Bucks free-agency primer: 9 players who could make a difference on minimum deals (2024)

NBA free agents can begin agreeing to deals with teams when the clock strikes 5 p.m. CT Sunday. And while it was always going to be an important time for the Milwaukee Bucks, it grew in importance when general manager Jon Horst and his front office decided to take two teenagers in the NBA Draft rather than more NBA-ready prospects.

“If you’ve looked, especially this past year and in the playoffs, teams are younger, getting up and running and long and athletic,” Bucks assistant general manager Milt Newton said Thursday, following the selection of Tyler Smith. “We feel like that’s the trend of the NBA, and we feel like we added two players that can add to that. As far as adding play-now players, we’ll deal with that in free agency.”

While everyone will be monitoring the biggest free agents, the Bucks will be looking at a much different pool of players. Because of their salary cap situation and status as a second-apron team, Horst will be forced to search for players who can make a difference on minimum contracts in 2024-25.

(Note: If you need a refresher on anything related to free agency, take a look at our offseason primer breaking down the Bucks’ depth chart and cap situation, as well as how the collective bargaining agreement will affect the team’s decision-making this offseason.)

With the Bucks planning to sign both draftees to NBA contracts, they have 12 of their 15 roster spots filled. After a quick look at the team’s needs and best-case scenarios, we’re going to break down 10 potential targets on veteran minimum contracts.

Needs

When Horst spoke with reporters following the selection of AJ Johnson on Wednesday night, he said the Bucks have four offseason needs:

1. Guard size
2. Wing defense
3. Shooting
4. A change-of-pace big

The selections of Johnson and Smith might help the Bucks with those needs in future years, but it’s tough to say they will do anything next season. Smith, however, is interesting when considering what the Bucks are doing in free agency because it is difficult to imagine a world in which the Bucks carry five big men when there are needs elsewhere on the roster and, barring injuries, they don’t really have any time for Smith as it stands.

From an analysis standpoint, though, it is tough to disagree with the rest of Horst’s assessment of the roster.

With Damian Lillard at point guard, the Bucks will always have a need for a bigger guard next to him to handle the toughest defensive assignments and help on the glass. As long as Giannis Antetokounmpo is in Milwaukee, the Bucks will be desperate to find more shooting throughout the roster. And with Boston’s duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown atop the Eastern Conference, the Bucks will need big wings to defend them. If the Bucks can manage to shore up some of those needs with their free-agent signings, they will be in a much better place at the start of the season.

Best-case scenarios

While we are not going to spend much time on these, Bucks fans have suggested to me a number of players who make sense as potential targets. They probably won’t fall to the Bucks (or any other team) for a veteran minimum, but free agency in the new CBA era is tough to predict. Heading into last offseason, most would not have predicted that the Bucks were going to be able to sign both Jae Crowder and Malik Beasley on veteran minimum contracts, but that is what happened.

That said, it feels unlikely veterans such as Derrick Jones Jr. and Kelly Oubre will be signed for the veteran minimum after strong seasons with their respective teams. Even players such as Naji Marshall and Monte Morris seem destined to make more than the veteran minimum next season, but the Bucks will have to wait to see how everything plays out. It may be possible for the Bucks to once again snag a player who potentially feels like they should earn more than the minimum, but we’ll try not to spend too much time on players like that in this story.

Kris Dunn, point guard, Utah Jazz

The fit for Dunn in Milwaukee is pretty obvious, but it is tough to know if he will be available. Last season, Dunn played in 66 games for the Utah Jazz, the most since his rookie season in 2016-17, and started 32 of them. The Jazz are one of the few teams that will have real cap space this offseason, which means, if they liked what Dunn provided for them last season, they could just sign him again this summer and spend more on his services than the Bucks, who can only offer a veteran minimum.

The Bucks should be very interested in Dunn, considering what he can do on the defensive end with his quickness and 6-foot-9 wingspan. The 30-year-old guard only averaged 5.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 18.9 minutes per game, but he was a disruptive and aggressive on-ball defender. He can expertly navigate screens and put pressure on opponents at the point of attack and could serve as a strong partner for Lillard, who is not a high-level defender. His offense may be a concern, but if he plays most of his minutes with the starting lineup, there should be more than enough offense on the floor.

Josh Okogie, shooting guard, Phoenix Suns (player option)

Many of the same things that can be said about Dunn can be said about Okogie. The Suns shooting guard opted out of a $2.9 million player option for the 2024-25 season earlier this week, making himself an unrestricted free agent. Similar to the Bucks, the Suns are a second-apron team, but they do a have a slight advantage financially. Because Okogie played for them the past two seasons, they have Early Bird rights on him, and that would allow them to offer him 120 percent of his salary from last season, which would be $400,000 more than the Bucks can offer.

Okogie, who will turn 26 before next season, is an incredibly talented defensive player. The 6-foot-4 guard has the quickness to stay in front of guards, but his 7-foot wingspan allows him to bother big wings as well. But while Dunn has shown an ability to play backup point guard and even knocked down 39.5 percent from 3 (147 attempts) with Utah, Okogie has never found a consistent 3-point stroke. He has knocked down only 29.5 percent from deep in his six-year NBA career and averaged just 4.6 points in 16 minutes per game last season with the Suns.

Dennis Smith Jr., point guard, Brooklyn Nets

With the recent trade of Mikal Bridges, it is tough to know exactly what the Brooklyn Nets are thinking in regard to their pending free agents. That may mean Smith ends up being available, despite a strong season in Brooklyn. When Smith entered the NBA out of NC State, he was a highly touted scorer and averaged 15.2 points per game in his rookie season for the Dallas Mavericks. As time has gone on, teams around the league have started to value Smith more for his defense, and Smith has taken to that role.

While the 6-foot-2 guard only has a 6-foot-3 wingspan, he uses his quickness and agility well to stay in front of ballhandlers at the point of attack and contests more shots than expected against bigger players with a 40-plus-inch vertical. Offensively, Smith has never found a way to become an efficient scorer and averaged just 6.6 points in 18.9 minutes per game in 56 games with the Nets, while shooting just 43.5 percent from the field and 29.4 percent from 3.

Lonnie Walker IV, shooting guard, Brooklyn Nets

While the first few names on this list stuck to the needs laid out by Horst, this one goes in a slightly bit different direction. Despite being a spectacular athlete, Walker is not a strong defender. He would bring his value to the Bucks on the offensive end.

Walker, 25, can be a bit of a microwave scorer and take over games offensively for brief moments. Some fans may remember Walker, as a Los Angeles Laker, scoring 15 fourth-quarter points against the Golden State Warriors to help L.A. grab Game 4 of their second-round playoff series in 2023. Last season with the Nets, Walker appeared in 58 games and averaged 9.7 points in only 17.4 minutes per game, while putting together the best high-volume 3-point shooting season of his career and knocking down 38.4 percent from deep. It felt like Walker signed a minimum contract last season to prove to teams he was worth more, but it’s tough to tell if he managed to provide enough evidence.

Eric Gordon, shooting guard, Phoenix Suns

After signing a two-year deal with the Phoenix Suns, Gordon told Mark Medina of Sportskeeda that the Bucks were one of four teams he viewed as a potential option in free agency last summer. Now, after declining his player option for next season, the 35-year-old once again has a chance to choose where he wants to play.

Gordon would be one of the most prolific 3-point shooters whom the Bucks could add this offseason. Per Basketball-Reference’s Stathead tool, Gordon was one of 57 NBA players to attempt at least five 3-pointers per game and knock down over 37 percent from deep last season. But Gordon doesn’t just sit in the corner and shoot 3s; 78.9 percent of his 397 attempts from 3 were taken above the break. And most of those attempts came from over a foot behind the line. The NBA 3-point line is 23 feet, 9 inches outside of the corners, and Gordon attempted 279 3-pointers from between 25 and 29 feet last season, according to NBA.com.

While Gordon would definitely be able to help offensively, he would not be as useful defensively. Entering his 17th NBA season, Gordon is not the most fleet of foot, but he is still quite stout at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds. While he might not be able to chase around the league’s fastest guards, he is strong enough to play physically on defense.

Gary Harris, shooting guard, Orlando Magic

Harris will be an interesting case this summer. In the summer of 2022, Harris signed a two-year, $26 million deal with the Magic when some wondered if he could have been a player signed on a midlevel exception or even a taxpayer midlevel exception. His market has always been somewhat difficult to understand, and it only takes one team to take him out of the Bucks’ price range.

Harris put together a solid regular season, averaging 6.9 points in 24 minutes per game and knocking down 37.1 percent from 3 as one of the veterans on a young Magic team, but he struggled in the postseason. In the Magic’s first-round series against Cleveland, the 6-foot-4 guard averaged only 4.2 points in 26.5 minutes and shot just 28.3 percent from the field. The Bucks clearly have opportunity on the wing, and a minimum deal in Milwaukee may be a good way for the 10-year NBA veteran to build back his value around the league and sign one more big contract.

Talen Horton-Tucker, shooting guard, Utah Jazz

Like Harris, Horton-Tucker will be fascinating to watch. The 6-foot-4 guard is still only 23 years old and just finished up his fifth NBA season. In his first five seasons, Horton-Tucker has shown an ability to create shots. This past season, he averaged 10.1 points and 3.5 assists in only 19.8 minutes per game. There could be real upside still left in his game, and a player that young could potentially make himself quite a bit of money if he can prove to be a contributor for a winning team.

But while Horton-Tucker has shown an ability to create shots for himself and teammates, he has found less success making those shots. For his career, Horton-Tucker has made only 43.2 percent from the field, including 29.3 percent from 3. Tucker has shown flashes of being a disruptor on defense with his 7-foot-1 wingspan, but he hasn’t been able to get it done consistently. If he managed to put it all together for the Bucks next season, he could end up being a steal on a minimum.

Taurean Prince, power forward, L.A. Lakers

Prince, 30, played in 78 games last season — the most since he played all 82 games for the Hawks in the 2017-18 season — and averaged 8.9 points and 2.9 rebounds in 27 minutes per game for the Lakers. While those numbers might suggest he is surely worth more than a minimum contract, the fan reaction to Prince’s heavy usage by former Lakers coach (and current Bucks assistant) Darvin Ham was not overly positive.

At 6-foot-6 with a 7-foot wingspan, Prince brings good size to the wing, but his foot speed is not what it once was. There can be times where that is a problem, especially when he played 70 percent of his minutes at small forward, according to Cleaning the Glass positional estimates. Offensively, Prince is a career 37.6 percent 3-point shooter and knocked 39.6 percent from 3 on 4.6 attempts per game last season. His heavy workload last season, size and 3-point shooting may convince a team he is worth more than the minimum, but with Ham now in Milwaukee, it may be worth the Bucks checking in on him.

Goga Bitadze, center, Orlando Magic

With the selection of Smith in the draft and a three-big rotation of Antetokounmpo, Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis already set up for next season, the Bucks don’t really need any more size. Bitadze, however, would be a great addition if the Bucks decide to add another big man.

The Georgian center will only be 25 years old next season. In his first and only season in Orlando, the 6-foot-11, 250-pound center played only 15.4 minutes per game but still managed to put up 5.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. He has great size and protected the rim well last season with the Magic, but, again, it doesn’t seem like the Bucks really need another big man.

(Photo of Dennis Smith Jr. and Lonnie Walker IV: David Sherman / NBAE via Getty Images)