On Wednesday night, the Milwaukee Bucks traded their 30th pick to Detroit for Tony Snell. They freed up some much-needed cap relief, even though, they had to take on Jon Leuer’s contract. I wrote about the trade and lauded the Bucks for doing it. Personally, it was the right move for them to move out of the 30th spot and create some cap space when the opportunity to present itself. That being said, the draft fell in a way where the 30th pick had become lucrative due to some surprising picks from 10 to 25. Bucks might have missed a chance to get max value for their 30th pick.

Detroit flipped the Bucks’ 30th pick for four second-picks and cash from Cleveland. Now, would four second-round picks be good to have as trade pieces for the Bucks? Absolutely. Do I think the Bucks get the same deal from Cleveland? Perhaps, but Cleveland did not have to take on a contract. They did not get rid of some excess money by dealing the pick. Say the Bucks did keep it and the Cavs came calling, don’t you think they would have tried to make Milwaukee take on J.R. Smith’s deal? In case you’re wondering, he’s on the hook for over 15 million dollars this year. It would have been similar to Leuer deal that Milwaukee takes on an expiring contract, yet, it’s six million more dollars plus Bucks would lose three million in cap space this year.

Sure, there could have been other teams involved with Detroit and the 30th pick yet we do not have that knowledge. We can put ourselves in fantasy land and come up with different ideas yet this was the deal that happened last night. Snell’s contract might have been one of the worst in basketball, and Jon Horst found someone to take on 24 million dollars over two years for a mediocre player. Horst has officially cleared out all the bad contracts this team had before him with sending off Snell.

Bucks did the right thing by letting the pick go on Wednesday. Feel free to give your thoughts in the comments.

Charlie.