In Milwaukee, they thought that the Khris Middleton era with the Bucks was over, that the three-time All-Star and player who helped win the NBA championship in 2021 was more than amortized after 11 and a half seasons, all the player has been in the NBA, except for the first one he played in Detroit.
The Milwaukee Bucks, in the midst of a strategy to build a team that pleases their star Giannis Antetokounmpo, decided to send Khris Middleton to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Kyle Kuzma. In addition, Milwaukee also sends A.J. Johnson and a future Draft pick to the capital in exchange for another pick and Patrick Baldwin Jr.
Middleton, 33, was averaging 12.6 points per game this season, his lowest mark since 2013-14, hampered by surgery on both ankles from which he was recovering. Not long ago he was the team’s second leading scorer behind Giannis Antetokounmpo, a role that injuries have taken away from him.
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Sources close to the team say that Giannis Antetokounmpo gave the green light to the trade, not so much for losing what was not long ago his great squire, but for how much he can offer the arrival of Kyle Kuzma. Younger than Middleton, 29, Kuzma meets the conditions that the Bucks executives were looking for, after considering several scenarios. Kuzma is averaging 15.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 32 games this season and now switches from a playoff team with aspirations of reaching at least the Eastern Conference finals to the worst team in the NBA, a Wizards team that is bottom of the table at 8-41.
