When Gary Neal got into it with Larry Sanders in the locker room after a blowout loss to the Suns on Saturday, it wasn’t hard to figure out which player the franchise would be siding with.
Neal is a reserve who’s under contract for just one season beyond this one at $3.2 million, while Sanders was anointed as the face of the franchise with a four-year, $44 million contract extension this past summer.
Not that Sanders has earned it. He’s only appeared in eight games this season after sustaining an injury in a bar fight that required surgery, something Neal alluded to when he told Sanders, “I earn my money. Why don’t you try it?” before storming out of the locker room in Phoenix.
Still, the team doesn’t have much of a choice here, so it will apparently try to alleviate any issues by shipping Neal out of town before the Feb. 20 trade deadline passes.Buzzy item out of Reno: Bucks, I’m told, will do everything they can to find new home for guard Gary Neal via trade before Feb. 20 deadline
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) January 7, 2014
Neal’s production combined with his price makes him semi-valuable on the open market for a team looking to bolster its bench, but it’s unclear what level of asset a playoff team would be willing or able to give up to retain his services.
Neal is averaging a career-best 10.4 points in 20.5 minutes per game for Milwaukee this season.