Bucks, Hawks, Heat all Make Their Moves
As NBA free agency continues, more and more teams are re-signing key players. Three of those teams are the Milwaukee Bucks, Atlanta Hawks, and Miami Heat.
The Milwaukee Bucks re-signed swingman Khris Middleton to a massive $70 million, 5 year extension. The former second-round pick had a breakout season in 2014-2015, where he averaged 3.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game, all career highs. Middleton also proved his versatility, shooting 41% from beyond the arc. While still a relatively unknown player, Middleton was speculated to be a hot commodity this off season, but the Bucks managed to lock down one of their key players.
After losing DeMarre Carroll to the Raptors(See Our Report Here), the Hawks have managed to retain one of their key pieces, power forward Paul Millsap. Millsap averaged almost 17 points and 8 rebounds a game last season. After reports of the Orlando Magic offering Millsap $80 million over 4 years, the All-Star shut down the rest of his meetings, which would have been with the Knicks, Mavericks, and Pacers, and decided to choose between the Hawks and the Magic. Even though Orlando threw a max offer his way, Millsap choose to stay with the Hawks, signing for $59 million over 3 years with a likely player option for the third year.
The Miami Heat re-signed point guard Goran Dragic to a $90 million, 5 year extension. Dragic was acquired by Miami last season after struggling to make his mark in Phoenix’s failed three-guard experiment. Dragic is considered one of the best offensive point guards in the league, a strong finisher at the rim who had better field goal percentages in the paint than Lebron James and Blake Griffin last season. Re-signing Dragic to less than the max (They could have offered him $108 million over 5 years) also allows the Heat to have more cap space to resign key guys like Dwyane Wade, and attempt to avoid the luxury tax.
