The recently announced trade before the NBA Draft between the Milwaukee Bucks, Sacramento Kings and Charlotte Bobcats is an complicated one. It’s a swap of talent, future talent and salary moves that make it nearly impossible to stack up on a set of scales and measure who won. But in the end, it seems the Bucks did the best to utilize their position and acquire the most value heading forward.
For those who haven’t yet heard, here’s the breakdown:
Bucks receive: No. 19 choice, Beno Udrih, Stephen Jackson, Shaun Livingston
Bobcats receive: No. 7 choice, Corey Maggette
Kings receive: No. 10 choice, John Salmons
Within this set-up, the Bobcats look good because they kept their No. 9 selection and now have two of the top 10 picks in the draft. Perhaps they can package those and get up much higher in the draft, but in a weak draft class like this, the ability to grab two guys like Alec Burks and Tristan Thompson could pay off in the end, but it’s the Bucks who still come out on top with a chance to get a good rookie alongside proven talent in the end.
While the Bucks lose a scorer in Salmons, they pick up the same in Stephen Jackson. Both have large contracts most teams would want to dump, so that’s basically a wash. The Bucks also lose Maggette on the wing, but have Carlos Delfino in place to take over. Udrih adds a solid point guard option behind Brandon Jennings and Livingston further bolsters the same position. That puts Keyon Dooling in a weird position, but that’s neither here nor there for the team.
The Bucks also get to add the No. 19 selection and dropping those 9 slots might have cost them a chance at a player like Kemba Walker, but they can still grab a Markieff Morris. It’s not a bad trade off to be able to acquire the help for the backcourt that they did in Jackson and Udrih and teamed with Chris Douglas Roberts and even Michael Redd, it creates for some explosive backcourt scoring ability.