Milwaukee Bucks: 3 players most likely to be traded in 2018-19
2. John Henson
The Milwaukee Bucks, like any team not in true contention, have made a number of mistakes over the years. The team has whiffed on a number of recent first round picks, for example; they also made a pair of trades that netted them Greivis Vasquez and Michael Carter-Williams in exchange for picks that would become Norman Powell, OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges, respectively.
Yet the biggest area where the Bucks have stumbled is in signing middling players to outsized contracts. Matthew Dellavedova is now the team’s third-string point guard, yet he’ll make $9.6 million this season. Mirza Teletovic was forced into medical retirement and gave the Bucks little return on their investment. The albatross that was Miles Plumlee‘s contract was somehow dodged by a timely trade to Charlotte, yet the cost was stretching the contract of Spencer Hawes.
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Of the above three, only Dellavedova is still impacting the cap in a significant way, and he is unlikely to be moved at his price tag. More likely is that the Bucks can move center John Henson, another member of the aforementioned club of overpaid role players. Henson is on the books for another $18.3 million over the next two seasons.
A starter for most of last year, Henson was a part of a number of successful lineups. Although he offers little offensively more than dunks and put-backs, defensively he has solid fundamentals and could help a team with space shore up their center rotation. In Milwaukee he will likely slot behind Brook Lopez and Thon Maker in the rotation, rendering him superfluous.
Henson is a net negative on his current deal, and no team will simply accept him for nothing. Milwaukee could attach a small asset — a second round pick, or a young player — to try and move him. Similarly they could use him as part of a larger deal, using Henson to match salary. However, as they look to move forward, there is little reason for Henson to be kept around.