Getty Andrew Wiggins defending Bobby Portis.
The NBA’s February 8 Trade Deadline is days away and the Milwaukee Bucks have moves they need to make to better their roster. After trading Damian Lillard for Jrue Holiday, the defense took a hit. The Bucks currently have the 19th ranked defensive rating and are looking to improve on that side of the ball, according to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports.
Fischer mentions that the Bucks are staying aggressive and are doing whatever they need to do to land upgrades.
“After switching head coaches midseason, the Bucks remain committed to improving their roster, “shopping hard for help,” as described by one league source with knowledge of the situation. Milwaukee has limited options of outgoing packages, with the No. 35 pick, Pat Connaughton and Cam Payne as the Bucks’ most likely outgoing scenario, sources said, and Bobby Portis would need to be included for Milwaukee to chase a bigger salary player like Dejounte Murray, Bruce Brown or Andrew Wiggins, sources said.”
The Andrew Wiggins link is an interesting one given he does a lot of what the Bucks need. In the 2022 NBA Finals when the Golden State Warriors beat the Boston Celtics, Wiggins played a major part in defending Jayson Tatum. Tatum averaged just 21.5 points and shot under 50% from the field in every game besides one.
Wiggins Skillset Is What the Bucks Need
When looking around at the other potential trade candidates that Fischer mentioned, Wiggins might be the best option for Milwaukee. Given his previous success against Tatum, there aren’t many better options for the Bucks.
If the Bucks are going to win the Eastern Conference, there is a high chance that they will meet up with the Celtics. Tatum has historically played well against Milwaukee after averaging 27.6 points against them in the 2022 playoff series.
Wiggins has not played well this season, but that could actually work in the Bucks’ favor. If they do not have to move picks along with players, this is a deal that makes a ton of sense for them. Prior to this year, he shot over 39% from three in back-to-back seasons with the Warriors. He did so on over 5.5 attempts per game each season.
The three-point shot is at just 31.1% on 3.1 attempts this season. Milwaukee would need him to get closer to the 40% he was at in prior years to get the most out of him.
Milwaukee Bucks Trade Deadline Plans
According to Fischer, Milwaukee does have other plans for this trade deadline. Of the potential names, Dejounte Murray is another one that could make sense for them.
In a similar regard to Wiggins, Murray has not played as well as he did prior to his time with the Atlanta Hawks. When he was with the San Antonio Spurs, he was regarded as one of the top defensive guards in basketball. Murray was named to the All-Defensive Team in the 2017-18 season and won the steal title in 2021-22. If he can bring what he did for the Spurs to the Bucks, that does fix some of their POA defense issues.
General manager Jon Horst has tough decisions to make in the coming days, but Fischer indicates that he is not staying put and expects the Bucks to make moves.