Kings, Bucks sign-and-trade reportedly ‘in peril’ because Bogdan Bogdanovic never agreed to it

Bogdan Bodganovic may not be headed to Milwaukee after all. According to a report from Sam Amick of The Athletic on Wednesday, the rumored sign-and-trade between the Kings and Bucks that would send Bogdanovic and Justin James to Milwaukee in exchange for Donte DiVincenzo and others is “in peril” because Bogdanovic, who is set to become a restricted free agent this summer, hasn’t agreed to the terms.

Now, there’s two things that can potentially be taken away from this report:

1. The Kings or Bucks leaked this information to protect themselves from a heft tampering fine. Technically, the free agency moratorium period doesn’t open until Friday, so the Kings and Bogdanovic — as a free agent — shouldn’t have even been talking. Teams do it all of the time, but it’s still illegal.
2. The Kings actually agreed to a sign-and-trade with the Bucks involving Bogdanovic without Bogdanovic’s consent. In other words, they just assumed Bogdanovic would want to play alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo and content for a championship in Milwaukee, which, in their defense, isn’t an unfair assumption to make!

The Kings haven’t deserved the benefit of the doubt in past years, but it would be shocking to find out that it’s the former and not the latter. That’s especially true because agents are involved in sign-and-trades as much as players are. If it was reported, it was because all parties were in agreement on some level.

At the very least, Kings fans should be hoping that’s the case, because if it’s not, it reflects poorly on Monte McNair and the new front office, and the last thing this team needs is more noise around the incompetence of their basketball operations department.

UPDATE, 2:52 p.m.: Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee is reporting that there was “never a deal” between the Bucks and Kings. Anderson reported this the day of the trade too.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.