Six days ago, as anxiety was about as high among the fanbase as I can remember, it became clear the Bucks were not going to trade Giannis Antetokounmpo. This didn’t come as a surprise. It also didn’t come as a surprise that Milwaukee made a move, shipping out unproductive vets Cole Anthony and Amir Coffey, both on expiring contracts, for Ousmane Dieng, a lottery ticket. Even though Milwaukee’s interest in him was long reported, what did come as more of a surprise was signing Cam Thomas to the resulting roster opening.
It seems more likely we’ll see more of Thomas than former 11th overall pick Dieng, but will we know enough to decide whether they’re part of the Bucks’ future? Thomas is indeed on a minimum contract, and they’ll only have Non-Bird rights on him this summer when he hits unrestricted free agency. That limits Milwaukee to a new contract with a starting salary of up to $3.4m. Otherwise, they’d have to dip into their mid-level or bi-annual exception to keep him. Dieng will be a restricted free agent if the Bucks extend an $8.7m qualifying offer, and can thus match any offer to re-sign him. If they don’t, he’s unrestricted, but either way, they will have Bird rights on him, and their offer can be anything up to the max.
In this week’s Tuesday-Wednesday Tracker, we want to know how you think the Bucks did at the deadline and what it means for Giannis’ future. We also have a bonus question about a controversial partnership Giannis entered into with a sports betting site. This week is a two-parter, and if you missed it, we asked another question about Giannis and took your opinions on the Thomas signing [yesterday](/bucks-polls/59937/milwaukee-survey-nba-trade-deadline-giannis-antetokounmpo-cam-thomas). We’ll have the results for you this weekend.
As always, this poll will be open until midnight Central on Friday, and we’ll post the results later that day. Thanks for voting!