12 years of merit was given up just like that, in exchange for a useless man who scored 29 points in 5 games. Do you regret it?

This season is definitely the most unacceptable season for the former Eastern Conference overlord Bucks. After winning the first NBA Cup championship in team history, the team completely reversed the decline at the beginning of the season and gave fans hope. However, in the first round of the playoffs, they lost to the Pacers again. While being eliminated by their opponents for the second consecutive year, there may be two bad news waiting for them. One is Damian Lillard's torn Achilles tendon, and I'm afraid the condition will be greatly affected. The other is the team's star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is likely to leave this summer. This can be seen from the interview after the end of the season.

Now it seems that a deal by the team in the middle of the season may be a major reason for the embarrassing situation today, that is, Chris Middleton, who has played for the team for 12 years and made great contributions to the 2021 championship journey, exchanged for Kyle Kuzma of the Wizards. Kuzma is seen as hope by fans, and even Middleton himself said in an interview that he believes that Kuzma now has a greater role in the Bucks. But what is the result? In a total of 5 playoff games, he only scored 29 points, averaging 5.8 points per game, which is simply a waste of money. After the team was eliminated, fans could not hide their disappointment. Let's take a look at why Kuzma struggled so hard in the Bucks, and even had a pure side effect in the playoffs!

1. The status has declined long ago and is not suitable for the team system.

First of all, it is very important not to be fooled by Kuzma's performance with the Wizards over the years. Although he could contribute 22.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists last season, that is because the Wizards are in a bad period. On the one hand, they really do not have the right core, especially after Bradley Beal left, they had to give a large amount of ball rights to Kuzma. On the other hand, they also hope that Kuzma can produce beautiful enough data so that they can also trade him and get the chips they want, which has long since made him have a beautiful data illusion. This season, after the Wizards got Alexander Saar and Jordan Poole recovered in form, he was immediately thrown into the "cold palace". Of course, since leaving the Lakers, it has been difficult for Kuzma to get high-level game training. With the reduction in ball rights, his average data per game has been directly reduced to 15.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists in the Wizards' 32 games this season, and his shooting percentage is only 42%.

And even in this case, the Bucks actually sent Middleton out for Kuzma. Indeed, Middleton's decline this season is very obvious. He is no longer the second in command who is nicknamed "Mivenyuan" by fans. Therefore, the Bucks are also heading for the younger Kuzma. But the Bucks seem to have forgotten one thing, that is, Kuzma has been away from the Lakers for 4 years. He has always played with the ball in the Wizards. Suddenly, he adapted to the Bucks' system and became a space-type third position. It is unrealistic to help the team through running and three-point shooting. The result is that in the remaining 33 games of the regular season, although he averaged 14.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game, his three-point shooting percentage was only 33.3%, which was basically difficult to share the offensive pressure of Antetokounmpo. After the playoffs, he did nothing on the offensive end, and averaged only 5.8 points per game. He was directly at zero in the first game, and his total shooting percentage exceeded 100% in the three events, playing the most shameful round of the series.

2. If the defect is infinitely amplified, it is better to leave Middleton.

Let's talk about going back to the playoffs, if the offense is just bad, if you can make any contribution in other aspects, it will be worth the Bucks' value of him. But the problem is that he is not only inefficient in offense, but also has constant side effects in other areas. On the defensive end, since Antetokounmpo had to save his physical strength, Doug Rivers gave Kuzma a difficult task, which was to defend Siakam. In fact, in the past, Kuzma's defense was not so eye-catching during the Lakers, but at least he could give some restrictions. But what about this time? Siakam played extremely freehand in the series, with 19.8 points, 6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game, behind him is a 55.6% shooting percentage and 44.4% three-point shooting percentage. It is no exaggeration to say that Siaka completely beat Kuzma. Not only that, Kuzma's defense performance is not good at other players. His defensive efficiency is extremely terrifying 127.2 throughout the series. What does this mean? Whether it is a defender or a forward, you can basically score when facing Kuzma. Offense cannot share pressure, and defense is another loophole, which is Kuzma's "value". After being eliminated, fans miss Middleton very much. Although the 33-year-old has indeed declined significantly this season, he averaged 12.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists in the 23 games the Bucks played, and his shooting and three-point shooting percentages reached 51.2% and 40.7% respectively. However, judging from the data and efficiency, Middleton is completely on par with Kuzma, and is even better. And don't forget that Antetokounmpo missed the entire playoffs last season and Lillard missed several games due to injury. Middleton can still contribute 24.7 points, 9.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists with injuries. Even though his physical fitness has declined, his skills and experience are still there. In the playoffs, these are valuable assets that can help the team. If Middleton could be in the team, maybe the team wouldn't have lost so much. However, all this has become a fantasy, and now it seems that this deal is enough to rank in the shameful list in the Bucks' history. And don’t forget one thing, that is, Kuzma’s contract has 2 years left. Although the amount is not large, in his condition, it may be very difficult to deal with it.