Sonny Weems to Milwaukee?

July 21, 2009
by Jeremy

There are rumors floating around that the Denver Nuggets are in discussions with the Milwaukee Bucks on a deal that would send Sonny Weems to Milwaukee for Malik Allen.

From Brew Hoop:

Nova Fantasy Sports is reporting that the Bucks are on the verge of trading Malik Allen and his $1.3 million expiring contract to Denver for second-year guard Sonny Weems, who would be owed just $175k if waived immediately.

I hadn’t heard of this site before but a) there’s no reason a sane person would fabricate a Malik Allen trade rumor and b) some reputable posters at RealGM are corroborating that this could very well go down. If it does it would be a no-brainer for the Bucks, as Allen doesn’t provide anything of value at this point and the Bucks would be able to save a little over $1.1 million by converting Allen’s contract into a smaller, partially guaranteed deal.

I’d probably do this deal regardless of the Sessions situation, but it’s worth noting that this move alone would clear enough room to re-sign Sessions for the MLE without going over the 09/10 tax. That begs the question of whether the Bucks really are preparing themselves financially so they can match an MLE deal for Sessions, or whether they’re simply trying to scare other teams off by showing they’ve got the cash to do a deal.  In an ideal world other teams wouldn’t even bother trying to go after Sessions because they figured the Bucks would match anything, but it doesn’t look like that’s the case.

That does not seem like a very good deal for Denver.  If they are providing financial flexibility for Milwaukee they should get at least a second rounder back.  I guess if the Bucks waive Weems the Nuggets cold bring him back, but I do not know how bringing in Allen makes sense.  He only played 11.8 minutes a game on a team that featured such talented bigs as Dan Gadzurich and Francisco Elson (Andrew Bogut was on the roster, but only played 36 games). Allen was not having to compete with players like Nene, Kenyon Martin and Chris “Birdman” Andersen for playing time and he still did not even play a quarter of the game.

Regardless, from what I have read this trade is a possibility.  Should the deal, or one like it be agreed to, check back here first for in depth analysis.

Posted on July 21, 2009 at 11:48 am | filed in News | 5 Comments
  • TheseNuggs

    Im really not sure what to think of this. Like what was discussed a little bit above allen will not get much of any playing time which he probably shouldnt. Also you would think we could have gotten more for sonny weems whos young athletic with potential. showed some promise as a solid rebounder at his position. Idk. Maybe there is future plans for allen already in place? I would not expect him to be in denver long. adding more money to our salary for someone who wont even play. and its also not a big enough salary to take on if the sole intention is to just let his contract walk after this season. Very perplexing.

  • Frontrange

    I’d be mildly shocked if this happened . . it sounds like more noise from Milwuakee than from Denver. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Nugs are shopping Weems, but I can’t see them adding that type of salary for out of rotation player.

  • runningdonut

    Such a bad deal. Why would we dump Weems to get Allen? If Milwaukee wants salary relief use a trade exception and swap picks or something. The only explanation is they are going to cut Weems and want to save the $175k guaranteed portion of his contract. Even that makes no sense since we would be paying $1.3 mil plus tax for an old big man who shouldn’t play much.

    I think we should only deal Weems if it facilitates a Hunter trade or returns some draft picks, or at least a better player than Allen. On the Bucks I would rather have Amir Johnson or even Kurt Thomas. I have to call BS on this because I find it so hard to believe we could be this stupid.

  • TheseNuggs

    Sadly i highly doubt this is BS. Its hard to believe anyone from millwaukee would make this sort of scenerio up especially since i doubt many buck fans even know who sonny weems is.

  • Stumbleweed

    Looking pretty official to me if the Denver Post is reporting it as a done deal: http://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_12884005

    I can see the Bucks cutting him and him possibly re-signing with the Nugs or something, but I think they are planning to keep and use Malik Allen because our bigs rotation is very short right now, especially considering there is injury history with all of them except Bird. Malik is a solid defender and could provide some veteran saavy.. not a horrible pickup, but not great either.

    I’m mostly hoping that they’re gathering up some pieces to use as part of a deal to utilize the trade exception we have hanging out there.


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