Milwaukee Bucks: Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez
The Bucks are stuck paying the repeater tax and didn’t improve this offseason. They absolutely need Middleton to be healthy and to produce, otherwise they do not have the depth to overcome the teams at the top of the Eastern Conference.
But this is a small market team paying nearly $75 million in luxury tax, and because they are repeaters, every dollar they spend now will cost them four times as much in tax, so even signing a minimum guy will be expensive.
Middleton or Lopez could potentially be a salary dump to the Pistons, but the Bucks have nothing else of interest to attach, so they too are likely stuck with the team they have, as these guys are too important to their chances to just give away to save money.