The post-Giannis rebuild left Milwaukee with a cap sheet full of veteran money, and three deals stand out as the ones the front office would move first.
Milwaukee is carrying about $191 million in salary for 2026-27, and more than $22.5 million of it goes to Damian Lillard every year through 2029-30, money the team still owes after waiving and stretching him in July 2025.
The front office then traded Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis to Miami this summer for Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis and a package of draft picks, so this is a youth movement now, and a youth movement wants clean books and open minutes for its young players.
A few veteran deals from the old plan are in the way, and these are the three to move first, ranked worst-first.
Myles Turner Tops the List
Turner signed a four-year deal reported at $107 million in July 2025, a number that later came in closer to $109 million, and the contract still owes him more than $83.5 million over the next three seasons with a player option for 2028-29.
That is a lot of money for a center on a rebuilding team, and the numbers do not help, since he averaged 11.9 points and 1.6 blocks per game last season.
The 38.3 percent from three was good, but nobody rebuilding pays that much for a floor spacer.
Turner turned 30 in March, so the young core will be ready to win about when he starts slipping, and the Miami trade already brought back a younger center to build around.
Multiple reports in July suggested that Milwaukee was actively shopping Turner and Kyle Kuzma but had received little interest in either player, and it is hard to blame the league for passing.
Kuzma Comes in Second
Kuzma lands second even though his money runs out first, since he is in the final season of the four-year, $90 million deal he signed with Washington in July 2023, and Milwaukee owes him just over $20.3 million in 2026-27 after acquiring him in the Khris Middleton trade in February 2025.
Kuzma is 31, and he averaged 13.0 points and 4.5 rebounds in 69 games last season while shooting 34.7 percent from three, which is not $20 million of production by any honest measure.
There is already a case for moving him this season to free up the forward spots, and an expiring contract that size should draw calls from teams clearing future money before the deadline, so this should be the easiest of the three to get done.
LeVert Rounds Out the Three
Caris LeVert is third with the smallest deal of the group.
Milwaukee took on the final season of his two-year, $29 million contract, worth about $14.8 million this year, when it acquired him from Detroit in July along with two second-round picks for Taurean Prince and Gary Harris.
LeVert is 32 and fits a contender better than a rebuild, and every minute he plays comes out of the young backcourt the whole project is built around.
The roster keeps turning toward youth after Thanasis Antetokounmpo left to sign in Greece, and LeVert should not be the exception.
The front office found a taker for Prince and Harris, so it can find one for an expiring $14.8 million too.
