Kyle Kuzma-Khris Middleton Trade Skyrockets Bucks' Latest Playoff Odds

The Milwaukee Bucks made a major trade on Wednesday morning, shipping out Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson (who was a first-round pick in the 2024 NBA Draft) and a pick swap to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Kyle Kuzma, Patrick Baldwin Jr. and second-round draft compensation.

Breaking: The Milwaukee Bucks are trading Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson and a pick swap to the Washington Wizards for Kyle Kuzma, Patrick Baldwin Jr. and second-round draft compensation, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/hCOzqqqUXE
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 5, 2025

Even though Middleton has been a star with the Bucks for quite some time, injuries have limited the three-time All-Star in recent seasons. After undergoing surgery on both of his ankles last offseason, Middleton has been relegated to mainly a bench role in Milwaukee this season.

While Kuzma is having one of the worst shooting seasons of his career (42.0 percent from the field, 28.1 percent from 3), the Bucks are betting on him upgrading their rotation as they look to make a playoff push.

And, it seems oddsmakers agree that this was a good deal. After sitting at -2500 to make the playoffs prior to the Kuzma trade, the Bucks have jumped all the way to -5000 at DraftKings Sportsbook to reach the playoffs in the Eastern Conference.

Based on those odds, the Bucks have an implied probability of 98.04 percent to participate in the postseason.

The current No. 5 seed in the East, Milwaukee has fallen behind the Indiana Pacers in the standings after losing four games in a row. Still, the Bucks won the NBA Cup this season and have two stars in Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.

If Kuzma can return to his form from last season -- when he averaged a career-high 22.2 points per game -- the Bucks could make some noise in the Eastern Conference, By trading for Kuzma, the Bucks are betting on a younger wing that is locked into a dealfor mutliple seasons over the aging and oft-injured Middleton.

It'll be interesting to see if they can make a push for a top-four -- or even higher -- seed in the East down the stretch of this season.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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Find Peter Dewey's NBA betting record here (futures included). You can also follow my daily plays on BetStamp here.

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