Hearts were rent over the Bucks banishing Khris Middleton to the Wizards in exchange for, ugh, Kyle Kuzma. Any shine the move might have promised faded quickly to nauseating verdigris. Unloading Middleton did, though, get the Bucks under the second apron, allowing them crucial flexibility this offseason. The thing about the trade that might really come back to bite them is the loss of 20-year-old AJ Johnson, packaged as a pot sweetener for taking on Middleton’s contract.
The 2024 first-round pick flashed promise in Washington, where he actually had a chance to play. In a brief Wizards aside in a League Pass rankings episode on the Zach Lowe Show, Lowe threw some salt on a wound that will only fester for Bucks fans if Johnson realizes his potential elsewhere.
Johnson has chance to prove his potential – something the Bucks couldn’t give him
Of course, most Milwaukee fans probably want for him to succeed. What will hurt if he does is the fact that the Bucks burned another draft pick in a move that looks catastrophic in hindsight. Surely, they could have found another Middleton deal, at the deadline or in the offseason. Instead, they turned him plus Johnson into Kuzma.
Milwaukee Bucks 2024 draft picks AJ Johnson and Tyler Smith pose for a picture with head coach Doc Rivers and general manager Jon Horst at a news conference Tuesday, July 2, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
The tanking Wizards provided a platform for Johnson last season and this year should be no different. For 2025-26, the Wizards clocked in at No. 20 in the combined League Pass rankings of Lowe and guest analyst Rob Mahoney. Lowe himself isn’t so high on them – he ranked them 29th, whereas Mahoney had them all the way up at No. 7 – but he is high on Johnson.
He didn’t have to say a lot to remind the Bucks about the promising talent they threw away last deadline.
“I want to watch every AJ Johnson minute that there is this year, and there’s going to be a lot of them,” Lowe beamed briefly (48:33). That isn’t much, only an offhand aside, but it’s enough to sting. It’s high praise from a venerated figure in the NBA community, even if part of the draw is the unmitigated chaos to which talented young ballhandlers can be prone. Bucks fans would love to be the ones watching him, but alas, he never had a chance to spread his wings.
Milwaukee guard AJ Johnson (77) lays up the ball in the fourth quarter during an NBA game between Oklahoma City and Milwaukee at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025.
It’s not like there was much of an opportunity in the first place. 19 years old before the season started, Johnson wasn’t ready to contribute on a contender, making him a puzzling draft pick. Doc Rivers inserted him into just seven games, in which Johnson got up 19 total shots. That’s it.
With the Wizards, Johnson got actual minutes: 22 games played, 11 starts, 27 minutes per night. He was abysmal from 3-point range (24.7%) and he wasn’t great on twos, either (48.6%), but there’s clearly something there as a scorer and playmaker (9.1 PPG, 3.1 APG). That’s why the Bucks drafted him 24th overall last year, only to light that pick on fire in February.
At this point, the notion that Milwaukee GM Jon Horst gets some kind of masochistic thrill from squandering draft talent is semi-believable. Imagine taking a one-million dollar check and holding it to a flame: that’s Horst with his draft picks.
AJ Johnson, gone. Tyler Smith, gone. Chris Livingston, gone. MarJon Beauchamp, gone. Indirectly, Beauchamp is the only one who turned into something as the outgoing piece in the Kevin Porter Jr. trade.
Milwaukee guard AJ Johnson (77) drives forward past Oklahoma City forward Adam Flagler (14) and Oklahoma City forward Dillon Jones (3) in the fourth quarter during an NBA game between Oklahoma City and Milwaukee at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025.
This year’s pick, Markovic Bogolijub, is spending the year overseas and may never be seen again – not in a Bucks jersey, anyway. Hopefully Johnson finds his footing in Washington. In that case, best believe there will be a glitter of envy in the eyes of wistful Bucks fans.
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