Report: NBA Investigating Possible Bogdan Bogdanovic Trade Between Bucks, Kings
The NBA is investigating what transpired between the Milwaukee Bucks and Sacramento Kings as they attempted to work out a deal involving Bogdan Bogdanovic, according to Marc Stein of the New York Times.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN added that the league is looking into whether the teams' failed agreement happened earlier than league rules allow. Wojnarowski noted that if an agreement had been reached on Tuesday as it was initially reported, that would be three days before the league would allow such a pact.
It was widely reported that the Kings were going to send Bogdanovic to the Bucks in a trade, but Sam Amick of The Athletic reported such a move was "in jeopardy" because he did not agree to the deal.
Wojnarowski then reported Bogdanovic plans on entering restricted free agency on Friday even though Milwaukee and Sacramento wanted to work with him to create a sign-and-trade agreement.
Per Amick, Milwaukee was going to send Donte DiVincenzo, Ersan Ilyasova and D.J. Wilson to the Kings for Bogdanovic and Justin James after it acquired Jrue Holiday from the New Orleans Pelicans for Eric Bledsoe, George Hill, three future first-round picks and multiple pick swaps.
Alas, it appears that will not be the case, which is a blow to the championship contender who could have gone with a crunch-time lineup of Holiday, Bogdanovic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez.
Stein also noted the Bucks waived Ilyasova on Thursday which "has increased belief leaguewide that Bogdanovic will be headed elsewhere in free agency."
Bogdanovic averaged 15.1 points per game last season for the Kings and is someone who could take advantage of the additional space created by the defensive attention Giannis attracts as a career 37.4 percent three-point shooter.
Having someone like that could have also helped convince Antetokounmpo to sign his supermax deal and remain with the Bucks instead of heading into free agency following the 2020-21 season.
The Bogdanovic and Holiday moves appeared to signal that the Bucks were all-in on building a contender, but instead there is an NBA investigation and questions about where Bogdanovic will end up for the upcoming season.
