Middleton is a free agent after the season, and the Bucks will make it a priority to keep him around. “It’s rare to keep pieces together. Hopefully, we can make deep playoff runs and compete for championships together,” Middleton said.
More on Khris Middleton Free Agency
League sources say that the Mavericks intend to fling themselves into the chase for Khris Middleton and/or Kemba Walker with gusto in hopes that they have a shot at one of them.
Middleton hopes so, and wants to stay. Milwaukee fits his low-key personality. "It has to be the right situation," he says. "But I feel like we have a team that can compete." He is fine with his role next to Antetokounmpo. "People expect us to be more buddy-buddy, but it's not like that," he says. "We're friends. We respect each other. We need each other."
I have yet to hear any credible suggestion that the Mavericks can get in the mix for the elite free agents such as Durant, Thompson and Kyrie Irving. But Middleton is an inevitable (and sensible) target.
Matt Velazquez: Khris Middleton was asked about his future postgame: “I’ll think about the summertime in the summertime. We have a lot more work to do, hopefully. The second half of the season is going to be tough. We’ve been playing great basketball, so that’s the only thing I’m worried about.”
Bledsoe is one of four Bucks’ starters who figure to be free agents this summer, the others being Khris Middleton, Malcolm Brogdon and Brook Lopez. Like Bledsoe, the aforementioned trio of Bucks are all bound for pay raises. “It might have happened before but I don’t ever recall a team having four starting players hitting the free agent market in one summer,’’ a longtime NBA executive said. “I don’t know how they’re going to handle this; I know they’re struggling with it, too.’’
On the high end, Middleton’s 2019-2020 salary will well exceed that of superstar teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is on the books for $25.84 M next season. “He’s going to get the max,’’ an NBA general manager said last week about Middleton. The max? “The max,’’ the GM insisted.
The Bucks feel Middleton can fill that role and should he opt out to hit free agency, a Bucks official told Yahoo Sports: “We’re gonna do everything we can to keep him.” Half of the league will hit free agency in July, and Middleton will have plenty of suitors if he so chooses. “I feel like over the years we’re building something special here, so I feel like there will be an opportunity for me to be here and win at the same time,” Middleton said. “If I feel like I have a chance to win somewhere else and do better things, I’ll look into that.”
Those are star-quality numbers, and they’re the reason Middleton has max-deal buzz. There will be opportunities to explore — both the Lakers and Clippers, sources say, will have interest in Middleton, and he’ll have options with rebuilding teams such as New York, Dallas and Cleveland. Either way, Middleton will get something around a five-year, $190 million deal from Milwaukee, or a four-year, $140 million contract to sign elsewhere.
There’s still plenty of time, but here in the depths of the early season, Middleton is shaping up to be one of the most interesting players of next summer. It’s a forgone conclusion that Middleton will opt out, because he is slated to double his payday if he does. The Bucks, a source told Sporting News, are prepared for that reality and prepared to be aggressive when it comes to re-signing Middleton.
Middleton is not going to thump his chest over any of this speculation. That’s not his way. He’s got five months of season left, plus the playoffs, and after a wistful max-salary interlude, it does not take long for him to get back to speaking in bland platitudes. “I have always been the kind of guy who just takes it one day at a time,” Middleton told Sporting News. “Focus on what needs to be done that day. Don’t think too far ahead. Once you start thinking too far ahead, you get distracted by things that don’t matter on that day. So that doesn’t matter.”
Ken Berger: Khris Middleton and the Bucks have finalized their five-year, approximately $70 million deal, league source confirms.
Marc Stein: ESPN sources say Milwaukee and Khris Middleton are closing in on five-year, $70 million deal
Eric Pincus: The Milwaukee Bucks have given Khris Middleton a qualifying offer to make him a restricted free agent @BBallInsiders
