Are the Milwaukee Bucks interested in Kings restricted free agent Bogdan Bogdanovic?
The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported in October that Milwaukee would be one of the top suitors for the services of Bogdanovic, but as NBC Sports Bay Area Kings Insider James Ham recently wrote, salary cap constraints only would allow for a sign-and-trade to send Bogdanovic to the Bucks.
Milwaukee has “kicked around” trade scenarios that would involve the Bucks absorbing Harrison Barnes’ contract in a potential deal, ESPN’s Zach Lowe reported Thursday citing sources. Lowe also wrote that the Bucks “love” Bogdanovic.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
The Kings have a bit of a redundancy at shooting guard with Buddy Hield also in the fold, but Bogdanovic offers positional versatility and would be a highly coveted player in a completely open market. Especially for a franchise that struggles to attract high-level talent in free agency, Bogdanovic is a talent the Kings would be lucky to retain.
Barnes has three years remaining on the extension he signed with Sacramento prior to last season, and will make $22.2 million in 2020-21. Moving his salary off the books would free Sacramento and new general manager Monte McNair up to lock point guard De’Aaron Fox up on a max extension and try to attract some valuable free agents.
RELATED: ESPN vet Mark Jones named Kings' new play-by-play announcer
Lowe did note that “It is unclear if [the Bucks] have engaged the Kings in real discussions” about a potential deal involving the swingman.
NBA
There also could be hard cap considerations if a sign-and-trade is on the table, so this likely would be a complicated exchange.
Nevertheless, it likely would be less expensive for the Kings to iron out an extension with Bogdanovic rather than letting him test the open waters of restricted free agency if they truly want to retain him. Otherwise, a sign-and-trade could be a major offseason move for the franchise.