Milwaukee Bucks: Thon Maker reportedly requests a trade

Despite being on top of the NBA, the Milwaukee Bucks may still make another move before the 2019 NBA Trade Deadline after Thon Maker reportedly requested a trade.

The Milwaukee Bucks have the best record in the NBA. They made a trade to move salary for next season and probably thought they would be done with player movement for the rest of the season. Then young center, Thon Maker, reportedly requested a trade to a team that will give him more court time, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Mike Budenholzer, like every top coach, has a game plan. He uses the players who best fit within this plan. Brook Lopez is the starting center, and he deserves that spot. The pace-and-space system that Budenholzer runs would appear to fit Maker’s style of play as the reserve to Lopez.

However, Budenholzer appears to prefer D.J. Wilson in the reserve role. This means that Maker’s minutes have dried up, despite playing some really good games this year. On Jan. 7, Maker had himself a game. He scored 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 2-of-3 from deep. He also had five rebounds, two steals and one assist in the win against the Utah Jazz.

What was Maker’s reward for such a solid game? He was given less than three minutes the next game against the Houston Rockets. In fact, Maker has only played five of a possible eight games since then, playing less than 10 minutes in each game. It has been like this all season for Maker.

When he was drafted, Maker was seen to be a project. Now that he is in his third season, he needs to be making a bigger impact than he is. He wants to at least be part of the rotation, but remains too inconsistent for a team that’s turning into a serious contender.

Why move?

It is obvious that Maker is seeing the writing on the wall. Since Budenholzer took over at the start of the season, he has taken the Milwaukee Bucks team from a bottom seed in the East to a threat to win the championship. The way that he is using Maker is as an energy guy because that is what you get every time Maker hits the floor.

While this may be good for the team, it is really bad for development. Looking a little bit deeper, he has the ability to negotiate a rookie extension this offseason and, at the age of 21, is looking to establish himself as a player in the NBA for years to come.

This is very hard to do if you’re not getting the opportunity to showcase your skill-set. Maker wants to be traded to a team that can give him more game time. The cynics might say this has to do with maximizing future contracts.

If you look at the work ethic of the man, it is this scribe’s opinion that Thon Maker is looking to be the best player he can be in the NBA. It’s hard to do this when you’re not a regular in the rotation, so it’s only natural he feels this will be best achieved on another team. Only time will tell if the Bucks grant him his wish.