Former Bucks Champion Wants to Beat Milwaukee Every Chance He Gets After Being Traded

In a new interview with Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel from his Three Leaf Partners offices in downtown Milwaukee, Connaughton unpacked his feelings in the immediate aftermath of the move that sent the 6-foot-5 Notre Dame product to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for guard Vasilije Micic. The Bucks subsequently bought Micic out.

The highlight of the agreement, from Charlotte's perspective anyway, was the pair of Milwaukee second-round picks in 2031 and 2032 the Hornets acquired as part of the deal.

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"I jumped to the competitive side — nothing really changes on that — I still think it needs to be and will be a big year for me and the competitive juices were flowing," Connaughton told Owczarski of his immediate reaction to the trade. "That's essentially how I think I have been, not by accident, on winning teams essentially my whole life."

Owczarski notes that the 32-year-old Connaughton, who'll be a free agent next summer, is looking to demolish his old team every time he laces up against them this year.

"I always knew that for me, individually, I knew it was going to be important to be in a position where I can play going into the last year of my deal and continue to try and extend my career in a meaningful way and hopefully not start the vet minimum clock and 'hang on' for another few years, but to show that the last game of my Bucks career essentially was not a random one-off," Connaughton said.

Connaughton is on an expiring $9.4 million contract this year, but will need to rebound mightily if he hopes to get more than a veteran's minimum next summer. In just 41 contests for Milwaukee as an break-glass-in-case-of-emergency deep-bench backup, the veteran wing averaged 5.3 points on .469/.321/.774 shooting splits, 2.7 boards and 1.7 assists per.

"A broken clock is right twice a day, but I can still compete at a high level, I can still help a team win, I can play a different role as being a mentor to an organization that has a young group that's trying to continually grow their triangle and they've got a great guy at the helm [Hornets coach Charles Lee] to do so and somebody I obviously have a lot of experience with and a close relationship with," Connaughton said. "So, I tried to look at the positives and the exciting times ahead." 

Connaughton's championship pedigree and respectable jump shooting game (he's a career 35.6 percent 3-point shooter on 3.2 triple tries a night) could help him regain the rotational footing in Charlotte that he had lost with a win-now Bucks squad.

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