Looking back on it, there's really no question that the Washington Wizards ended up with a fantastic deal when they opted to trade Kyle Kuzma to the Milwaukee Bucks ahead of February's trade deadline. Kuzma may be a solid player in a vacuum, but it was wise of the Wizards to get off of his contract more than anything.
Let's remind ourselves of the kind of deal Kuzma was and is playing on, shall we? Ahead of the 2023-24 NBA season, Kuzma signed a 4-year $90 million dollar contract with the Wizards, which included all $90 million guaranteed and an average annual salary of $22,500,000. The contract is a front-loaded one, meaning that it decreases in value over time.
This season, Kuzma is earning $24.4 million, and he'll earn $22 million and $20 million in the next two seasons respectively. He next becomes an unrestricted free agent three seasons from now, in the summer of 2028. Looking back on it, that was a long time for him to be under contract. Especially considering the Wizards weren't anything close to contending for a championship.
Kuzma's salary was taking up a lot of Washington's payroll. Just from a financial perspective, it made a lot of sense to move on from him considering the amount of money he was making when he left, compared to when he arrived back in August of 2021.
Kuzma's contract was a good situation to get out of
From there, we have to consider the type of value Washington got back in exchange for Kuzma. It wasn't like the Wizards just gave him up for nothing, since the Bucks were contending for a title earlier this season and we're looking for a true difference making role player, which they believed Kuzma was.
Frankly, Kuzma's play really did not live up to what Milwaukee gave up to acquire him. The Bucks traded Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson and a pick swap to the Wizards to get Kuzma, Patrick Baldwin Jr. and second-round draft compensation.
But in 33 games with the Bucks after the trade deadline, Kuzma averaged 14.5 points per game while playing over 30 minutes a night. In the playoffs, that production dropped to only 5.8 points per game in 20.4 minutes per night during Milwaukee's first round series with the Indiana Pacers.
Bucks fans were not happy from the outset of this trade due to the fact that their team gave up Middleton. And as we look back on this deal, it's pretty clear that Washington pulled off a heist with a team desperate to take a level up ahead of the playoffs.