Is a trade coming? What is Kuzma’s current level?

The Bucks, are you going to do something again?

Recently, American reporter Evan Sidery reported that in order to appease Antetokounmpo and create a must-win season, the trade discussion around Kuzma is reheating. After trying to trade Kuzma in the offseason, the Bucks hope to use his contract as a bargaining chip in exchange for a player who can upgrade the lineup.

First of all, one thing needs to be affirmed. In order to keep Antetokounmpo, the Bucks have really done a lot of work this summer. However, Kuzma? The Bucks want to use him for a player to upgrade the lineup? It's more or less a dream.

Let’s talk about Kuzma’s situation first. Before the trade deadline last season, the Bucks traded with the Wizards:

—The Bucks sent Middleton, No. 23 pick AJ Johnson, and 2028 first-round swap rights.

—The Wizards sent Kuzma, Patrick Baldwin Jr., and the 2025 second round. The main purpose of signing

is to save money (Middleton's annual salary is 31.67 million in an incremental contract, and Kuzma's annual salary is 23.53 million in a decreasing contract). At the same time, Middleton is injured and declining, and the Bucks also want to get Kuzma, hoping that he can become Antetokounmpo's new championship partner.

However, the result did not go as expected. After joining the Bucks, Kuzma's performance: played 33 regular season games, averaged 31.8 minutes per game, only scored 14.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists. His three shooting percentages were 45.5%/33.3%/66.3%, and his true shooting percentage was 54.5%.

Kuzma is a typical jack-of-all-trades player. He can score, but his efficiency is not high. He can defend, but the Wizards' defense has regressed a lot in the past few years, so it is difficult to truly have an impact on a strong team. The data can also show: After Kuzma joined the Bucks, when he was on the court, the Bucks lost 1.0 points per 100 possessions. On the contrary, when he was not on the court, the Bucks had a net loss of 11.0 points per 100 possessions, which is quite explosive.

This is only the regular season, what is even more explosive is the playoffs.

In the first round against the Pacers, as the team's top three paid player, Kuzma's performance was as follows: in 5 games, he averaged 5.8 points, 2.2 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game, shooting 34.3% from the field, 20.0% from the three-point range, and 38.5% from the field.

Among them, G1 was the most explosive. Kuzma played 22 minutes, making 0 of 5 shots, 0 of 2 free throws, and scored 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals, and 0 blocks. His plus-minus value was as low as -24, ranking last on the team. What is the concept of

? Kuzma is the sixth player in NBA playoff history to play at least 20 minutes in a single game and end up with 0+0+0+0+0 data - even rarer than 50+ in a single game in the playoffs.

In fact, the reason why the Bucks lost 1-4 to the Pacers in the playoffs was not just because of Lillard's injury. Kuzma, the team's third scoring point, played so poorly, which was also a major reason for the defeat.

Let’s look at Kuzma’s contract situation. The annual salary in the new season is 22.41 million, and in the 2026-27 season it is 20.34 million. The decreasing contract still has a certain transaction value, but the fundamental problem is that the current Kuzma is not worth 20 million in annual salary. Based on his playoff level last season, to put it bluntly, he may only have a minimum salary level.

Here, we might as well review Kuzma’s “peak” performance with the Wizards.

In the 2022-23 season, Kuzma averaged 21.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. With this year's highlights, he received a four-year, 100 million contract from the Wizards.

In the following 2023-24 season, Kuzma continued to perform, averaging 22.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game, a new high in scoring. At that time, the Wizards almost traded him for a first-round pick - it was this season that the Mavericks tried to get Kuzma, but was rejected by Kuzma. Later, the Mavericks got PJ Washington and reached the finals.

20+ points for two consecutive years looks good, but objectively speaking, Kuzma is somewhat of a weak team to score points. His ball usage rates in the past two years have been as high as 27.3% and 29.5% respectively, but his offensive efficiency is not very good, with a true shooting rate of only 54.4% and 54.7%.

It needs to be said that Kuzma's performance with the Wizards had already declined in the half season before joining the Bucks. At that time, he averaged only 15.2 points per game and his true shooting percentage was 48.8%, the lowest in his career.

The final facts also proved that Kuzma did not help the Bucks, but had a negative effect, and now the Bucks still have to find a way to deal with the remaining two years of his 40 million+ contract - as we said, the Bucks have actually done a lot of work during the offseason, but even so, Kuzma's contract has still not been dealt with, which also shows that the latter is not popular in the trading market.

Personally, I feel that the possibility of a trade before the start of the regular season is not high, but before next year's trade deadline, the Bucks should continue to try to send Kuzma away. As for what they can get in exchange, it is really hard to say. There is a high probability of a junk contract being exchanged for a junk contract.

At this stage, the Bucks have no space, draft picks, high-quality young players, etc., so it is very difficult to bring real helpers to Antetokounmpo. In the worst case scenario, by February, it may not be Kuzma who leaves in the trade, but Antetokounmpo.