The Bucks may have gotten a fresh wrinkle in the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade chatter last week, but the bigger truth stays the same: passing on Jaylen Brown was the smarter move.
The buzz started when former Celtic Brian Scalabrine said Brown wanted out of Boston in the offseason and had Milwaukee at the top of his list. Whether that report holds up or not, it doesn’t really change the math for the Bucks. Milwaukee still came away with the better deal from the Heat, and that matters more than Brown’s preference.
Brown’s value, as the source here puts it, was surprisingly low in trade terms, and he would have landed in a strange spot in Milwaukee anyway. The Bucks had already committed to a rebuild after trading away Giannis, which meant the priority had shifted toward younger pieces and long-term development. Brown might raise a floor, but he doesn’t solve the bigger problem: he’s not the kind of player who can drag a team all the way into true contender territory by himself.
That’s why the fit looks off from the start. If Milwaukee had chased Brown, the result would have been a roster stuck in the middle - too good to fully bottom out, not good enough to chase anything real.
He posted what looked like an All-NBA Second Team level season last year, but that came with the benefits of a strong Celtics cast around him. Put him on this Bucks roster, and the picture likely gets a lot uglier.
The contract makes it even tougher to justify. Tyler Herro is already squeezing Milwaukee’s finances this season, and Brown’s deal would be on an entirely different level.
He’s set to be the 7th-highest paid player in the league this season at $57 million. That kind of salary running through 2029 would leave the Bucks with very little flexibility.
And that’s the real trap. A Brown trade would have boxed Milwaukee in, making it harder to chase young talent, develop young talent, or even operate freely in future trades and free agency. The Bucks would also have a hard time finding teams willing to send major prospects back for Brown, which only makes the long-term picture thinner.
Sure, Milwaukee might be worse off in the short term for not taking him. Brown could have kept them in the playoff mix, while the current path points toward a rougher season.
But the Heat package gives the Bucks something more useful in a rebuild: tradable salaries, young players, and draft picks. In the long run, that’s the cleaner bet.
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Herros arrival has already created ripple effects beyond Milwaukee, because his name is now being floated in connection with Detroit. The Pistons have been searching for more scoring punch and perimeter shooting, and a player with Herros offensive profile would fit that need in a hurry. From the Bucks side, any deal involving him would be part of a broader rebuild, but for Detroit it would be about whether this is the kind of swing that meaningfully raises the ceiling. [Read more 🡒]
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Bucks Rough Start Is Putting Several Rotation Pieces On Notice
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Tyler Herros scoring has given him a clear market appeal if the Bucks decide to reshuffle, while Kyle Kuzma and Bobby Portis bring different kinds of trade value depending on what another team is looking for. Isaiah Stewart, meanwhile, is viewed as a tougher contract to move, which only adds to the complexity of Milwaukees choices as the front office weighs performance, salary and long-term direction. [Read more 🡒]