Khris Middleton may very well see his jersey hanging in the rafters at Fiserv Forum after he retires. The sharpshooting wing served as Giannis Antetokounmpo's right-hand man when the Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA Finals in 2021.
His status with the franchise made trading him pretty difficult for general manager Jon Horst. After sending the veteran wing to the Washington Wizards for Kyle Kuzma, Horst said that it was the most difficult move he's had to make as an NBA executive.
“It has to be the hardest thing transactionally that I’ve ever done, from the human side of it, the roster side of it, the culture of the team, our community,” Horst said Monday in his first media availability since the deal last week.
“I’m incredibly close with Khris personally, his family. I probably have more Middleton jerseys in my house than anything and will still have more Middleton jerseys in my house than anything.”
Ultimately, the trade came down to keeping the Bucks' championship window open. Antetokounmpo reportedly supported adding Kuzma, who is four years younger than Middleton, at the deadline.
"It's still the awesome responsibility to try to take this franchise and maximize the window that we have now as best we can," Horst said, via ESPN. "What we think gives us the best chance to win, and figure out how to continue winning going forward. There's a very narrow set of opportunities that we felt that we could do that, and this was one of them."
Kuzma has had a relatively quiet year, averaging 15.2 points per game, his lowest mark since 2020–21 with the Lakers and a big drop from his 22.2 points per game with the Wizards last season. Middleton is averaging just 12.6 points per game and has been limited to 23 appearances and seven starts this season.
Ultimately, Horst valued Kuzma's versatility, and believes he can play three or four positions for the Bucks, while paying tribute to what Middleton accomplished during his 12 years in Milwaukee.
"Collectively, I think we're deeper in the spots we needed to be deeper," he said. "This gave us an opportunity to diversify a little bit, to kind of put money and talent and roster spots in other places where I thought we needed help."
"This isn't a Khris or a Kyle comparison, although that's the easy thing to do.It's the team before the trade deadline and the team after the trade deadline, and to be determined with an open roster spot, that we felt like in totality we positioned ourselves to have a better run this year. That doesn't do anything to diminish the three-time All-Star, Olympian, NBA champion, pillar in the community, everything that Khris Middleton was for this franchise for over a decade."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Bucks GM Admits Khris Middleton Trade Was 'Hardest Transaction' He's Ever Had to Make.
