If Ersan Ilyasova is Available, Bulls Should be Calling

All in the name of asset accumulation

NBA.com

Marc Stein Twitter

The Milwaukee Bucks enter the offseason with four of their key players entering free agency. Another key player in George Hill will likely be waived, as waiving his non-guaranteed contract will save them $17 million. The other four players are Kris Middleton, Nikola Mirotic, Malcolm Brogdon, and Brook Lopez.

Brogdon is the only one of the four Bucks’ free agents that will be entering restricted free agency, as the other three are entering unrestricted free agency. Milwaukee has $70.6 million in salary guaranteed for the 2019–20 season, about $52 million below the tax. But if Milwaukee retains all four players, they will likely be in the tax as Middleton and Brogdon won’t come cheap, and Mirotic will likely cost north of $10 million.

Lopez might cost the Mid Level-Exception (MLE) of $9.1 million as well. Moving a player like Tony Snell or Ersan Ilyasova will give the Bucks the wiggle room to retain all four key free agents and stay under the tax. Worst case a trade of one or both of these players would ease their tax bill a little, if do they need to go over. This is where Chicago should make a savvy move and jump in.

Of the two players, Ilyasova will be easier to move as he can help teams more than Snell, and is cheaper. Ilyasova makes $7 million versus Snell, who makes $11.3 million. The 30th overall pick isn’t enough incentive for most team to trade for Snell, but for Ilyasova should be more than enough.

Milwaukee will look for a team with space to take on Ilyasova, as they aren’t trying to take back much, if any salary at all. So a team with cap space or a traded player exception worth north of $7 million will be ideal here. Chicago has the cap space to do such a deal on July 30th, and they should definitely be trying too. Not only can the Bulls improve their depth with a trade with the Bucks, they would also be move up in the draft (from the №38 second round pick).

Here is a trade that will do just that:

Chicago Trades: 38th overall pick

Milwaukee Trades: Ersan Ilyasova, 30th overall pick

The trade would have to be completed on July 30th, but can be agreed upon before the draft. The trade would free up about $8 million for the Bucks. They move Ilyasova’s $7 million, and save about $900K or so moving down from pick 30 to 38.

The Bucks would then theoretically be able to pay Middleton $22 million, Brogdon $18 million, Mirotic $12 million, Lopez $9 million(MLE), and fill out the roster with minimum contracts while staying under the tax. These theoretic numbers would bring Milwaukee around $130 million in team salary, about $2 million away from tax. This trade in theory gives Milwaukee exactly what they are looking for, flexibility to retain their key free agents.

Chicago would improve their depth, all while moving up eight spots with their second pick. They would add on $8.9 million in salary, and would bring their projected cap space to about $11 million. But if the Asik cap hit is removed, that would rise to about $14 million. Plus the room exception worth $4.7 million. That should still be enough to add one or two more quality players to the team.

Ilyasova would be a solid, floor-spacing forward free agent addition that also helps you move up in the 2019 NBA Draft. That’s how I would look at it. Ilyasova’s contract for the 2020–21 season is non-guaranteed at $7 million as well, so there isn’t a long term investment here. But you have the option to bring him back if you want.

To me this trade makes too much sense for the Bulls if the Bucks are interested, which according to the reports, they would be. Ilyasova not only provides depth but could play next to either starting frontcourt player and be effective, mainly as a nice inside-out option in lineups next to Wendell Carter Jr. If you are the Bulls front office, the idea of moving up in the draft and easily adding some veteran frontcourt depth should be hard to pass on. These are EXACTLY the type of trades the Bulls should be looking for before the draft.