The Milwaukee Bucks may not be one of the most improved teams in the NBA this offseason, but they were sure one of the most active ones, making a number of trades and now they have done it again, moving Caron Butler to the Bucks after acquiring him from the Clippers in the JJ Reddick deal.
According to ESPN.com and Pro Basketball Talk, sources said that Butler is being moved to the Bucks for Ish Smith and Slava Kravtsov and it brings Butler to his hometown state after playing out West. The Suns said that Butler was in their future, but clearly he is not and now he will move to the Bucks. The trade is still moving towards completion and the Bucks need to make room to get Butler and his $8 million deal and they are moving the $951,463 deal and the $1.5 million expiring contract of Smith and Kravtsov respectively if they can. The center was acquired in the deal for Brandon Jennings and the Pistons and now they have to figure out how to make it work.
Butler was originally traded in July in the Reddick deal that also sent Jared Dudley from the Suns and Eric Bledsoe to Phoenix and now the 33-year old will head to the Bucks. Carlos Delfino was injured and he may miss the start of the season and the Bucks want a veteran presence at the position with Butler. The team is likely positioning itself to get rid of Michael Beasley and other rumored moves from earlier in the offseason include possible trades of Kendall Marshall and Marcin Gortat, but that could come during the season.
Gortat has been mentioned in trade rumors this past offseason, but after Scola was dealt, general manager Ryan McDonagh may want to hold onto the center until Len is fully healthy. Last year the Suns ranked 21st in points per game with 95 per contest and allowed over 101 points per game and the franchise is hoping the addition of Alex Len can help upgrade the defense.
Last season Marshall played 14.6 minutes in 48 games behind Dragic and now that the team has acquired Bledsoe as well, they may want to clip Marshall for draft picks or other pieces to build around if they don't see him as the future. The Suns went 25-57 last season and have plenty of weak spots on the roster and after ranking 21st in the league in points per game, they may try to flip Marshall for a more experienced and established scorer. Gortat likely isn't going anywhere until the team sees how Len is progressing, but if they feel like he will be healthy this year before the start of the NBA schedule. They could package the two players together for draft picks or depth down the line.