported that the Bucks are looking to move on from <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/connapa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pat Connaughton<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/payneca01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cameron Payne<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>NBA Rumors: Milwaukee Bucks Looking to Trade Two Players<\/h2>\n<h2>Defense is Needed<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Milwaukee Bucks are reportedly seeking to trade a package that includes Pat Connaughton and Cameron Payne in an effort to upgrade their roster, per <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JakeLFischer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@JakeLFischer<\/a><\/p>\n<p>(Via <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0YUqPcqku2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/0YUqPcqku2<\/a>) <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/gFJTGbfonz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/gFJTGbfonz<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheDunkCentral\/status\/1750185571832504365?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 24, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Milwaukee dominated the NBA headlines yesterday, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/01\/23\/nba-news-bucks-to-replace-head-coach-with-nba-champion\/\" target=\"_self\">firing head coach Adrian Griffin<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/01\/23\/nba-news-bucks-hire-doc-rivers-as-head-coach\/\" target=\"_self\">replacing him with Doc Rivers<\/a> within the same day. Multiple reports have come out stating that the change was due in part to the Bucks&#8217; defensive woes.<\/p>\n<p>Milwaukee general manager Jon Horst&#8217;s job is to achieve a balance between constructing a contending team and keeping <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/antetgi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a><\/strong> happy. Griffin was reportedly Antetokounmpo&#8217;s top choice for the head coaching vacancy left by <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/coaches\/budenmi99c.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike Budenholzer<\/a><\/strong>, and Horst obliged.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Milwaukee&#8217;s 30-13 start, several players (including Antetokounmpo) lost faith in Griffin. The swift removal of a head coach who guided his team to the current second seed in the East is exemplary of the tremendous power that franchise players hold in today&#8217;s NBA.<\/p>\n<p>However, switching from Griffin to Rivers won&#8217;t magically fix Milwaukee&#8217;s deficiencies on defense. Connaughton, Payne, and a second round pick are what Milwaukee will try to use to acquire players to fix that.<\/p>\n<h3>Bucks&#8217; Trade Piece #1: Pat Connaughton<\/h3>\n<p>Since arriving in 2015 from the Trail Blazers, Connaughton has been a key contributor of Milwaukee&#8217;s second unit. This year, however, he is playing 21.4 minutes per game, which is his lowest total since 2019-20.<\/p>\n<p>He is currently averaging 5.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game.<\/p>\n<p>The 6&#8217;5 guard out of Notre Dame is currently in the first year of a three-year, $28 million extension signed in 2022. A career 36% three-point shooter, Connaughton could interest teams interested in having a reliable, veteran presence on the wing.<\/p>\n<h3>Bucks&#8217; Trade Piece #2: Cameron Payne<\/h3>\n<p>Payne has endured a topsy-turvy career in the NBA. He is best known as the spark plug off the bench for the 2021-22 Phoenix Suns. That team reached the NBA Finals, only to lose to the Bucks.<\/p>\n<p>Payne signed with the Bucks on a team-friendly one-year, $2.89 contract in October.<\/p>\n<p>The Murray State product came in as the back up to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lillada01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Damian Lillard<\/a><\/strong>, but he has struggled to impose himself thus far. He is currently averaging 6.5 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in just over 15 minutes per game.<\/p>\n<h3>Bucks&#8217; Trade Piece #3: 2024 2nd round pick(from Portland)<\/h3>\n<p>The Bucks are absolutely strapped for picks. The only draft selection they hold that would be mildly attractive to other teams is Portland&#8217;s second rounder in the upcoming 2024 draft. If the season ended today, it would be the 35th pick.<\/p>\n<p>Fischer elaborated on the value of the pick in his <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/adrian-griffins-dismissal-likely-signals-more-moves-for-the-bucks-153321153.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">article<\/a> &#8220;There are some front-office figures who view that type of selection as more valuable than or the equivalent of a late first-rounder because the pick isn\u2019t bound to a rookie-scale and carries lower tax implications.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>On it&#8217;s own, the pick may not intrigue teams on it&#8217;s own, but could be a solid sweetener in a packaged deal.<\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word<\/h3>\n<p>The Bucks now have two weeks to decide what Rivers can accomplish with the current roster. Milwaukee has been linked with high-profile perimeter defenders, such as <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brownbr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bruce Brown<\/a>. <\/strong>To get that, they&#8217;ll have to offer more than just Connaughton, Payne, and a second round pick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Milwaukee Bucks are not standing pat as the trade deadline approaches. Yahoo Sports&#8217; Jake Fischer reported that the Bucks are looking to move on from Pat Connaughton and Cameron Payne. NBA Rumors: Milwaukee Bucks Looking to Trade Two Players Defense is Needed The Milwaukee Bucks are reportedly seeking to trade a package that includes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4773,"featured_media":62131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[62,1608,2,15,4721],"tags":[380,4774,662,1287],"class_list":["post-62123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-featured","category-bucks","category-trade-rumors","tag-cameron-payne","tag-rumors","tag-nba-trade-deadline","tag-pat-connaughton"],"modified_by":"Adam Echchaibi","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62123","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\/4773"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}