Bucks Forward Kyle Kuzma - Photo by Sports Illustrated
MILWAUKEE, WI (WSAU) – The Milwaukee Bucks have officially finalized a deal that will send one of the franchise’s greatest players to the nation’s capital for one of the more underrated scorers in the NBA.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania and Bobby Marks, the Bucks are sending Khris Middleton and 2024 first-round pick AJ Johnson to the Washington Wizards for forward Kyle Kuzma, Patrick Baldwin Jr., and a 2028 pick swap. The Bucks will also be saving a bit of salary cap as Kuzma has agreed to reduce a portion of his trade bonus to keep the Bucks under the cap’s second apron.
Patrick Baldwin Jr., who played high school basketball in Sussex, Wisconsin was the Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year in 2017-2018 before playing college basketball for his dad at UW-Milwaukee.
NBA insider Jake Fischer reported on Wednesday morning that “a key element” of the deal involved “a large vote of support” from Giannis Antetokounmpo.
In his fourth season with the Wizards, Kuzma is scoring 15 points per game, and the anticipated trade would end Khris Middleton’s time in Milwaukee, which began back in 2013 when the Bucks sent Brandon Jennings to the Detroit Pistons in return for Middleton, point guard Brandon Knight, and Viacheslav Kravtsov.
Last month, Middleton overtook Glenn Robinson to become the third all-time scorer in the history of the Milwaukee Bucks, and he would leave the team with 1,281 career three-pointers, the most in the team’s history.
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