The Milwaukee Bucks overtook the Orlando Magic for the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference after the teams clashed Friday night.
The Bucks stand only 3.5 games behind the third-ranked New York Knicks who they play on Sunday. While scoring 31.7 points per game, Giannis Antetokounmpo leads Nikola Jokic (31.6 points per game), and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (31.5 points per game) as the league’s top scorer.
Meanwhile, the rebuilding Utah Jazz hold a 9-win, 27-loss record and could shop any win-now veterans such as Jordan Clarkson in favor of draft capital and/or young talent at the upcoming deadline.
Entering Friday night’s slate of games, Milwaukee boasted the league’s second-best defense in their previous ten games. However, in that same span, their offense was held to a bottom-ten number in the league. Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard need a consistent third scoring threat in order to unlock this offense.
Luckily, Utah’s best bucket-getter could be available. A Bucks-Jazz trade could resemble the following proposal:
Bucks receive: Jordan Clarkson, Drew Eubanks, Patty Mills
Jazz receive: Bobby Portis, Pat Connaughton, 2031 first-round pick, 2031 second-round pick
Utah is able to gain more draft capital by completing this trade. Also, they could flip Portis for additional picks if desired.
Clarkson would fortify the Bucks’ bench unit as a complement to Lillard. Clarkson is averaging 16.0 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.8 assists this season. The bucket-getting guard is shooting just 33.9 percent from three on 5.5 attempts per game. Clarkson is not a prolific floor-spacer as he has shot 33.5 percent from three over his entire career.
Mills is an adequate depth guard but was mainly included due to his affordable contract. Eubanks would give the Doc Rivers-led Bucks with a solid backup behind the aging Brook Lopez. The Jazz big man doesn’t stretch the floor, but is effective in limited minutes, with averages of 4.9 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in just 13.8 minutes this season.
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