6:56 pm: Micic gave up $6.1MM in his buyout agreement with the Bucks, who stretching his remaining $2MM across three seasons for annual cap hits of $667K, reports Eric Nehm of The Athletic.
5:09 pm: The Bucks have officially waived point guards Damian Lillard and Vasilije Micic, according to the transaction log at NBA.com. Both moves had been anticipated as Milwaukee looked to clear the cap space necessary to sign free agent center Myles Turner to a four-year, $107MM contract.
Reports last Tuesday indicated that Lillard would have his remaining $112.6MM salary spread across five seasons instead of two using the stretch provision in order to create immediate cap relief for Milwaukee.
Lillard is expected to miss most or all of the 2025/26 season while he recovers from the torn Achilles he suffered during the first round of the playoffs in April. The nine-time All-Star has reportedly drawn interest already from many teams around the NBA, but hasn’t yet decided whether he’ll sign a new contract this offseason and is said to be in no rush to make that decision.
As for Micic, the expectation after he was acquired from Charlotte in exchange for Pat Connaughton and a pair of second-round picks was that he would agree to reduce his $8.1MM cap hit in order to become a free agent and generate a little extra cap space for the Bucks. According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link), the two sides did reach an agreement on a buyout, though it’s unclear at this point how much of his salary Micic gave up.
Micic has played a pretty limited role in the NBA during the past couple seasons after starring in Europe for most of his career. In 101 total games for Oklahoma City, Charlotte, and Phoenix, he averaged 6.8 points and 3.9 assists in 19.4 minutes per contest.
Rumors in recent months have linked Micic to multiple EuroLeague teams — while it’s not clear exactly which one he’ll end up with, it seems likely that the 31-year-old Serbian will head back overseas to resume his playing career.
It appears both Lillard and Micic were technically placed on waivers on Sunday evening, as the NBA’s transaction log lists Turner’s deal as having gotten done last night. Still, if those cuts occurred after 4:00 pm Central time, neither player will officially clear waivers until Wednesday.
I hate the stretch wholeheartedly but I see its merits in this one particular situation. I actually kind of approve of it 100% despite most of the media hating it
Mil has good home owners insurance with Myles if Giannis isnt a Buck starting 2027. They can sell off and get 2 firsts most likely taking stale salary- That covers the Dame dead money itself
IF, Big IF Giannis leaves before 2027 the books would be completely wiped. Brooklyn showed how hard it was to get max value off 60 M in cap it be way harder to get max value with Mil having 100+ cap at that point . The Dame money won’t hurt all that much those next asset accumulating years
And they have a pretty solid team to date, way better than I thought a month ago, IF the Turner move helps them turn it up a notch this year and helps with another Giannis ext you’d take that dead money trade off 10/10 times
Phx now is in a polar opposite situation with Beal , they’d be fools to stretch Beal
I would generally agree with all this but Bill Simmons said stretching Dame and signing Turner was idiotic and he knows everything so I guess I’m wrong.
I’m a big Dame fan, he’s an all-time hooper, but he didn’t fit well with Giannis. I see why the Bucks traded for him but in hindsight they should’ve went after an elite off-ball talent instead
I like Bill, and saw that episode too, but I think he was off the mark
His guest that day Rob Mahoney was kinda agreeing with my take opposing his boss ha. Bill was v adamant tho indeed
What does it mean to ‘kind of approve’ something ‘100%’?
@Cap — I Agree. This is a W&S transaction that I could justify.
For me the reason is mostly about the “ancillary” benefit of increasing the likelihood that GA will sign an extension. I think it’s essential that MIL know one way or the other ASAP, and if its not signed by next July, then they need to trade him (whether or not he requests it). This deal makes a statement that will help in that regard, even outside of the basketball merits.
As for MIL’s 2027 asset base without GA, I would probably prefer (1) an additional 50 mm in cap space (without the w&S hit of 22.5 mm and Turner’s 27.5 mm), to (2) Turner (at his 27.5 mm salary for 2 more years). But it might depend on what assets I got for GA. In any event, it’s not such a clear preference that it would change the way I pursued a GA extension.
The Jrue Holiday trade disaster keeps getting worse.
As a Celtic fan I was very happy with that trade.
Trading for Lillard was a no brainer and this is where things landed. Ten out of ten times you make that trade but these things don’t always pan out. Since Milwaukee is a small market team the media will tell you they are doomed and this is how the product is sold.
Agreed. The decline of Khris Middleton was a bigger factor to the Bucks decline than the Dame trade. The bucks coaching carousel was the most epic debacle I’ve ever seen. What they did to Bud, was wrong. If you know the personal tragedy he faced during that last playoffs of his tenure (the death of his brother became public after the firing), then you know what they did to him was down right dirty.
Those are the things that kept them from deep playoff runs, not Dame. Rushing Dame back to the court was inexplicable. Blood clots don’t heal in 28 days, and there is no way his INR was normalized when that injury occurred. It was absolutely the result of his body not being ready for the rigors of elite NBA athleticism, so close to treatment for blood clots. The Bucks stretching him out for his full guarantee is the least they could do for him. Allowing him to make more money in 2026/27. The bucks mismanagement of his heath is deplorable and should be punishable. Guys are taking 4-6 months to return from blood clots not just one.
Well, not if it meant they had to ship Jrue out.
After OKC won this year, I think NBA franchises will change their perspective on trading their 1st round picks to get a proven superstar.
micic to wizards looks good
micic is coming back to europe most likely