[Izulde]

Milwaukee Bucks receive
PG Mark Johnson

Golden State Warriors receive
PF Ron Collier
Milwaukee Bucks 2026 1st round pick

What this means for the Bucks
The 24 year old Johnson, a former #1 overall pick (Miami Heat - 2020 Draft) has never really lived up to expectations. A good paser with great scoring instincts, a nice outside shot and a ridiculously brilliant ball-stealing ability, he also gives up quite a few turnovers and opposing PGs can score at will on him. On the other hand, the Bucks' best option at PG prior to picking up Johnson was Kelley Forbes a second year man both raw and limited in upside.

What this means for the Warriors
Once upon a time Collier could bring something to a team, but now at 37, there's simply nothing left in the tank. His $7.5 million expiring contract sounds sexy until you realize that Johnson's contract also runs out this year and for a little over $7 million as well. The first round pick will probably a mid-late one and next year's class probably won't even begin to approach what this year's was with the Nine Knights.

Winner: Milwaukee
The Bucks got an instant jolt to their weakest area and didn't have to give all that much up comparatively speaking. If Johnson can finally break through and show the talent that made him a #1 pick in the first place, this turns into an out and out steal.

Minnesota Timberwolves receive
SG Momsilo Zivkovic

Los Angeles Lakers receive
SG Jay Brown

What this means for the Timberwolves
Serbian Zivkovic can't hit a shot to save his life and he's medicore everywhere else as well. $3.5 million expiring contract is his best value.

What this means for the Lakers
Brown has some upside to become a competent reserve, but he's not wholly there yet. He's also expiring, but $3 million rather than $3.5

Winner: Lakers
$500,000 doesn't make or break a team and the Lakers get a chance for extended auditions and more playing time for Brown. Minnesota, on the other hand, just reduced their talent a little bit for $500k. Not a wise move for a division leader.

Surprising how quiet trading's been the last year or two. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. It means there's more eligible targets if I decide to go swapping. However, I currently have no plans for any more trades this season. It's a fun unit we have that's playing extremely well together right now.

A wellness that continues with a 115-94 romp over the Pacers to kick off December. David Anyan is simply brilliant in a 37 point, 9 assist, 7 rebound outing, Antonio Sarchet hangs down low for 14 in points and rebounds, William Tackett picks up 15 points and 10 assists and Ronald King leads the bench with 12 points, a dozen that equals the lowest total scored by our starters.

Boston gives us a stiff challenge, but William Tackett shows why he's the biggest steal of the draft in the early going with 29 points and 13 assists in our 107-100 victory. Antonio Sarchet (24 points) and David Anyan (21 points) also break the 20+ point mark, while Greg Oden gets an honestly scrubby 10 points and 11 rebounds and Tzvetan Kishishev scores 12 bench points.

All streaks must come to an end and ours does in a 103-94 loss to the Bobcats. David Anyan scores 30 and two benchmen score 10+ points in Ronald King (14 points) and Tzvetan Kishishev (10 points), but we played like crap outside of those three and couldn't get shots to fall at all.

Given our streaky nature this year, I'm worried about another famine after our feast, but we salvage a split in our road doubleheader. Our frontcourt dominates in a 102-85 victory in Minneapolis, with David Anyan and Antonio Sarchet scoring 21 and 23 respectively and Greg Oden piling on 17 points and 18 rebounds. Ronald King paces the reserves with 10 points. The 121-111 loss to the Pacers the next night was an OT defeat that was back and forth all night, until we just got exhausted in extra time. We've played great up to that point, with 24 points from David Anyan, 21 points from Antonio Sarchet, Greg Oden's 21 points and 19 rebounds and William Tackett's 17 points and 12 assists.

Three losses in four games isn't anything to panic about, but it's still disheartening to lose 103-99 to the Bucks. David Anyan did his part with 20 points, William Tackett doubled for 11 points and 13 assists and Jim Johnson and Lawrence Smiley keyed the bench with 19 and 11 points respectively, but Ronald King's 2 for 10 shooting night killed us along with Greg Oden's only attempting one field goal all evening after breaking his wrist, an injury that'll put him out for a little over a month and a half.

Jim Johnson's slated to be the starting C, but he's far, far too raw to be taking over yet. The free agent market is nonexistant, so I look into trade options of which there's really nothing either without disrupting the balance and harmony of the team. Still, I manage to find a small deal.

Sacramento Kings receive
C Brandon Edmond
Memphis Grizzlies 2026 2nd round pick
Memphis Grizzlies 2027 2nd round pick
Memphis Grizzlies 2028 2nd round pick

Memphis Grizzlies receive
C Ryan Crews

What this means for the Kings
With Greg Oden out over a month and a half with a wrist injury, the Kings need a new starting C, so they bring in the 27 year old Edmond. Total team guy with very good rebounding, grossly underrated shooting ability and some pretty good, though not great awareness on defense and shotblocking. He's also a nice, big body at 7'1, 304 lbs. The former 1st round pick (17th overall - Minnesota Timberwolves - 2019) can be a bit inconsistent and has never started an NBA game until this year, when he started 8 games for the Grizzlies. He'll fill that starter's role in Sacramento until Oden gets back, allowing the Kings to push rookie PF Jim Johnson back to the bench.

What this means for the Grizzlies
The rookie Crews is looking strictly a bench player as a shotblocking specialist or so it appears. His playing time will be drastically reduced in Memphis, where he's the 12th man. Evidently the Grizzlies staff they can make him into more than what he is, as he's just 22.

Winner: Sacramento
GM Jestor's mastery in trading shines through here, as Edmond will be adequate cover for Oden and he got himself a three-pack of 2nd rounders for trade bait besides.

Okay, so it was bigger than it looks at first glance. I'm happy with it, because I was able to pull it off without disturbing the core of the team.

That doesn't stop me from being disappointed in our 120-117 loss to the Lakers a couple nights later, where we completely self-destruct in the fourth quarter in front of the home fans. We wasted Antonio Sarchet's 34 points, David Anyan's 22 points, Mateen Yeaton's breakthrough 25 points and William Tackett's 10 points and 18 assists in the bargain. I blame it on the bench going 4 of 18.

The Hornets, as they so often were for me in Denver, prove a tonic and we stop our four losses in five games streak by beating them 120-112. Antonio Sarchet and David Anyan get the headline credit with 26 and 21 points, but William Tackett negotiated 16 points and 17 assists and Brandon Edmond was a perfect 8 of 8 for 17 points.

After losing the first quarter, we take the remaining three and blow out the Wizards 110-95 thanks to David Anyan's 30 points, Antonio Sarchet's 25 points and 16 rebounds and William Tackett's 14 points and 12 assists. I still can't fully believe Tackett's a rookie we got with the 18th overall pick. I mean, yes he was a senior, but it's still incredible to see.

Miami trounces us 107-88 as we fail to show up for the second half. That's pretty much all you need to know, though David Anyan and William Tackett do double-double with 20 points, 10 rebound and 16 points, 13 assists respectively.

Unlike Denver, where we played both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, a home game on the 24th is all we have. But the game's a 101-87 waxing of Golden State to make Kings fans happy. We ride a balanced offense keyed by David Anyan's 23 points, Brandon Edmond's first double-double in a Kings uniform (good for 12 points and 10 rebounds on a 5 for 5 from the floor night), William Tackett's pair of 15s in points and assists and Lawrence Smiley's Tackett-matching 15 bench points.

We head to Utah after several days' vacation and promptly lose 101-97. David Anyan's 28 points and 12 rebounds, Antonio Sarchet's 21 points and William Tackett's 13 points and 11 assists just aren't enough to rescue us, as we seem to have fallen to a .500 team in the games since Greg Oden's injury. I'm -this- close to cleaning out the bench in some trades as they go 7 of 20.

At least the calendar year ends on a happy note as all 12 actives get to play on New Year's Eve in our 117-74 headbanging of the Spurs. David Anyan highlights the festivities with 34 points, Antonio Sarchet pulls down 14 points and 12 rebounds, William Tackett passes out 12 points and 16 assists and our reserves must've heard the rumors of their being shipped out, because Ronald King and Jim Johnson get hot for 15 and 13 points respectively.

Greg Oden will be back on the 31st, meaning we'll be without him for 16 more games. We're 4-4 since his injury, making my gut feeling that we're .500 sans the Ageless One right on the mark.

Despite that, we're still percentage points ahead for the West's top seed at 18-10 and enjoy a four game lead on the .500 Suns. Good year for the Pacific to be in a slump. Dallas is warring with us for that #1 slot at 19-11, 6 games in front of the Grizzlies. Heh. Yay for the Mavericks in the NBA's weakest division. The Northwest has 17-11 Minnesota a half-game in front of the Jazz. The division headliners for the last several years, Portland and Denver, are second-to-last and last respectively at 10-19 and 9-21. I expect to hear of riots in the Mile High City and a call for Bob Neal's head any day now.

The East hosts 27-4 Toronto leading Boston by 4.5 in the Atlantic. Cleveland had a fantastic December and rule the Central at 23-6, 4 games over the Bucks. The Southeast is the slum of the East, where 16-11 gets you the temporary crown as Charlotte and a game lead on the Hawks.

Paulinho Buboltz
2013 Stats: 82 games/77 starts - 17.0 PPG 9.5 APG 3.0 RPG 0.7 BPG 1.2 SPG
2014 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 19.1 PPG 8.7 APG 2.8 RPG 0.5 BPG 1.4 SPG
2015 Stats: 55 games/48 starts - 14.1 PPG 8.3 APG 2.8 RPG 0.5 BPG 1.2 SPG
2016 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 18.3 PPG 8.1 APG 3.3 RPG 0.7 BPG 1.5 SPG
2017 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 19.1 PPG 8.5 APG 3.0 RPG 0.7 BPG 1.2 SPG
2018 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 20.5 PPG 8.3 APG 3.2 RPG 0.8 BPG 1.5 SPG
2019 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 20.6 PPG 8.1 APG 3.5 RPG 0.8 BPG 1.5 SPG
2020 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 19.8 PPG 7.5 APG 3.3 RPG 0.6 BPG 1.3 SPG
2021 Stats: 44 games/44 starts - 22.3 PPG 7.0 APG 3.6 RPG 0.9 BPG 1.6 SPG (Indiana)
2021 Stats: 36 games/36 starts - 17.8 PPG 8.3 APG 2.9 RPG 0.8 BPG 1.3 SPG (Denver)
2022 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 16.3 PPG 10.2 APG 2.7 RPG 0.5 BPG 1.2 SPG
2023 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 19.5 PPG 9.6 APG 3.0 RPG 0.8 BPG 1.8 SPG (New York)
2024 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 20.2 PPG 9.5 APG 3.2 RPG 0.6 BPG 1.9 SPG
2025 Stats: 30 games/30 starts - 17.7 PPG 9.2 APG 2.6 RPG 0.7 BPG 1.8 SPG

Mateen Yeaton
2013 Stats: 82 games/81 starts - 23.3 PPG 2.4 APG 5.2 RPG 1.8 BPG 1.6 SPG
2014 Stats: 82 games/80 starts - 23.2 PPG 3.6 APG 5.2 RPG 1.7 BPG 1.3 SPG
2015 Stats: 82 games/81 starts - 23.6 PPG 2.4 APG 4.5 RPG 1.6 BPG 1.5 SPG
2016 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 25.0 PPG 3.1 APG 4.5 RPG 1.9 BPG 1.8 SPG
2017 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 24.4 PPG 3.2 APG 4.9 RPG 1.9 BPG 1.6 SPG
2018 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 19.8 PPG 2.4 APG 4.2 RPG 1.5 BPG 1.2 SPG
2019 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 23.3 PPG 2.5 APG 4.7 RPG 1.5 BPG 1.6 SPG
2020 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 23.0 PPG 2.7 APG 4.6 RPG 1.8 BPG 1.4 SPG
2021 Stats: 57 games/57 starts - 23.3 PPG 2.8 APG 4.3 RPG 1.9 BPG 1.4 SPG
2022 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 24.3 PPG 2.0 APG 4.5 RPG 1.6 BPG 1.3 SPG
2023 Stats: 82 games/82 starts - 23.3 PPG 1.9 APG 4.2 RPG 1.3 BPG 1.4 SPG
2024 Stats: 66 games/63 starts - 20.8 PPG 1.8 APG 4.4 RPG 1.2 BPG 1.3 SPG
2025 Stats: 28 games/17 starts - 12.1 PPG 2.4 APG 3.0 RPG 1.3 BPG 0.9 SPG (Sacramento)