Jon Horst: Trading Khris Middleton was ‘hardest transaction’ in executive career

Jon Horst: Trading Khris Middleton was ‘hardest transaction’ in executive career

The Milwaukee Bucks ducked $3 million below the second apron at the trade deadline, according to Spotrac. But it came at the expense of trading away three-time All-Star Khris Middleton at the trade deadline in exchange for Kyle Kuzma.

Middleton, who spent 12 of his 13 seasons with the Bucks up to that point, helped the organization with their first title in a half-century in 2020-21 alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday. Though the 33-year-old has been oft-injured each of the last two years and underwent surgeries on both of his ankles last offseason, which has limited him to 23 games this season with an abbreviated role.

That didn’t make it any easier for Bucks general manager Jon Horst, however. Horst claimed that trading Middleton was the “hardest transaction” he’s had to do as an executive during his first media availability since the deadline this week, according to ESPN’s Jamal Collier.

“It’s still the awesome responsibility to try to take this franchise and maximize the window that we have now as best we can,” Horst said Monday. “What we think gives us the best chance to win, and figure out how to continue winning going forward. There’s a very narrow set of opportunities that we felt that we could do that, and this was one of them.

“This isn’t a Khris or a Kyle comparison, although that’s the easy thing to do. It’s the team before the trade deadline and the team after the trade deadline, and to be determined with an open roster spot, that we felt like in totality we positioned ourselves to have a better run this year. That doesn’t do anything to diminish the three-time All-Star, Olympian, NBA champion, pillar in the community, everything that Khris Middleton was for this franchise for over a decade.

“We can see better basketball from Kyle Kuzma than we have the last couple of years. We believe that, in our system, playing with these guys.”

The Bucks also acquired Jericho Sims from the Knicks plus Kevin Porter Jr. from the Clippers ahead of Thursday’s deadline, trading Wright, rookie AJ Johnson, Patrick Baldwin Jr. and MarJon Beauchamp.

Milwaukee is buying low on Kuzma, who was having an abhorrent season in the nation’s capital for the Wizards. He is on a frontloaded team-friendly contract that accounts for $24.5 million this year, $$22.4 million next year and $20.5 million in the final year of his deal in 2026-27, his age-31 season. I also don’t love trading AJ Johnson after he was its first-round selection seven months ago. But you have to give something to get something, I guess.

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