NBA Free Agency: Grading all 30 teams on trades and signings

NBA Free Agency Grades: Milwaukee Bucks

Signings: Bobby Portis (4 years, $48.58 million); Pat Connaughton (3 years, $28.27 million); Jevon Carter (2 years, $4.34 million); Joe Ingles (1 year, $6.48 million); Wesley Matthews (1 year, $2.9 million); Rayjon Tucker (1 year, $1.9 million); Serge Ibaka (1 year)

Trades: None

On a recent episode of the Dunc’d On Basketball podcast, host Nate Duncan made a salient point. The Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA title two seasons ago by deploying an incredibly versatile defensive group that had enough offensive juice to get the job done. They found a formula that worked….and promptly flushed it down the drain.

Seriously, what moves have they made since winning the title? Last summer they chose offense-first Bobby Portis over P.J. Tucker, then traded for and extended Grayson Allen while dumping Donte DiVincenzo for nothing at the Trade Deadline. That gave them less versatility heading into this past postseason, where an injury to Khris Middleton sealed their fate.

This summer they had a chance to correct their mistakes, and what did they do? They signed an aging offense-first wing in Joe Ingles, who is rehabbing a torn ACL; they backed up the truck for Portis on a four-year deal; and they signed a collection of players around them who are fine but don’t move the needle.

The Bucks are contenders, and at least they are continuing to pay the luxury tax to try and field the best team around Antetokounmpo. The problem is that they are using that financial capital to sign players that don’t maximize their chances of winning a title, and with a player like Giannis in his prime, that’s a mistake.

Grade: C+