Bucks acquire Jrue Holiday and Bogdan Bogdanovic

According to Rogers Sportsnet on Monday, the Milwaukee Bucks made two separate trades with the New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings. In the process, they acquired shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic from the Kings and guard Jrue Holiday from the Pelicans.

In the Bucks deal with the Kings, small forward Justin James is also being traded to Milwaukee. Meanwhile, shooting guard Donte DiVincenzo, power forward Ersan Ilyasova, and power forward D.J. Wilson are being traded to Sacramento.

In the Bucks deal with the Pelicans, Holiday is the only player heading to Milwaukee. New Orleans meanwhile. receives veteran point guards Eric Bledsoe, George Hill, and three first round draft picks, of which one will be in 2020. The 2020 NBA Draft takes place on Wednesday. As part of the deal, the Bucks and Pelicans will also swap two draft picks in future NBA Drafts.

The bottom line is that the Bucks are trying to upgrade the guard positions for the upcoming season. Did they get better? The verdict is still out. Hill is an excellent veteran who led the NBA with a .460 three point percentage in 2019-20, and Bledsoe is an excellent defensive player, as he was on the NBA’s all-defensive first team in 2019. Bledsoe, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, can score too. He averaged 14.9 points per game and he has averaged in the double digits in scoring in each of the last seven seasons. Also in 2019-20, Bledsoe averaged 5.4 assists per game, 4.6 rebounds per game, and had a .475 field goal percentage, a .344 three-point percentage, and a .790 free throw percentage.

The Pelicans will be Bledsoe’s fourth NBA team. He has previously played for the Los Angeles Clippers and Phoenix Suns, in addition to the Bucks. The Pelicans will be Hill’s seventh NBA team. In addition to playing for the Bucks, Hill has played for the San Antonio Spurs, Indiana Pacers, Utah Jazz, Sacramento Kings, and Cleveland Cavaliers. Even though Bledsoe and Hill put up solid numbers for the Bucks, they will probably not be part of the starting five for the Pelicans in 2020-21.

The Bucks become Holiday’s third NBA team. He previously spent four seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers before seven seasons with the New Orleans Pelicans. An all-star with the 76ers in 2012-13, Holiday had 17.7 points per game with Philadelphia seven years ago.

In 2019-20, Holiday, a native of Chatsworth, California, averaged 19.1 points per game, 6.7 assists per game, and 4.8 rebounds per game. He also had a .455 field goal percentage, a .353 three-point percentage, and a .709 free throw percentage. The low free throw percentage might be a little disconcerting for Bucks management and head coach Mike Budenholzer. We also expect the Bucks to move Holiday to point guard after playing the last three seasons at shooting guard in New Orleans. He was a point guard primarily for his first eight NBA seasons.

Bogdanovic is coming to Milwaukee after three seasons in Sacramento. In 2019-20, he averaged 15.1 points per game, 3.4 rebounds per game, and 3.4 assists per game. Bogdanovic, a native of Belgrade, Serbia, also had a field goal percentage of .440, three point percentage of .372, and a free throw percentage of .741.

There is no doubt that Bogdanovic and Holiday will be starters in Milwaukee this season. The team has a win-now mentality and are trying to show star power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo that they are serious about contending for the NBA Finals not just this year, but the long term. The issue for the Bucks management though is that they traded away their future for Holiday (three first round picks), and their bench depth is extremely thin.

Update: The trade between the Milwaukee Bucks and Sacramento Kings regarding Bogdan Bogdanovic has since been cancelled as Bogdanovic rejected the deal. 

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