The Milwaukee Bucks could have been the much-needed potential third team in a trade involving the Houston Rockets, who have been stalemated in their attempts to snatch star forward Carmelo Anthony from the New York Knicks.
According to a report by ESPN's Ian Begley, the Bucks dangled forward Jabari Parker along with another big contract to shed, while giving the Knicks a young player in a cheap contract.
“ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported last month that Houston was looking for a third team to make a trade work,” wrote Begley. “The Milwaukee Bucks emerged as a potential third team at one point, per league sources, but there was no traction toward a deal. Milwaukee has been trying to shed salary so, in all likelihood, the idea of taking back the remaining money on Ryan Anderson‘s contract (three years, $60 million) in a trade wasn’t enticing.”
“One name that came up in those (very) preliminary talks? Bucks forward Jabari Parker, per league sources. It’s unclear which side — the Knicks or Bucks — brought up Parker’s name. What is clear is that Parker would have been part of an outgoing package that included a larger Bucks contract, such as John Henson‘s or Greg Monroe‘s. If that deal had come to fruition, the Knicks would have received the type of return they’d long hoped for in an Anthony trade: a young player on a below-market contract in Parker.”
This shows the concern that Parker's health, who is coming back from back-to-back ACL injuries in the same knee — a massive injury that can have major repercussions through the rest of his career.
Ultimately, it only takes one team looking for something different than what was being offered, to make this deal crash and burn — but Milwaukee willingly dangling Parker shows just how concerned they are with his recovery, that they would consider swapping him in order to shed some salary.