Yahoo Sports NBA contributing writer Tom Haberstroh and senior NBA writer Dan Devine react to Milwaukee’s surprising deal with Washington and what it means for both teams moving forward. Hear the full conversation on “The Big Number” and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

This deal is really all about cap stuff.

I hope, I hope they’re not going to lean too much on Kyle Kuzma, who, according to the basketball reference data, uh, they have this metric called points added above average, meaning how many points have you added above, uh, league average shot efficiency.

He has been below average in shot efficiency to such a degree in his, in his career that he’s actually -446 points of points.

Compared to league average based on how inefficient he is from the floor on 2s, on threes, and at the free throw line, he barely gets to the free throw line.

So yes, he is a bucket getter and he might average 20 points a game, but he does it while requiring 20 shots a game.

This guy is an inefficient, uh, shooter, volume shooter in my opinion.

He’s not a great ad for this championship chasing team, but he does come at a cheaper number than Chris Middleton.

The idea is, A, Kuzma back in like a winning meaningful context, could play a more significant role like he did as a rotation player on the Lakers team in the bubble.

And if he’s like a big sturdy wing that you feel comfortable moving from the 3 to the 4, it maybe opens up more opportunities for you to play Giannis at the 5, which has often been one of the Best lineups that Milwaukee can get to, if you are playing teams where they’re gonna try to, you know, play smaller and spread you out, you don’t have to worry as much about Brook Lopez and drop coverage and like maybe you can be better equipped to play some of the team what like at Cleveland with all the shooting like Boston, that Milwaukee might have to see, like the Knicks with Carl Anthony Towns that the Knicks might have to see.

And so I think that’s the the the glass half full, hopeful look at it.

What that will require is not only Kyle Kuzma to be better.

Then he’s been in 5 years, it needs him to be better, like the best version of himself as an offensive player, while also accepting that smaller role, while also being willing to do a lot of defensive dirty work that, frankly nobody in Washington’s really needed to in the last couple of years, cause none of those games actually mattered.

If the gamble pays off and Kuzma balls out, and you’re able to play smaller more effectively, it could wind up paying dividends uh in the Bucks playoff hunt, but yeah, I consider me skeptical about it.