The Milwaukee Bucks are in danger of losing one of their best players. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Bucks’ All-Star Khris Middleton rejected his $40 million player option for the 2022-23 NBA season and will become a free agent.
The news was confirmed to Wojnarowski by Middleton’s agents, Mike Lindeman and Jeff Schwartz.
This development doesn’t mean that Middleton will leave the Bucks, as the team is interested in signing him to a long-term deal. However, it complicated things for Milwaukee, who will now have to compete with other teams to retain the 31-year-old player.
The thing that might work in the Bucks’ favor is that Middleton picked out a bad time to enter the free agency. He struggled to stay healthy in 2022-23, playing only 33 games and averaging 15.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.9 assists. Middleton also underwent knee surgery at the end of the campaign.
A second-round pick in 2012 by the Detroit Pistons, Khris Middleton was traded to the Bucks before his sophomore season and developed into an All-Star player. He emerged as a perfect complementary piece alongside the franchise star Giannis Antetokounmpo and helped Milwaukee win an NBA title in 2021.
Middleton, who has three All-Star nods in the past five seasons, has averaged 17.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.8 assists since entering the NBA.
