Milwaukee Bucks: Top 10 moments from 2017-18 NBA season

3. Milwaukee trades for Eric Bledsoe

When Milaukee traded for Eric Bledsoe, they were buying low on a recently great guard. On Milwaukee’s side, they had a collection of rotation-level options but no above-average starters. They saw in Bledsoe the opportunity to increase their ceiling without selling the farm.

As Bledsoe sat at home, sent there after he pouted his way through the season’s first week, Phoenix fielded offers from a handful of teams. They liked the structure of Milwaukee’s deal best: Greg Monroe, a conditional first, and a conditional second for Eric Bledsoe.

Monroe was an important part of Milwaukee’s bench offense, and those units struggled to score for the rest of the season. But in Bledsoe the Bucks got a dynamic point guard with offensive and defensive chops, for better or for worse.

Milwaukee managed to toe the line at the end of the year, making the playoffs while still hanging onto their first round draft pick after a coin flip. It will slide further into the future, while Milwaukee gets to add one more cost-controlled player as they seek to build a contender around their star.

Eric Bledsoe could still be that piece, the player to support Antetokounmpo in reaching the highest of heights. If he is not, the Bucks did not give up the largest of packages, hedging against the worst-case scenarios. But they were — and are — hoping that the flashes of greatness become a more regular occurrence.