Greg Monroe Remains On Trade Block

The Bucks are still looking to trade Greg Monroe, a league executive tells Gery Woelfel of The Racine Journal Times. Monroe, whose name surfaced in trade rumors at last season’s deadline, has been considered a candidate to be moved for most of 2016.

Heading into the summer of 2015, Monroe was viewed as one of the top big men on the market, and the Bucks beat out multiple suitors, including the Knicks, to land him. However, the 26-year-old hasn’t been an ideal fit in Jason Kidd‘s system in Milwaukee.

After starting 67 contests and averaging 29.3 MPG a year ago, Monroe has come off the bench this year, with his minutes dipping to just 19.3 per game. His per-minute stats suggest he has been as productive as ever, but due to his limited playing time, his marks of 9.3 PPG and 6.8 RPG are the lowest of his career.

While Monroe isn’t exactly thriving with the Bucks, and didn’t generate the sort of trade interest the team anticipated over the summer, there’s still reason to believe he could have some appeal to potential suitors at this February’s deadline. He’s a strong low-post scorer, and the Bucks have been significantly better with him on the court so far this season — the team has a +10.3 net rating when he plays, and a -1.8 rating when he doesn’t.

Still, Monroe’s player option for 2017/18 could be problematic. Any potential trade partner for the Bucks would likely want to get a sense of whether or not the big man plans to exercise that option – worth nearly $18MM – before making a deal. Some suitors may not want to give up much for a rental, while others may not want to be saddled with that salary on their ’17/18 cap.

The Pelicans are one team that has been frequently linked to Monroe in recent months.

View Comments (6)