The Milwaukee Bucks not only failed to land Bogdan Bogdanovic in a sign-and trade this offseason, but are also losing a draft pick for their efforts.
Shams Charania of The Athletic reported the NBA determined Milwaukee violated league rules with the “timing” of the Bogdan Bogdanovic trade. The Bucks will be stripped of their 2022 second-round pick as a result.
Charania also seems to imply discussions between the Bucks and Sacramento Kings were not permitted at the time they were held.
The NBA has determined the Milwaukee Bucks violated league rules with timing of Bogdan Bogdanovic transaction and will lose their 2022 second-round draft pick, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 21, 2020
The NBA investigated an apparent agreement between the Bucks and Bogdan Bogdanovic in free agency, finding that early discussions did occur and constituting conduct detrimental to the league, sources said. https://t.co/c7lxwVsgus
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 21, 2020
The Bogdanovic saga was indeed one of the strangest of the offseason.
For starters, sign-and-trades have always involved unrestricted free agents. Bogdanovic, on the other hand, was a restricted free agent, meaning the Kings would otherwise have had any opportunity to match contracts from opposing teams.
It was somewhat unprecedented for the Bucks to orchestrate this sign-and-trade, and it spiraled out of control when Bogdanovic said he would not join Milwaukee because the teams had signed off without his consent.
Instead of landing both Jrue Holiday and Bogdanovic on practically the same day, the Bucks had to settle for just the former. Now, they also forfeit yet another draft pick after giving up a ton of draft capital in order to acquire Holiday from the New Orleans Pelicans.
Of course, the Kings also ended up with nothing.
Sacramento elected not to match the four-year, $72 million offer sheet Bogdanovic signed with the Atlanta Hawks. The swingman will now play an imperative role for a young Hawks team with a suddenly bright future.
The Bucks and Kings, meanwhile, will wonder what could have been, though the NBA is hoping to remove this precedent by docking Milwaukee a draft pick.
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