Wait, the Milwaukee Bucks want to be buyers instead of sellers?

Has this season not felt like the entry into basketball Inferno for the Milwaukee Bucks? Doc Rivers as the ferryman into the abyss makes it even more poetic. And the Antetokounmpo brothers are like Dante and Virgil who ultimately have the power to leave.

The Stein Line reports that the Bucks are looking to be buyers on the trade market, as crazy as that sounds.

Before we unpack which name would make the most sense for Milwaukee, be warned first: the 2031 first-round pick is the most serious piece of ammo they have, and including it in a swap would hurt badly because of what it could turn into.

Who can forget how one of the draft picks moved to the Los Angeles Lakers when Utah signed Gail Goodrich in 1976, turned into Magic Johnson in 1979. Or how, when the Cleveland Cavaliers traded an FRP for Don Ford in 1980, and James Worthy was taken with that pick first overall in 1982? What about how Jalen Williams in 2022 (OKC Thunder) and Jaime Jaquez Jr. in 2023 (Miami Heat) were two of the five unprotected FRPs the Los Angeles Clippers traded for Paul George in 2019?

Moving picks years away is a risky business

Who knows where Giannis Antetokounmpo is going to be by then, but that would be his 18th season, and while he’ll probably still be a fantastic player, his career will be in the late stages (36). Moving the 2031 FRP is a temporary solution that could later haunt Milwaukee. The move would also reek of desperation, like when couples try to go to counseling even though they know the relationship is over.

Anyways, per The Stein Line, the Bucks have shown in Zach LaVine, Andrew Wiggins and Dejounte Murray, plus Jerami Grant “has been on Milwaukee’s radar,.”

LaVine has the most star power as he can beat defenders with his high-level athleticism and drain long jumpers. However, he’s only logged four playoff games in 12 seasons. Maybe he’s built for prime time, but it’s hard to shake his poor performances from memory.

Grant averages 20 a game and has been a nice sniper across different seasons, but he’s a poor rebounder and can sometimes play like a small guy in a big man’s body.

Wiggins is the best defender of the group, yet he barely ever gets to the line and has never turned into the consistent scorer one would think he can be with all of his skills and athleticism.

Murray can do a little bit of everything on offense, minus shooting three as well, but he hasn’t played since late January when he tore his Achilles. Sometimes there could be an adjustment for players getting back from devastating injuries, and do the Bucks have time to wait for that?

Again, these four players are good, but not 2031 FRP good, so having to choose between them if the pick is a prerequisite feels like a roulette game with four rounds in the cylinder. It’s narrowly Wiggins over LaVine, and not much consideration went into the other two.

Wiggins is a proven champion who will get you at least 16 points a game and high-level defense. Not many players in the league can do both of those things at the same time. Yet as much as he’d make Milwaukee better, it wouldn’t be enough to get them into contention.