It looks like the Greg Monroe will be a member of the Milwaukee Bucks to start the 2016-17 NBA regular season.
But not by choice, for either party.
From Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times:
Multiple NBA sources told me the Bucks accelerated their attempts to trade Monroe this summer — even though from a purely statistical standpoint he had a quality season, averaging 15.3 points and 8.8 rebounds.
The consensus among many NBA front office officials was that Monroe wouldn’t be with the Bucks when they report to training camp later this month — even if they couldn’t get fair market value for the big man.
This is both surprising, and not at all shocking.
On the one hand, Greg Monroe can produce. He’s a nimble-footed big man with polished post moves, and he’s an above-average passer for his position. If you surround him with enough perimeter defenders who can shoot, you’ll be fine. Or you can go the route of the Indiana Pacers, who are moving Al Jefferson, essentially an older version of Monroe, to the second unit in hopes of seeing him obliterate opposing benches.
The Bucks, in all fairness, tried that last season, mostly to no avail. Monroe was back in the starting lineup by the end of the year.
The main problem here, aside from Monroe’s iffy fit across the league, is his contract. Greg Monroe will earn $17.1 million next season, and has a player option worth $17.9 million(ish) for 2017-18. To match his salary, teams will likely have to give up something of value, which increases the difficulty of any potential deal. And if there are suitors for him, they may want or not want him to opt into his contract for next season, and Monroe probably isn’t prepared to guarantee either scenario at this stage.
Thus, this dilemma will soldier on, likely into the regular season, perhaps leading up to the trade deadline, when any interested, or even disinterested parties, will have a better hold of what Monroe might be worth, or isn’t worth, in today’s league.
