Monroe opts to return
Also, a look at 5 players the Bucks might select in the first round
Greg Monroe gave the Milwaukee Bucks another one of his signature “and one” calls on Wednesday morning.
According to Shams Charania of The Vertical, the 6-foot-11 center plans to opt into the final year of his contract to stay with the Bucks for the 2017-’18 season.
That final year is worth approximately $17.9 million, making him the second-highest paid player on the team for next season behind only Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is entering the first year of his four-year, $100 million contract.
Part of the reason for Monroe’s decision likely comes down to that dollar figure. It could have been difficult to find a team to match that figure if he became an unrestricted free agent. However, Monroe has also found a solid role in Milwaukee that has helped him thrive.
When Monroe arrived in Milwaukee in 2015, he was heralded as the team’s first major freeagent acquisition in a long time, choosing the Bucks over bigbrand teams such as the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks. He had been a full-time starter with the Detroit Pistons for much of his career and continued that role until midway through the season. Bucks coach Jason Kidd shifted him to the bench for a 12-game stretch to help with the team’s struggling bench unit.
By the 2016-’17 season, that become the role that Monroe would play all season and he fit perfectly. Monroe came off the bench in all 87 games in which he appeared — regular season and postseason — and provided a stable scoring option and highenergy play at both ends.
Despite playing the fewest
minutes of any season in his career (1,823) — less even than the 2011-’12 season in which he only appeared in 66 games — Monroe was unquestionably an integral, impactful member of the team. His per-36-minute numbers were some of the best of his career and he was fresh and reliable.
In the playoffs vs. Toronto, Monroe’s first in seven NBA seasons, he averaged the third-most points on the team (13.2), 7.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.3 steals while playing 23.5 minutes per game — just one more than his season average.
While Monroe’s return bolsters the roster, it also puts the team in a bit of a bind that general manager Jon Horst will have to figure out this off-season.
By opting in, Monroe pushed the Bucks’ team salary to nearly $102 million. With 11 guaranteed contracts, the Bucks are already over the projected salary cap of $101 million. That doesn’t take into account Spencer Hawes’ $6 million player option, the Bucks’ upcoming draft picks or restricted free-agent Tony Snell, who Horst and Kidd have said publicly the team wants to keep.
The tax threshold is expected to be around $121 million for next season, which means Horst will likely have to do make some moves and pull off some cap gymnastics to keep the Bucks under that number, especially if they want to hold on to Snell, who could command upwards of $10-13 million per season.
Horst believes he’s uniquely qualified to figure out the difficult details as it pertains to the cap.
“Probably the last 10 years, 10-12 years I’ve become a cap expert,” he said Monday. “I’ve spent a tremendous amount of time evaluating the cap, leveraging the cap for competitive advantages, understanding the rules and regulations for transactions.”
Now, with one major puzzle piece falling into place with Monroe opting in, Horst will have to manage the rest of the picture. That starts Thursday night with the NBA draft.