In a cap clearing move, the Milwaukee Bucks traded away forward Ersan lyasova to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for Caron Butler and Shawne Williams yesterday. The Bucks are expected to waive both players - Butler actually reported this himself - which will give them close to $22 million in cap space this summer.
The main reason Milwaukee completed this trade before free-agency started was so they could re-sign restricted free-agent Kris Middleton but according to ESPN's Marc Stein, they are also looking to bring in a big name center.
League sources say the Bucks want a proven center in free agency if they can score one, and have pinpointed two kinds of former All-Stars — Dallas’ Tyson Chandler and Brooklyn’s Brook Lopez — as targets for the top of their wish list.
Bucks coach Jason Kidd knows both of them well, having played alongside Chandler in both Dallas and New York and having coached Lopez with the Nets. And word is that Milwaukee intends to chase both hard come July 1 in hopes of emerging as a serious contender for at least one of them.
Since Larry Sanders left the team, the Bucks have been weak at the center position and if Kidd is able to use his relationship with Chandler or Lopez to bring them to Milwaukee, they will have a solid big man to add to their young core of Middleton, Michael Carter-Williams, John Henson and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Lopez seems to be the more reasonable option as he is still fairly young and could be looking for a change from Brooklyn, a team he has spent his whole career with. Chandler may be good friends with Kidd but it is hard to see him leaving a comfortable setting in Dallas for a up and coming team.
After finishing as one of the worst teams in the league last season, the Bucks underwent a massive turnaround by becoming a playoff team and giving the Chicago Bulls a solid fight in the first round. Thanks to the coaching of Kidd and their young roster, Milwaukee is a team on the rise. If they are able to add a center like Lopez or Chandler to their team, they could be among the East's elite next season. It should be an interesting summer in Milwaukee.
