The Milwaukee Bucks were busy before Thursday night’s NBA Draft, agreeing to swap guard Tony Snell and the 30th overall pick to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for veteran forward Jon Leuer.
ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news on Wednesday night, and it then became clear that they would include a pick to sweeten the deal for Detroit, and that they would get Leuer from the other side.
Milwaukee’s motive for trading Snell was completely due to a desire to lower their team’s salary commitment for next season. Snell has two years remaining on a 4-year, $47 million deal that he signed with the Bucks in the summer of 2017.
Considering his production over the past two seasons, Milwaukee couldn’t justify keeping the talented player around. He averaged only 6.0 points per game on 45% shooting as a bench player last year, finding himself largely out of the mix for a Bucks team that finished as the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
Snell will surely find more playing time and an opportunity to improve on a Detroit roster that is nowhere as deep nor talented as Milwaukee’s. Detroit will also use the 30th pick in Thursday’s draft in order to keep adding young assets to a team that’s looking to make moves for the future.
Milwaukee, on the other hand, adds Jon Leuer to its bench, hoping that his NBA experience and shooting touch could be useful next year.
