One dream trade target for the Milwaukee Bucks and the likelihood of it coming true
By Quinn Everts
The Milwaukee Bucks seem to be sneaking their way into trade discussions for every scorer on the market right now, most notably Jimmy Butler and Bradley Beal. But with Butler to Phoenix looking like a near-lock, and a Beal trade made difficult by his gargantuan contract, either of those options feel like a longshot for the Bucks.
Enter Jerami Grant?
Portland is a little too good right now to be in the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes, and a fire sale might be coming soon for general manager Joe Cronin. I assume that Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara, Shaedon Sharpe and Donovan Clingan are off-limits. But veteran forward Jerami Grant is probably the opposite of off-limits. On limits?
However you want to phrase it, I assume that Grant is available for trade. He's been kind of bad this season — 14.7 points on 38 percent shooting is ugly — but I'm putting a lot of the blame for that on Portland not centering Grant in their gameplans, plus Grant probably not having a ton of interest in playing for a bad (but sometimes promising) Blazers team. Put Grant in the right spot, and he can still be a productive starter on a good team.
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Milwaukee could very well be the right spot. Taurean Prince and Andre Jackson Jr. both provide nice balance on both ends for the Bucks, but neither has the scoring creation ability that Grant does; the veteran would easily slide into one of those starting spots for Milwaukee.
How realistic is Jerami Grant to Milwaukee?
Actually pretty realistic! Milwaukee has been reported to hold interest in Grant, and a deal centered around him and Khris Middleton with a third team receiving Middleton and Portland taking on contracts for draft picks makes a lot of sense to me.
The Bucks are kind of old; this season might be an inflection point on whether they try to get even older by acquiring veterans like Grant, or hedge the future a bit by offloading players like Khris Middleton for younger talent and picks.
If they go the "older" direction, Grant is a legit target for the Bucks.