While the rest of the league is fixated on the NBA Finals, the Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons are making moves.
The Bucks have sent forward Ersan Ilyasova to the Pistons for Caron Butler and Shawne Williams, the teams confirmed Thursday.
Ilyasova was never quite able to live up to the five-year, $50-million extension he signed in 2012. He's been frequently injured, missing a total of 60 games over the past three seasons. He has two more seasons remaining on his contract, worth $7.9 million in 2015-16 and $8.4 million the year after.
Ilyasova is best suited to the role of a stretch four, which is undoubtedly the Pistons' motivation in this move. Detroit tried to create spacing last season but their options (Anthony Tolliver and Williams) were limited.
Ilyasova's shot is inconsistent, though. The 28-year-old finished this season with averages of 11.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.3 3-pointers per game on 38.9 percent shooting from deep.
In return, the Bucks receive cap relief in the form of Butler and Williams, as both had fully nonguaranteed contracts on the books for next season - Butler at $4.5 million and Williams at $1,356,146.
Williams played sparingly after the Pistons picked him up off waivers while Butler regressed significantly in Detroit, mustering up just 5.7 points per game on 40.7 percent shooting.
Neither player is expected to be retained, with Butler already confirming that he'll be a free agent come July.
Clearing Ilyasova's contract off the books should free up more money for the Bucks to re-sign restricted free agent Khris Middleton.
Meanwhile, the move for Detroit spells trouble for impending unrestricted free agent Greg Monroe. Given Stan Van Gundy's long-established preference for deploying a stretch four, it's hard to envision the Pistons opting to add a new Monroe contract to Ilyasova's incoming salary.
