Bucks Clear Cap Space By Moving Tony Snell
Milwaukee Bucks had the 30th pick in the NBA Draft on Wednesday afternoon. By Wednesday night, it belonged to the Detroit Pistons. The two teams, who have been trade partners more than once, decided to link up again for a deal. Bucks sent Tony Snell and the 30th pick to Detroit for Jon Leuer. This is not about the Bucks liking Leuer’s talent, rather, he had an expiring contract worth about 9.5 million dollars compared to Snell who had two years left for 12 million dollars each. Bucks opened up some additional money for this year and a ton of it for the following year. It is a move the team had to make to optimize their cap space.
Milwaukee could create up to $14M in room and bring back Brook Lopez using cap space. The $22M+ in cap holds of Malcolm Brogdon and Khris Middleton give Milwaukee an advantage when it comes to creating room. It also gives them a buffer when it comes to the tax.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) June 20, 2019
Going this route and ducking the luxury tax is going to be tricky without even factoring in Mirotic (who may well just be a tax casualty at this point barring another big cost-cutting move.) A huge Brogdon offer sheet would very much complicate Milwaukee's life. https://t.co/HfSoG1liPg
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) June 20, 2019
Part of the reason why Milwaukee decided to deal Snell is to stay under the luxury tax. Some are concerned that the Bucks will not go above and beyond with their ownership. Part of me feels like that’s a rash assumption at this time. If Malcolm Brogdon gets a big offer sheet and Milwaukee turns him down, then, we have a real, legitimate problem. To worry about the owners deferring the luxury tax now feels very tinfoil hat to me. People are still stuck in the Herb Kohl days.
The decision to move on from Snell gives the Bucks more flexibility this offseason and beyond. I would be shocked if Jon Leuer is a Bucks player by July 1st. With his expiring deal, it will be very easy to move him and clear that near 10 million dollars. Bucks want to bring back most of their roster, and if they’re going to do that, they need to start clearing money. Jon Horst did exactly that on Wednesday.
Charlie.