Bucks shooting guard Khris Middleton- Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images
MILWAUKEE, WI (WSAU) – The Milwaukee Bucks are nearing a deal that would send one of the franchise’s greatest players to the nation’s capital for one of the more underrated scorers in basketball.
According to sources who spoke to Heavy On Sports’ Insider Steve Bulpit, the Bucks are “close” to acquiring forward Kyle Kuzma and sending Khris Middleton to the Wizards in what’s believed to be a swap of star scorers.
Kuzma is in the second year of a four-year, $102 million contract that he signed with the Washington Wizards back in July of 2023, while Middleton is in the last year of a three-year deal worth $93 million that he signed back in 2022.
NBA insider Jake Fischer reported on Monday that “there has been little fresh chatter” about the Bucks pursuing Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler, while the franchise “more recently had conversations about pursuing” the 29-year-old Kuzma, who has become “less patient now with the Wizards’ direction” in recent weeks.
In his fourth season with the Wizards, Kuzma is scoring 15 points per game, and the anticipated trade would end Khris Middleton’s time in Milwaukee, which began back in 2013 when the Bucks sent Brandon Jennings to the Detroit Pistons in return for Middleton, point guard Brandon Knight, and Viacheslav Kravtsov.
Last month, Middleton overtook Glenn Robinson to become the third all-time scorer in the history of the Milwaukee Bucks, and he would leave the team with 1,281 career three-pointers, the most in the team’s history.
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