Milwaukee Bucks: Why they should pursue a Nemanja Bjelica trade

The Milwaukee Bucks were docked a draft pick in December for acquiring the rights to a pending restricted free agent four days before free agency was scheduled to begin. Several outlets reported on November 16th that Milwaukee had acquired impending restricted free agent Bogdan Bogdanovic from Sacramento for Donte DiVincenzo, Ersan Ilyasova, and D.J. Wilson.

The trade was on track to be approved by the league until Bucks governor Marc Lasry began to boast about the team’s offseason acquisitions during the board of governors’ call on November 17th. According to Adam Wells of Bleacher Report, Lasry’s behavior led one team to file a formal tampering complaint to the league office.

The complaint forced the league to open an investigation into the transaction between Milwaukee and Sacramento. After the investigation, the league determined this transaction was illegal as it happened before free agency began.

Consequently, the league took away the Bucks’ 2022 second-round draft pick for tampering with at the time Kings guard Bogdanovic. Even though the league didn’t officially punish Sacramento for their role in the illegal transaction, they were also impacted by the ruling.

Sacramento decided not to match the offer sheet that Bogdanovic signed with the Hawks on November 22nd, meaning that they lost him without getting any compensation. Although Lasry’s behavior cost Sacramento two young assets in DiVincenzo and Wilson, should Milwaukee approach Sacramento with another trade proposal?

The answer is yes, as Nemanja Bjelica and the Kings have agreed that both sides should part ways. According to Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee, Bjelica would like a trade, and the Kings have been looking to trade him since November.

Bjelica is known as a 3-point shooter as he has made 38.2 percent of his catch and shoot opportunities throughout his NBA career on 2.5 attempts per game. Catch and shoots account for 80.6 percent of his attempts as he has converted 39.0 percent of the field goals on 3.1 shots per game. Bjelica’s skill set makes him an ideal fit for Milwaukee as they have most players spend a significant amount of time as floor spacers.

Why Nemanja Bjelica is ideal for the Milwaukee Bucks offense

Head coach Mike Budenholzer is currently running a system centered around isolation, post up and transition possessions. Milwaukee is now 8th in the league in isolation possessions averaging 8.4 per game over the first 23 games. Budenholzer gave 47.6 percent of those possessions to Giannis Antetokounmpo as he is averaging 4 per game.

The Milwaukee Bucks are also ninth in the league in post-up possessions averaging 6.6 per game. Antetokounmpo has been responsible for 40.9 percent of those possessions averaging 2.7 per game. Lastly, Milwaukee is currently leading the league in transition possessions averaging 25.1 per game. Antetokounmpo has taken 31.1 percent of those possessions, averaging 7.8 per game.

Budenholzer’s usage of Antetokounmpo has forced the rest of the roster to play the floor spacer role. For instance, Brook Lopez has taken 55.7 percent of his shots from behind the arc over the first 23 games averaging 4.7 per game.

95.7 percent of those attempts have been catch and shoots as he has averaged 4.5 per game over the first 23 games. Furthermore,  Bjelica is a better shooter than both centers on the Bucks roster. Lopez has a career shooting percentage of 34.1 percent from behind the arc on 2.1 attempts. On the other hand, Bobby Portis has converted 36.8 percent of his threes throughout his career on 2.4 attempts.

More importantly, Bjelica’s trade value is low at the moment as he is averaging 15.1 minutes per game this season in only ten appearances. Consequently, the Milwaukee Bucks can offer Wilson and Thanasis Antetokounmpo as salary filler in exchange for Bjelica to get the deal done.

Trading Wilson wouldn’t be a significant loss for the Bucks as he has fallen out of the rotation averaging 9.4 minutes per game this season in only ten appearances. Furthermore, it would be a small make good gesture by Milwaukee as Wilson was one of the young assets going to Sacramento in the failed Bogdanovic trade.