Bucks: Brook Lopez’s Future Up In Air After Milwaukee Mulls On Shifting Strategy For Subsequent Season

(Photo : Stacy Revere/Getty Images) MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – Brook Lopez (#11) of the Milwaukee Bucks takes a 3 level shot in the course of the second half of a recreation in opposition to the New Orleans Pelicans at Fiserv Forum on January 27, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The Milwaukee Bucks might be parting methods with one in every of their key contributors from their championship-contending years during the last half-decade.

Center Brook Lopez’s future with the staff is unsure, almost six years since becoming a member of as a free agent in 2018.

According to league insider Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, the Bucks need to play a extra versatile fashion of protection subsequent season, which might trigger the 36-year-old to fall out of the rotation.

The 7-foot-1 massive man will enter the ultimate 12 months of his contract in 2024-25, the place he’s set to make $23 million.

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Lopez had a stable marketing campaign final season, with numbers on par together with his total tenure in Milwaukee. The California native averaged 12.5 factors, 5.2 rebounds, and a couple of.4 blocks per recreation in 79 video games, because the staff was eradicated within the first spherical of the 2024 NBA Playoffs by the Indiana Pacers in six video games.

Brook Lopez’s late profession turnaround

Lopez’s tenure with Milwaukee has been marked by a sensational resurgence on the defensive finish of the courtroom and an elevated quantity of three-point taking pictures.

The former Stanford Cardinal made his first All-NBA Defensive Team in 2020, incomes Second-Team honors 12 years after his NBA debut.

During the 2022-23 season, Lopez was named to the All-NBA Defensive First Team and led the league in whole blocks with 193 rejections all 12 months, a large turnaround in comparison with the early years of his profession.