Milwaukee Bucks: Time is now to push for an NBA championship

After the Milwaukee Bucks completed two roster-defining trades on Monday night, it’s clear that the window for a championship run is at this very instant.

According to multiple reports, the Milwaukee Bucks recently agreed in principle to acquire the New Orleans Pelicans’ Jrue Holiday and Sacramento Kings’ Bogdan Bogdanovic in separate deals as the NBA’s trade moratorium was finally uplifted on Monday.

Anticipation was steadily building up for the Bucks to make moves ahead of the transaction period, and after missing out on potential targets Chris Paul and Dennis Schroder, it seemed as if they had to aggressively act fast. Indeed, that’s exactly what they did by making a sizeable splash on the trade market during dark hours.

Initially, Milwaukee sent Eric Bledsoe, George Hill, three first-round picks, and two future pick swaps to New Orleans for two-way star Jrue Holiday, per multiple reports. Holiday was attracting interest from many teams including the Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets and Denver Nuggets, so it was relishing for the Bucks to win the sweepstakes for the coveted 30-year-old guard.

Last season with the Pelicans, Holiday averaged 19.1 points, 6.7 assists, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per game on 45.5 percent field goals and 35.3 percent from beyond the arc. He’s one of the most effective two-way players in the league with his versatility, awareness, quickness, and active hands as a lethal defender while also contributing playmaking, shot creation, accountability, and game flow to the court offensively.

There’s no doubt that Jrue Holiday would be an ideal fit in Bucks’ head coach Mike Budenholzer’s system, and he’ll certainly have a positive effect on the chemistry within the team and in the locker room after winning the 2019-20 Teammate of the Year Award.

Although Milwaukee may have overpaid for Holiday by parting with a significant portion of draft capital, it’ll be worth it if they can win a glorified championship as well as convince superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo to sign the supermax contract extension that the Bucks are expected to offer this offseason. Acquiring Jrue gives Milwaukee a greater chance at achieving their anticipated goals in the near future, and this was just the first step of the reshaping process.

Moments following the reported Jrue Holiday trade, the Bucks received 6’6” guard Bogdan Bogdanovic in a sign-and-trade with the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Donte DiVincenzo, D.J. Wilson, and the expiring $7 million contract of Ersan Ilyasova (deal also sent guard Justin James to Milwaukee), per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. At 28 years old, Bogdanovic is a sharpshooting playmaker that understands how to win.

He’s coming off a productive third NBA season where he averaged 15.1 points per game on 44.0 percent shooting from the field and 37.2 percent from 3-point range while settling with limited opportunities as he consistently battled Buddy Hield for minutes with the Kings. Before entering the NBA, Bogdanovic lit up the competition overseas. He’s been a EuroLeague champion, two-time Turkish League champion, two-time Serbian Player of the Year, and has earned many more impressive accolades over his career.

Another key contribution to note is how well Bogdanovic performs under pressure. Evidently, he’s made plenty of clutch shots throughout the years, so having those abilities during crunch time could really prove to be beneficial, especially since a weakness for the Milwaukee Bucks has been supporting Giannis and All-Star Khris Middleton during the closing stages of games.

Now as he’s set to join the Bucks, the expectation is for him to thrive alongside Milwaukee’s stars and the rest of the efficient group. Bogdanovic, along with Jrue Holiday, will make an instant impact in Milwaukee as the organization remains keen on upgrading their supporting cast.

The Milwaukee Bucks are proving they are committed to building a champion

Bucks’ general manager Jon Horst continues to make aggressive moves that show an appetite toward title aspirations, and he and the front office are not even close to being done just yet. While they already acquired two essential contributors, it cost the team to say goodbye to five other players, which has left numerous roster spots available.

In addition, Wesley Matthews recently declined his $2.6 million player option while Robin Lopez passed up $5.0 million to decline his as well. It’s still possible that the Bucks could re-sign them, but both will now become unrestricted free agents, joining Pat Connaughton and Kyle Korver.

Milwaukee currently has a short roster of Jrue Holiday, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Khris Middleton, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez, Thanasis Antetokounmpo and Justin James, so plenty of important decisions have yet to be made. The Bucks will likely be very active in free agency (negotiations begin November 20th) as they fill out the rest of this reshaped supporting cast. Note that they should have the full $9.3 million mid-level exception and other utilities at their disposal to maintain cap space and distance themselves from the luxury tax.

It appears that the Milwaukee Bucks are “all in” on restructuring the roster in hopes of capturing their second NBA championship in franchise history. It could prove to be a home run or even a complete strikeout, but only time will tell.

The best case scenario for the Bucks would be walking away as NBA champions with the current squad that they’re assembling while also getting a long-term commitment from Giannis by signing the supermax extension. The Bucks actually seem to be overly confident that Antetokounmpo will stay long-term after executing the deals to absorb Holiday and Bogdanovic since it would be foolish to give up a substantial amount of future assets without receiving at least some form of commitment from the back-to-back MVP.

It wouldn’t be surprising if the Bucks asked Giannis for permission before making these aggressive deals. Besides, they’re trying to satisfy him, so gathering his input would make sense while they attempt to convince him to stay long-term and build a championship-contending team around him. Nevertheless, if Milwaukee doesn’t meet expectations and were to hypothetically lose Giannis in 2021 free agency, then extreme consequences would take place.

They’ve already sacrificed the majority of their future value by offloading four first-round picks within the next seven years along with the young talent (DiVincenzo, Wilson) that they possessed. Milwaukee would also likely lose Jrue Holiday in 2021 if Giannis were to leave since Holiday has a $26.2 million player option for the 2021-22 season that he’s expected to decline.

Needless to say, it could be a nightmare for the Milwaukee Bucks if they ultimately fail to meet their objectives this season. Pressure will continue to mount on the Bucks as they intend to make more acquisitions, but they have confidently made two intimidating moves to begin the 2020 offseason and have clearly shown that they are not messing around.

The Milwaukee Bucks seem highly motivated to do whatever it takes to identify themselves as NBA title contenders at this very instant, and after trading for Jrue Holiday and Bogdan Bogdanovic, they are plowing through the risks at stake to aggressively reach that point of glorified success.