The Bucks and Wizards have agreed to a trade to kick off the Wednesday before the February 6 NBA Trade Deadline.
Milwaukee is sending Khris Middleton to the Wizards in a four-player trade that will see Middleton, AJ Johnson, and a pick swap head to Washington in exchange for Kyle Kuzma, Patrick Baldwin, and a second-round pick.
Middleton, who won a Gold Medal with Team USA during the Tokyo Olympics, has only played 23 games this season and has missed significant time over the past few seasons with injuries. The 33-year-old is a candidate to be moved again before the deadline or bought out by the team.
Kyle Kuzma’s True Trade Value
Ahead of last season’s NBA trade deadline, there was chatter that Kuzma could garner “legitimate first-round capital” in a trade and we wrote that the “legitimacy of those rumors” would dictate whether the Wizards traded the forward.
One year later, Kuzma’s value comes into better focus. Middleton, a 2028 pick swap, and Johnson, who was the No. 23 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft but has only played 44 minutes of NBA minutes to date, is the outcome.
While the acquisition of Middletown could bring additional value—either via an additional trade or via financial aid through a buyout agreement—the haul doesn’t exactly represent a significant value for Kuzma (and that’s before even factoring in surrendering Baldwin and a second-round pick).
Draft Pick Breakdown
- The pick swap will give the Wizards the ability to trade 2028 first-rounders with the Bucks, per Chris Haynes.
- The second-round pick heading to Milwaukee will be the most favorable of the three second-rounders that the Wizards possess in the 2025 draft, per Eric Nehm.
