The Milwaukee Bucks could have pulled off a rather beneficial trade with the Atlanta Hawks right on draft night, which would have allowed them to move down from the 17th to the 19th overall pick, still able to draft Villanova shooting guard Donte DiVincenzo two spots down, while also getting some added compensation from the Hawks, according to Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times.
A leak coming from the Bucks organization proved costly, as Milwaukee would have been able to potentially receive the 19th and 30th overall picks, allowing them to snatch Michigan center Mo Wagner (drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers) to address their shaky frontcourt situation, while giving the Hawks the peace of mind to snatch a prized target in Maryland sharpshooter Kevin Huerter.
Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk talked about this scenario during an interview with 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, revealing exactly how the Bucks blew this deal.
“Last night, for instance, we had the 19th pick, and we’re coming down and we’re actually talking to Milwaukee on the 17th pick, talking about trading up to get a guy we like,” Schlenk said. “There’s were a couple of guys we felt really good about on the 19th pick, obviously Kevin [Huerter] was one of them, and it leaked who Milwaukee was going to take.
“So, all of a sudden, we were able to pull back out of that deal and keep the draft pick instead of packaging picks to move up because we knew that, two guys on the board we felt really good about and only one team in between us, so that was beneficial to us last night.”
The Hawks were able to land Huerter at 19th, while the Bucks landed DiVincenzo with the 17th pick, yet didn't benefit from having that potential first-round selection after the job-costing mistake they could come to regret down the road.
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