Hill’s deal becomes official after Bucks waive Leuer

Jon Leuer is out, George Hill is in and the Milwaukee Bucks are out of space under the NBA’s salary cap. Those moves came Tuesday as the Bucks’ path through free agency came into focus.

On the eve of the NBA draft last month, the Bucks traded Tony Snell and the 30th pick for Leuer, momentarily bringing the former Wisconsin Badger back to Milwaukee, where he began his NBA career. The move was meant to give the Bucks more flexibility this summer since Leuer only had one year left on his contract while Snell has two remaining at a higher price.

For the Bucks, bringing back Khris Middleton – who will sign a five-year, $178 million contract – Brook Lopez and Hill were top priorities this summer. When it came to Lopez and Hill, the Bucks needed to create enough room under the salary cap to absorb their salaries, which is where Leuer came in.

By acquiring Leuer and renouncing the rights to Nikola Mirotic, Tim Frazier and Pau Gasol, the Bucks cleared enough space to bring back Lopez on a four-year, $52 million deal. Later on Day 1 of free agency, Milwaukee reached a deal with Hill on a three-year, $29 million contract, including only a partial guarantee for the third year.

However, that move could not be made until the Bucks created enough space under the cap for Hill’s new contract to fit. The timing of the Bucks’ trade with the Indiana Pacers – a signand-trade agreement that sent Malcolm Brogdon to Indianapolis in return for a lottery-protected first-round pick along with two second-round picks – meant that the Bucks could make enough space for Hill if they waived Leuer and paid out the $9.5 million he is owed over three years. The downside to that plan, though, was renouncing a trade exception of approximately $10 million gained in the Brogdon trade.

The Bucks could have traded Leuer to clear that space, but that would have likely meant attaching a young player or draft picks. Milwaukee instead chose the straightforward but financially difficult path of waiving and stretching Leuer’s contract, paying him about $3.2 million each of the next three seasons.

With Leuer’s contract attached to their cap sheet for this season and the next two, the Bucks now have over $8 million in “dead money” on the books this season. They’re still paying Larry Sanders $1,865,546 each season through 2021-’22 following a buyout agreement in 2015. This is the last season the Bucks are paying Spencer Hawes ($2,007,058) after waiving and stretching him in 2017. They’re also paying Hill $1 million in dead money this season, which was tied to his previous contract.

During the 2020-21 season, the Bucks will pay Leuer and Sanders over $5 million in total. Waiving and stretching players is never a team’s first recourse, but this was the price for the Bucks to retain Lopez and Hill while staying under the NBA’s luxury-tax threshold of $132.6 million in salary.

Following the pending signings of Middleton, Robin Lopez, Wesley Matthews and Thanasis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks will have two more roster spots available. However, the Bucks can only fill those remaining roster spots with players who agree to sign minimum contracts.