Tucker heads to Milwaukee
Forward traded for two players and draft picks
P.J. Tucker will get his wish. The Rockets will get another young player to develop and draft assets. Both get what they needed from their split.
The Rockets will send Tucker, who had been away from the team while awaiting a trade, to the Milwaukee Bucks for center D.J. Wilson, along with veteran point guard D.J. Augustin, a person with knowledge of the deal confirmed. ESPN first reported the deal agreement.
The Rockets also sent forward Rodions Kurucs, who was acquired in the James Harden deal but rarely played, and the Bucks’ 2022 first-round pick, getting back the right to swap their own second-round selection this season for Milwaukee’s first-rounder.
The Rockets also receive the Bucks’ first-round pick in 2023 with no protections attached.
The deal ends Tucker’s largely successful run with the Rockets. But it effectively was over last week when the forward left the team in Sacramento, with he and the Rockets coming to an agreement that he would stay away from the club while it worked on a trade.
The deal will allow the Rockets to exchange one Bucks first-round pick for two at the cost of players that were not contributing and a second-round pick.
Unless the Bucks somehow end up in the top nine of the draft, the Rockets will likely have three first-round picks this season; the Bucks’, Trail Blazers’ and either their own, if it is in the top four of the draft, or the worse from among theirs, the Thunder’s and Heat’s if theirs falls out of the top four.
Augustin, a New Orleans native who finished his high school career at Hightower and played at UT, averaged 6.1 points and three assists in a limited role with the Bucks this season, his 13th in the NBA.
Wilson, a 6-10 forward/ center, has played in just 12 games this season, averaging 3.6 points in 8.8 minutes. The 17th player taken in the 2017 NBA draft out of Michigan, Wilson had never been able to carve out consistent minutes with the Bucks.
As with Tucker, Wilson, 25, is in the final season of his contract. Augustin, 33, has another season worth $7 million guaranteed, with a partial guarantee on his salary in 2022-23.
Tucker had been a key “3and-D” starter for the Rockets since signing as a free agent in 2017 but struggled this season, averaging just 4.4 points on a career-low 36.6 percent shooting.
Tucker had wanted to sign to remain with the Rockets but was unhappy when his representative and the team could not come to an agreement on a contract extension before the season.
With the Bucks, however, he could benefit from playing with an MVP-caliber force in Giannis Antetokounmpo, just as he had with Harden, while bringing the physical defense and switching ability that could fit well with the Bucks.
The Rockets, however, are rebuilding, placing a greater priority on playing young players and collecting draft picks. The deal adds to that plan, while sending Tucker to a contender and the role at which he has been at his best.