The Khris Middleton Appreciation Post

 

The annual feeding frenzy that is the NBA trade deadline has come and passed, the tumult has settled, the chaos has subsided, and now we're left with the aftermath - the departure of a Milwaukee Bucks legend.  There will be plenty of time to talk about whether or not the Bucks became a better basketball team, or how their deadline moves set them up for contention for the next few seasons.

For now we need to take a step back, and appreciate what the Bucks lost when they dealt franchise stalwart Khris Middleton for Kyle Kuzma on Wednesday. And it was a lot.  That's right, after 12 seasons the Milwaukee Bucks moved on from Giannis' running mate, 6'7" wing and NBA Champion Khris Middleton.

Drafted in the second round in 2012, 39th overall, Middleton joined Milwaukee as a secondary piece from the Brandon Jennings-Brandon Knight trade with the Detroit Pistons.  He would play his way into the starting rotation in his very first season in Milwaukee  and never looked back after that.

Some statistical highlights as a member of the Bucks:

• 2nd All-Time in games played (735)
• 2nd All-Time in minutes played (23039)
• 5th in made Field Goals (4574)
• 1st in made 3-point Field Goals (1382)
• 6th in made Free Throws (2056)
• 3rd in Assists (2990)
• 5th in Steals (870)
• 3rd in Points (12,586)

If not for a couple of guys named Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Middleton would be ranked first or second in most categories.  Is he the best Buck of all-time?  No.  But you'd be hard pressed to drop his career out of the top three (top 2?).

It's easy to look at his injury-riddled final three seasons in Milwaukee and recognize that it was time for a change. But instead of looking back negatively at the end of his tenure, why not take a look back at the highlights of what he brought Bucks fans over the last decade-plus?

Maybe you remember the time the he hit 8 three pointers in a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves back in 2016.

Or maybe you remember when Khris scored 20 points in the fourth quarter of game three in Atlanta in 2021, as the Bucks made their run to the NBA title.

Maybe it was three games later, with an injured Giannis Antetokounmpo not playing, that you remember best.  With Middleton going for 32 and closing out the Atlanta Hawks.

Or you could just think back to last postseason, when he tried to put an injury depleted Bucks squad on his back to try and keep the season alive.

Maybe you think back to that January game in 2020 when Khash Money went over the half century mark (51 points!) in a 151-point beatdown of the Washington Wizards.

Whatever your memory of #22 is, it deserves to be a good one.  Milwaukee sports legends last forever, and to be remembered in Milwaukee is to be remembered fondly and with reverence for generations.  The Bucks window of contention is slowly closing, but what can never be taken away is the 12 years of Giannis and Middleton.  Maybe the best NBA pairing that Bucks fans have ever, or will ever see in Milwaukee.

Middleton brought Milwaukee a championship, and Milwaukee will never forget that. Hang a 22 in the rafters, and take a mid-range shot in honor.  It's the end of an era. Thanks for the memories.