The Milwaukee Bucks will be forced to make some tough decisions this upcoming summer in hopes to avoid the dreaded luxury tax becoming a major burden. Among those hard choices will be the potential to trade marksman Tony Snell, as the Bucks are reportedly “desperate” to dump his $23.5 million contract to help lighten that inevitable tax burden, according to Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times.
Snell hasn't played much and is seen as undeserving of $10-plus million per year as a reserve, so it stands to reason that there aren't many teams lining up to acquire him.
“He’s just not a good value,’’ an NBA executive told Woelfel. “I know they brought in some guys at his spot like (Pat) Connaughton but his (Snell’s) play has leveled off, too.”
“I think the only way they can move him is if they package him with a pick, for instance. But he’s already traded two (future) No. 1s, so that won’t be easy to do that, either.’’
The he refers to Bucks general manager Jon Horst, who already sent a future first-rounder to the Phoenix Suns to acquire Eric Bledsoe and sent another first-rounder to the Cleveland Cavaliers recently to bring in George Hill.
The situation becomes more difficult, considering that Horst has gambled with future talent to bring in immediate results — which to his defense, has worked, putting him among the four best teams in the league and two wins away from the NBA Finals. Yet that comes at the cost of lack of flexibility.
Horst's best hope would be that a team would be willing to take on a second-round pick in a Snell trade, but meanwhile, the lanky sharpshooter has already cashed in a $100,000 bonus for appearing in 60-plus regular-season games and then another $100,000 for playing in at least 75% of the Bucks’ semifinal playoff games against the Boston Celtics.
Snell could make another $150,000 by playing 75% of Milwaukee's conference finals games against the Toronto Raptors and $150,000 more by doing the same in the NBA Finals, shall the Bucks advance.
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