Now that the holidays are behind us, we’re at my second-favorite time of year: NBA trade season! With that in mind, we’ve brought back our trade candidate series. Jack discussed what a potential deal would
look like if the Bucks traded for Blazers wing Jerami Grant. We’ll have more in the coming days and weeks, but for now, let’s talk about where Zach LaVine could potentially fit with the 2025–26 Milwaukee Bucks.
The Player
Zach LaVine, 6’5”, 200 lbs. wing
Season averages: 20.2 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 2.3 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.2 BPG, .487/.388/.876
Just like Grant, Zach LaVine is now in his 12th season in the NBA. Entering the league as a high flyer with the Timberwolves, LaVine was growing into a nice secondary scorer in his age-21 season, averaging 18.9 PPG. before a torn ACL. That off-season, he was part of the trade that sent Jimmy Butler to Minnesota. In his third season with Chicago, he earned his first of two All-Star appearances, averaging 27.4 PPG on nearly 50/40/90 splits. Despite his high-scoring numbers, the Bulls still couldn’t find a way back into the postseason until 2021. But the Bulls never advanced past the play-in games thereafter, and last trade deadline, after giving him a five-year max contract in 2022, they traded LaVine to the Kings. LaVine has just two years left remaining on that extension, earning $47.4m this season and $48.9m next year on a player option, which he will likely pick up.
This isn’t the first time the Bucks have been interested in adding LaVine; before he was shipped to Sacramento, K.C. Johnson reported last year that Milwaukee was interested in adding the two-time All-Star. Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reported back in November that the Bucks had done background work on LaVine, should they decide to trade for him. Sam Amick of The Athletic reported that “league sources confirmed that Milwaukee has done recent due diligence on the 30-year-old guard (and has shown interest in the past)” in December.
The Trade
Starting with the financial aspects of this deal, the Bucks would have to include both Kyle Kuzma’s and Bobby Portis’ contracts in the trade, along with one minimum contract. In this case, I chose Cole Anthony, who has played rarely since the Bucks got healthy. The Bucks immediately get their new backup center in the deal, acquiring Precious Achiuwa to take Portis’ spot in the rotation.
The big caveat to this trade is that if the Bucks want Achiuwa over Drew Eubanks as their backup center, they’d have to wait until the deadline on February 5th. Achiuwa was signed back on November 4th and can’t be traded until 90 days have passed from then. If they want Eubanks, they can make this trade at any time before the deadline. Also, to facilitate this trade, the Bucks would have to use their minimum contract exception to bring Achiuwa in; otherwise, they’d be taking on $1.6m in salary more than they’re allowed to.
In this deal, no draft picks are swapped. We just saw a similar deal go down with a similar player on with the same salary (Trae Young) go through with no picks exchanging hands. Like Young, LaVine only has a player option this summer, so it’s unlikely the Kings would have to include a pick to get off his contract. While the Kings aren’t getting any draft picks in the deal, they are breaking LaVine’s contract into more bite-sized bits, making them easier to move in the future. Plus, Anthony’s contract expires after this season, Kuzma’s after next season, and Portis could expire then too, since his final year is a player option.
This would open a roster spot for the Bucks, leaving them with the minimum 14 players on their active roster. To be in roster compliance, the Kings would have to cut one player to get down to 15. With them adding another wing in the deal, I’d expect them to cut the veteran Doug McDermott.
The Fit
Getting this part out of the way, LaVine wouldn’t help solve any of the defensive issues they’ve had this season. Per Cleaning The Glass, teams are scoring 3.0 more points per 100 possessions with him on the floor (27th percentile) and 3.7 more points per 100 plays in the half-court (23rd percentile). While LaVine has never been more than a slightly below-average defender in his career, it might not help to be in a starting lineup with little defensive help around him. An aging Russell Westbrook and DeMar DeRozan, combined with Domantas Sabonis and limited games from Keegan Murray, don’t exactly make for a good defensive team (they’re 28th). Perhaps the Bucks could get a bit more out of LaVine defensively by putting him in a more competitive environment and having better defensive players around him, like Ryan Rollins, Giannis, Myles Turner, and Kevin Porter Jr., to an extent.
The reason you’re getting a player like LaVine is for the offensive production, but he’s not an All-Star-level upgrade. Still, LaVine would undoubtedly help the Bucks on that end, taking pressure off of Giannis, Rollins, and KPJ. He’s averaging 20 points per game this season. In his first 11 games, he got off to a blazing start, averaging 24 points per game on .514/.430/.882 shooting. But he’s tailed off since then, dropping to 16.7 PPG, 45.7% from the field, and 33.3% from three in the 12 games before he went out for three weeks with an ankle injury.
Despite that, LaVine has been a good shooter over the course of his career, shooting 47% from the field and 39.1% from deep. He can score in a variety of ways, including in isolation or off catch-and-shoot. His isolation scoring is down this season to 0.87 points per possession, but he has a track record as an outstanding iso player. Albeit in a limited sample size of 42 games last season, he had 1.15 PPP on isos and an effective field goal percentage of 57.1%, second only to Kevin Durant. His usage is down from years past, but he’s still been able to score without the ball in his hands as much: 50 of his 66 three-point attempts have been assisted. He would not only take the pressure of creating off Giannis, but also prevent KPJ from dribbling the ball almost 600 times in a game.
He’d immediately slot in as the starting three for the Bucks, although a bit undersized. Still, that wouldn’t be too much of a change from their normal starting lineup, with AJ Green typically at the three. They could also run Green and LaVine together and send Rollins back to the bench. However, with Green’s current struggles and Rollins’ resurgence, I’d send Green to the bench and have LaVine at three.
My final verdict is about 50/50 with LaVine. If they can get him without attaching any draft picks, I’d send this down to the league office with same-day delivery for the Bucks. If the Kings remain firm on wanting the 2031 first-round pick from the Bucks, even if it were lottery-protected, I’d have to pass. As for LaVine the player, I think he would be a good fit for the Bucks, and if it doesn’t work out, he’s has a high salary on an expiring deal this offseason that the Bucks could trade.
Now, I turn it to you. What do you think of the idea of the Bucks getting LaVine, despite his exorbitant salary? Do you think he would be a positive or negative for this team as they make a playoff push? Let me know in the comments below.
