After 12-long seasons in Milwaukee, Khris Middleton was traded out to Washington right before last week’s trade deadline came to an end, and the Bucks general manager Jon Horst called it the “the hardest transaction” he has ever had to make in his career as an NBA executive.
Despite the difficult decision, the manager explained that he had to do so to “maximize the window” for a potential championship. “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 told the press before Monday’s 125-111 loss to the Golden State Warriors.
The general manager then added: “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.”
What did Bucks general manager Jon Horst say about trading Khris Middleton and the players Milwaukee got? https://t.co/SJ0uWRxUvE
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Besides Middleton, Milwaukee also traded rookie guard AJ Johnson and a pick swap to the Wizards in exchange for Kyle Kuzma, Patrick Baldwin Jr. (who ended in San Antonio), plus a second-round pick before last week’s trade deadline. The Bucks also acquired center Jericho Sims from the New York Knicks.
After more than a decade in Wisconsin, Khris had become the franchise leader in three-pointers and he was also a part of the 2020-21 championship squad. Even though he missed out on the first 21 matches of his campaign after undergoing surgery this past summer, he slowly was regaining his form.
Horst talked about Middleton’s availability, but didn’t say it was the reason behind the move. “Collectively, I think we’re deeper in the spots we needed to be deeper,” he assured. “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.”
Aside from acquiring Sims for more frontcourt, Milwaukee also added guard Kevin Porter Jr. in a separate deal. At this point, the Bucks still have an open roster spot in their roster, which means they will be active on the buyout market for the remainder of the present campaign.
