Malcolm Brogdon, a four-year player at Virginia and a second-round pick, won Rookie of the Year and established himself as one of the league's most effective two-way guards over the first seasons of his career. Now that his time with the Milwaukee Bucks has come to a close, though, it's clear the team success he enjoyed in Milwaukee means much more to him than any individual accomplishments.
Asked what he'll remember most about his tenure with the Bucks, the Indiana Pacers guard kept it simple.
“We were winners, man,” Brogdon said, per The Athletic's Eric Nehm. “We were winners. And we did it with high-character guys.”
The Bucks made the playoffs during each of Brogdon's three seasons with the team.
After asserting themselves as one of the league's best young teams in a hard-fought first-round loss to the heavily-favored Toronto Raptors in 2017, they were ousted by the Boston Celtics in seven games one year later, again failing to advance. Milwaukee broke out in a big way last season under first-year coach Mike Budenholzer, earning the top overall seed in the playoffs and leading the NBA in net rating. Title hopes were dashed in a hurry against the Toronto Raptors, though, when the eventual champions won four straight after the Bucks took the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Indiana agreed to send a future first-round pick and two future second-rounders to Milwaukee in a sign-and-trade for Brogdon, whose four-year, $85 million deal with the Pacers proved too rich for the Bucks to match. He averaged 15.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game last season, joining the hallowed 50-40-90 club of shooting percentages and making a consistently positive impact defensively.
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