NBA Trade: Warriors Send Monta Ellis to Bucks for Andrew Bogut in 5-Player Deal
Two days ahead of Thursday's NBA Trade Deadline, the Golden State Warriors and the Milwaukee Bucks appear to have set the bar extremely high as far as blockbuster trades are concerned.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports is reporting that the Warriors have agreed in principle to send All-Star guard Monta Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks along with Ekpe Udoh and former first overall pick and legendary bust Kwame Brown, who is out for the season with a chest injury.
In return, the Warriors will receive another former No. 1 overall pick in Andrew Bogut along with Stephen Jackson, who previously played for Golden State from 2007 to 2009.
What it means
For the Bucks, they've clearly acquired the best player in this trade in Ellis, who is averaging nearly 22 points per game so far this season.
Ellis is quick, talented and is simply a scoring machine. However, there were always questions in Golden State about whether or not he could co-exist with point guard Stephen Curry, and by trading him away it seems as though the Warriors have acknowledged that he could not.
The irony is that now he'll have to co-exist with another standout point guard on the Bucks in Brandon Jennings—that is, if the Bucks don't move him by Thursday as well.
As for the Warriors, they get two solid players in Bogut and Jackson that they hope can provide more depth in their front court.
Bogut is one of the top centers in the league when he's healthy, but history has proven that his health is far from a guarantee. He's missed more than 100 games due to injury already in his NBA career, and he's only in his seventh season. He'll also have to co-exist with David Lee in the post, although that shouldn't be much of an issue considering Lee has experience at both the center and power forward positions.
Jackson should also contribute nicely at small forward in his second stint with the Warriors, as he was averaging 10.5 points per game in 36 contests for the Bucks this season.
