NBA: Media: Bledsoe before Trade to the Milwaukee Bucks

According to ESPN reports, Eric Bledsoe is on the verge of a trade from the Phoenix Suns to the Milwaukee Bucks. Rookie of the Year “Malcolm Brogdon, in which Phoenix was said to have a strong interest, remains in Milwaukee.

ESPNsAdrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe also report that the draftpicks involved are to be provided with complicated protection. The Phoenix Suns will only receive the first round pick of the Bucks 2018 if it lands between positions 11 and 16. The following year, the pick would have to land between fourth and sixteenth place, and in 2020 between eight and thirty. If this should not happen, it would be unprotected in the summer of 2021.

The additional 2018 second round pick Phoenix could receive from Milwaukee is protected up to draft position 47. If he doesn’t go to Arizona after this season, the pick stays in Wisconsin. However, the Suns will not lack draft assets in the future: between 2018 and 2021, the franchise will now have a total of seven first-round picks.

The bucks are getting some financial relief from the trade and are now 4.4 million dollars below the luxury tax limit. They also receive a trade exception of just under $3.4 million.

Bledsoe, who had already been taken out of the squad for a few weeks towards the end of last season, was only used three times this season for the Suns. In 2016/17, however, he played a strong season with 21.1 points, 6.3 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game.