Bucks Have a Serious Eric Bledsoe Problem for Years to Come
By Sean Facey
The bad news right now for the Milwaukee Bucks is that Eric Bledsoe is flat out awful. He's been a total detriment to the team during the playoffs, and they'd frankly be better off without him.
The worse news? He's going to be a headache for the Bucks for years to come.
Reason #1 why the Bucks will probably take a step back next year: Their starting point guard is 29-year-old Eric Bledsoe who they owe $70 million over the next 5 years and just really isn't good.
— NBA Free Agency Sleuth Austin (@AustinVillanova) May 20, 2019
Reason #2: They probably will drastically overpay Khris Middleton this summer.
That's right, Bledsoe is under contract for the next four years, and he's set to make a whopping $70 million.
The Bucks will be shelling out $17.5 million per year to a guy whose quality of play has done nothing but decline since the team traded for him last season.
Sure, he made the NBA All-Defensive First Team, but that doesn't alleviate the fact that he had his worst scoring season in terms of points per game since he was a member of the Clippers back in 2012.
It's an understatement to say Eric Bledsoe has to show up tonight if Bucks expect to beat Raptors. In this series, Bledsoe is 11 of 45 from the field (24%) and 2 of 19 on 3 -pointers (10%). And then there's this troubling stat: He's missed 15 of 16 wide open looks.
— Gery Woelfel (@GeryWoelfel) May 23, 2019
Add in the fact that he's been a complete ghost in the Eastern Conference Finals, and you're left to wonder just how bad of a contract this will turn out to be.
When the Bucks signed him to the extension, they expected to get a reliably good defender with a positive impact on offense. In the regular season, they basically got that.
Has anybody seen Eric Bledsoe? He’s been missing for a few weeks pic.twitter.com/mOENatNxnI
— Somebody’s Son (@Mister_Blake) May 23, 2019
But, when it's mattered most, Bledsoe has been nowhere to be found.
Right now is when Bledsoe should be earning that extension. Instead, he's proving that it was a massive mistake.