Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement - scroll for more content
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Eric Nehm: Final: Bucks 131, Bulls 115 - Kuzma 31pts/10reb/6ast - Rollins 21pts/7reb/10ast - Green 17pts/4reb/2ast - Nance 15pts/8reb/2ast - Turner 15pts/4reb - Trent 15pts The Bucks are now 19-29 on the season. They next play the Pelicans on Wednesday.
Kyle Kuzma and AJ Green did acknowledge, though, that being mindful of their attitude, effort and spirit is part of keeping the team together as they wait for either the team to be wholly blown up or perhaps only tweaked. “I think it’s part of just being honorable,” Kuzma said. “I’m older. I’m an older guy, we’ve got a lot of younger guys that haven’t’ been through a lot of these type of things. I’ve been through this nine seasons. I’ve be through trade rumors for nine seasons. So I think the best way you can help is, everybody watched you. Everybody is looking at you.
![Brandon Ingram: [Laughs]. I don’t know if we would’ve …](https://sportsdata.usatoday.com/gcdn/content-pipeline-sports-images/sports2/nba/players/214152.png?format=png8&auto=webp&quality=85,75&width=140)
During that 2018-19 Lakers season, things were looking bright until LeBron James went down with a groin injury. Do you think that squad was talented enough to make the Finals if everyone had stayed healthy? Brandon Ingram: [Laughs]. I don’t know if we would’ve made the Finals, but I will say we were a very talented team. We had our young core in their second and third years—Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart, Kyle Kuzma, Ivica Zubac. We had LeBron, Rondo, and Michael Beasley. It was a smart group. We would have had a chance, but we were also pretty inexperienced. I’m not sure about the Finals, but we were definitely talented enough to make a real run in the playoffs.
After being dealt from Atlanta to Cleveland this time last year, De'Andre Hunter has once again proven to be a prominent name on this season's trade market. He has also generated interest from the Bucks, with sources saying that Milwaukee has offered Kyle Kuzma and/or Bobby Portis Jr. in various frameworks. Yet those discussions began before the Bucks began fielding trade pitches in earnest for Antetokounmpo.
Josh Robbins: Former Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma is getting booed by the Capital One Arena crowd whenever he touches the basketball. (They're not saying "Kuuuz!") That also occurred during the Dec. 1 Bucks-Wizards game here.
Advertisement
Milwaukee has tried to operate as a buyer in the trade market but has not moved forward with a transaction due to the uncertainty around Antetokounmpo's future and the team's limited mobility to make a major move. Forwards Bobby Portis and Kyle Kuzma are the main names the Bucks have discussed in trade talks while keeping their one tradeable first-round pick (2031 or 2032) off the table unless it is moved for a no-brainer superstar, according to sources. At the draft in June, the Bucks will have their pick that night plus the 2031 and 2033 selections to move in trades.
Chances are slim that Milwaukee would part with its only tradable first-round pick, league sources said. Instead, it could aim to acquire a distressed asset, using Kyle Kuzma’s $22.4 million and/or Bobby Portis’ $13.4 million salaries to add a player of consequence, someone who makes above his market value (which is why his team would trade him) but brings in firepower.
Eric Nehm: FINAL: Sixers 139, Bucks 122 - Turner 31pts/4reb/3ast - Rollins 24pts/8reb/4ast - Portis 17pts/12reb/8ast - Kuzma 17pts/8reb/8ast - Trent 13pts - Anthony 10pts The Bucks are now 18-27 (12th in East) on the season. They play next in DC on Thursday.
Eric Nehm: Per Bucks PR, it was a left quad cramp for Kyle Kuzma.
The New York Knicks have been one team that has been linked to Antetokounmpo for some time, and NBA insider Zach Lowe recently brought up a rumor that he's heard involving them, the Bucks, and the Portland Trail Blazers. “A three-team trade between New York, Milwaukee, and Portland. Because Portland owns pieces of three consecutive Bucks picks from the trades that they’ve made together, including the Dame trade. ‘28, ‘29, ‘30 swaps and pieces of picks etc…. I’m like, so how does that work? Like what is the rumor,” Lowe said. “And I’ve heard a couple different versions of it. One of them had the Knicks getting both Giannis and Jrue Holiday, which would make sense because if the Knicks are trading multiple for one, they’re hurting their depth. And I’ve played with concepts where they get Giannis and Kuzma in a two-team trade with the Bucks.”
Advertisement
League sources say that the Bucks, frankly, were already struggling to generate difference-making trade discussions by making the likes of Kyle Kuzma and Bobby Portis Jr. available. Brooklyn's Porter, Sacramento's Zach LaVine, Cleveland's De'Andre Hunter, Portland's Jerami Grant and Charlotte's Miles Bridges have all been mentioned as potential targets, but the Bucks' lack of available draft capital to sweeten trade offers has clearly complicated the search for reinforcements.
As for Hornets that might be on the move, veteran forward Miles Bridges is drawing significant interest, league sources told The Athletic. The Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns are all known to be among the interested parties, though it remains to be seen if any team can compel the Hornets to give Bridges up. Charlotte’s lack of interest in the Bucks’ Kyle Kuzma is known to be an obstacle to a potential deal between those two teams. Draft capital is also a pivotal part of the conversation. “They want a first (round pick),” one league source said. “Maybe two.”
Eric Nehm: FINAL: Bucks 112, Hawks 110 - Giannis Antetokounmpo 21pts/17reb/6ast - Bobby Portis 19pts/3reb - AJ Green 18pts/3reb - Myles Turner 14pts/8reb - Ryan Rollins 14pts/3reb/3ast - Kyle Kuzma 10pts - Kevin Porter 9pts/6reb/7ast The Bucks are now 18-24 on the season. They next play the Thunder on Wednesday at home.
The Bucks, meanwhile, have gauged the trade value of forwards Kyle Kuzma and Bobby Portis on the market across the league, sources said. Both players could be included in a Morant trade to make the salary requirements work under CBA rules, but would leave Milwaukee thin in the frontcourt. '
