Early this Wednesday morning, Greg Monroe opted in to this $17.88 million player option with the Milwaukee Bucks. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise as his agent made it clear there wasn’t much of a market for Monroe. Nor was it believed around the league that Monroe would receive as much as $17.88 million dollars in the open market.
Greg, over this past season, showed he can be a real threat coming off the bench and providing a spark when needed. Monroe averaged 11.7 points and 6.6 rebounds in 21 mins a game last season. His impact shined the brightest in the playoffs, where he proved to be the X-Factor the Bucks needed. In the six games played this past offseason Greg averaged 13.2 points and 7.3 rebounds and shot over 50% from the floor.
His return also allows Milwaukee to bring back the core that propelled the Bucks to a 42 win season and a playoff berth at the 6th seed. However, the Bucks edge closer to paying luxury tax with Monroe signing back on. Total salaries as of right are at $107,853,656 which leaves them with only $13,146,344 of luxury tax space. This amount will definitely be on the minds of management since a key role player, Tony Snell, will be a restricted free agent.
