Why This Trade Makes Sense For The Milwaukee Bucks

After letting Robin Lopez and Ersan Ilyasova go during the offseason and Marvin Williams retiring, the Bucks are pretty thin in their front-court. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis make up the two reliable options at power forward, leaving Brook Lopez as the only true center on the roster.

Cutting ties with Brook Lopez now and bringing in a young frontcourt player with All-Star potential could be the difference in them making it to the NBA Finals this year. Randle is owed $18.9M this season, which the Bucks could take on if they were to trade away Lopez and the best part about bringing Randle in is that he is under contract next season. 

In this deal, the Bucks would have all the leverage when it comes to Randle’s contract because while he is set to be owed $19.8M next season, his contract is partially-guaranteed. If Milwaukee was to make this deal, they would obviously have the intention of keeping Randle long-term, which makes things easier for them as they could restructure his contract to make their financial challenges a little smoother, especially since Giannis Antetokounmpo will be getting paid $39.4M next year. 

On the court, Randle could make a big difference because he would take a lot of pressure off of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton as well. While they do have Jrue Holiday as one of their main ball-handlers, Antetokounmpo and Middleton normally have the ball in their hands on offense and are always the ones making the decisions with it. 

Bringing in Julius Randle gives them another player they can lean on to make decisions, letting Giannis and Middleton not only relax when they are not in the game, but allows them to find open space and move off-the-ball when they are in the game. 

Outside of Giannis, Middleton and Holiday, the Bucks do not have any reliable scorers, which could be troublesome come playoff time when teams attempt to neutralize Middleton or Holiday. Getting that fourth reliable option who is more than capable of holding his own like Julius Randle could be crucial and the missing piece to their championship puzzle.