The Milwaukee Bucks may have achieved their offseason goals, but it might be a short-lived win.
The Bucks began free agency with a bang, signing Myles Turner while waiving and stretching Damian Lillard. The Turner deal was viewed as one of the most intriguing of the offseason, with everyone expecting the big man to simply return to Indiana before the Bucks snagged him.
While the money on Turner’s big deal, along with the dead cap of Lillard’s waiving, could lead to future problems, the Bucks at least have a great fit at center alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo moving forward.
Of course, the reason the Bucks needed to add a center like Turner so badly was that they had just lost their own. The evening before Milwaukee agreed to a deal with Turner, it lost Brook Lopez to the LA Clippers, a move CBS Sports’ Brad Botkin tabbed one of the most underrated of the offseason.
Botkin explained that the Clippers needed to make the move, in part, to adapt to the West’s plethora of double-big lineups. While Milwaukee found its replacement rather quickly, losing Lopez might have sent the Bucks spiraling into a dark future.
Although Lopez is older and declining, he still would’ve given the team similar production to Turner at a much lower cost. As the team’s financial situation is only getting worse and flexibility is nearly nonexistent, losing Lopez might have been another domino in Antetokounmpo’s seemingly inevitable departure.
In any case, the Bucks still have an opportunity to make some noise in the East next season, but keeping Lopez around might have been the move the Bucks needed most.