Milwaukee knew it needed to shake things up — it was 0-8 this season against the top three teams in the East (Boston, Cleveland and New York) and in the last week fell to two of the top three teams in the West (Oklahoma City and Memphis). The Bucks have turned things around from early in the season, but that doesn’t make them a contender.
Enter Kyle Kuzma. The Milwaukee Bucks reportedly have agreed to trade away former franchise cornerstone Khris Middleton, as well as AJ Johnson and a pick swap, to the Washington Wizards for Kyle Kuzma, Patrick Baldwin Jr., and a second-round pick, a story broken by Shams Charania of The Athletic and since confirmed by multiple other reports.
Moving on from Middleton is emotional for the Bucks, this is a franchise legend and a key part of the team’s 2021 title run. However, he had surgery on both ankles during the offseason and was not the same player, averaging 12.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 4.2 assists a night and getting into just 23 games. Plus, he was not near the same defender he was when the Bucks were winning a title and Middleton was winning a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Kuzma is a stretch four who brings more athleticism to Milwaukee, and he also has championship experience as part of the 2020 Lakers title team in the bubble. However, while Kuzma is averaging 15.2 points and 5.8 rebounds a game this season, he is shooting just 28.1% from 3 (compared to 40.7% for Middleton) and Kuzma’s 48.8 true shooting percentage is nearly 10 points below the league average. To use a catch-all stat as an example, for all his flaws this season, Middleton has an 18 PER compared to a well-below-average 10.2 for Kuzma.
Kuzma has been down this season in Washington partly due to injury and partly because the team has focused the offense more on Jordan Poole and second-year player Bilal Coulibaly. The problem for Kuzma is that Milwaukee is third — at best — in the pecking order behind Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard (and, at points, Brook Lopez). Kuzma has to find a rhythm fast in Milwaukee, or this trade will not be much of an upgrade.
One other thing this trade does is get the Bucks under the second apron of the luxury tax, saving them a chunk of change.
