Bucks acquire Jae Crowder in three-team trade

Veteran forward Jae Crowder is being traded to the Bucks, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), who reports that the Nets have agreed to a trade that will send Crowder to Milwaukee, with the Bucks giving up a total of five second-round picks.

Sources tell Charania (via Twitter) that it will be a three-team trade, with Bucks forward Jordan Nwora and two second-round picks (via the Bucks) heading to the Pacers. Indiana is waiving reserve center Goga Bitadze to make room for Nwora, Charania adds (Twitter link).

In addition, the Pacers will receive guard George Hill, an Indianapolis native who had a previous five-year stint with Indiana, and a third second-round pick, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports (via Twitter). Center Serge Ibaka will also be heading to the Pacers, per Charania (Twitter link). Both players were previously on the Bucks.

Here’s the deal as we know it so far, with bits and pieces coming in over time:

• Bucks receive Crowder ($10.18M)
• Nets receive two second-round picks via Milwaukee (not confirmed), save a ton of money toward the luxury tax
• Pacers receive Nwora ($3M), Hill ($4M), Ibaka ($2.9M salary, $1.8M cap hit) and three second-rounders (not confirmed) via Milwaukee; will waive Bitadze

The Pacers are one of only two NBA teams with cap space available — the Spurs are the other — so they can take on money without having to worry about matching salaries. As the deal stands, Indiana will have to waive two more players and its cap space is down to $1.9M, tweets Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype. Only Nwora is under contract beyond this season — Hill and Ibaka are on expiring deals.

Crowder, 32, has sat out the entire 2022-23 season while awaiting a trade. He was sent to the Nets as part of the blockbuster trade that will send Kevin Durant to Phoenix and now will be rerouted to Milwaukee.

The Bucks had been linked to Crowder for months in trade rumors — they were recently granted permission to speak with him, and now they are finally acquiring him.

In 67 games (28.1 MPG) with Phoenix in ’21-22, Crowder averaged 9.3 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 1.9 APG and 1.4 SPG on .399/.348/.789 shooting. He makes $10.18M in the final year of his contract.

According to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM (Twitter link), Suns head coach Monty Williams spoke to Crowder over the summer to inform him that Cameron Johnson (who was also sent to the Nets in the Durant deal) would be the starting power forward in ’22-23.

Crowder responded by saying he would prefer a contract extension or a trade. Evidently Williams found the 3-and-D specialist “too difficult to manage” and preferred to have him away from the team, per Gambadoro.

Bitadze is earning $4.77M in the final season of his rookie scale contract. The former 18th overall pick has only appeared in 21 games for an average of 9.6 minutes per contest this season. He will become an unrestricted free agent if he clears waivers.

Nwora, meanwhile, was the 45th overall pick of the 2020 draft. He re-signed with the Bucks on a two-year, $6.2M contract in the offseason, but hasn’t played much, appearing in 38 games with averages of 6.0 PPG and 3.1 RPG in 15.7 MPG.

The 24-year-old has some offensive upside — he has converted 37.6% of his career three-pointers, including 39.2% this season. However, he’s a subpar defender and obviously wasn’t in the Bucks’ long-term plans. The Pacers will be taking a flier on him in addition to adding a trio of second-rounders.

Ibaka seems likely to be bought out or waived by the Pacers and headed elsewhere as a free agent. Hill is less certain — as previously mentioned, he likely he has fans in the organization due to his previous run with the team.