Bucks continue to explore market, linked to Zach LaVine, Jerami Grant, others

Thursday night marked the midpoint of the season for the Bucks, and it came with an uncomfortable milestone. At 17-24, this is the franchise’s worst first-half record since the 2015-16 season. That is not a blip. That is a problem.

Around the NBA, the word that keeps popping up is lost. The record backs it up. The eye test does too.

Still, the Bucks are telling anyone who asks that this is not the beginning of the end. They insist Giannis Antetokounmpo is not going anywhere and that help is coming. Somehow. Some way.

“We always manage to pull something off,” one team source told Jamal Collier of ESPN.

That belief has fueled fresh speculation, including chatter around Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies. According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, Memphis has asked about Ryan Rollins and Milwaukee’s lone tradable first-round pick in the early 2030s.

The Bucks, however, have been reluctant to part with that pick unless the return is a clear star.

Morant once fit that label without debate. Injuries and inconsistency have since complicated the math.

One recent deal looms as a cautionary tale. The Wizards landed Trae Young without surrendering draft capital, instead absorbing money the Hawks wanted off their books. That kind of structure is more appealing to Milwaukee than a pick-heavy gamble.

Names continue to circulate. Zach LaVine, Malik Monk, and Jerami Grant are among those linked to the Bucks, along with Andrew Wiggins and Miles Bridges.

There have even been exploratory talks with the Kings involving Bobby Portis in a potential Monk-centered deal. Bigger names would require bigger sacrifices, and the Bucks know it.

League executives are skeptical. One Eastern Conference voice put it bluntly.

“At some point, you’re just digging deeper and deeper,” the exec told ESPN. “There might not be light at the end of the tunnel. It might just be a hole.”

The Bucks say they are not done digging. The rest of the league is waiting to see what, if anything, they actually find.