Monta Ellis, not Brandon Jennings, is rumored as the Milwaukee Bucks' preference when they must make a run at one of their own free agents this summer, ESPN's Marc Stein reports.
Milwaukee Bucks could choose retaining Monta Ellis over Brandon Jennings, according to report
The Bucks are rumored to have more interest in re-signing their older combo guard rather than their up-and-coming point guard.
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Jennings is a restricted free agent while Ellis could decline his final-year option on his contract, but the Bucks can only keep one of the two players, who could each be asking for too-hefty of deals. Should Ellis decline the $11 million option for a final year on his contract, he would be an unrestricted free agent.
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Milwaukee would like to keep Ellis and shooting guard J.J Redick in the backcourt this offseason, Stein adds. If true, the move of keeping Ellis is odd considering he'd be playing out of position at point guard should Milwaukee retain Redick as expected. Nevertheless, NBA executives believe the team would rather stick with the combo guard who they got in return for former No. 1 overall draft pick Andrew Bogut -- this despite Ellis being four years older than the 23-year-old Jennings, who could still develop.
Neither Jennings nor Ellis particularly well in the playoffs this season. Ellis scored 14.3 points per game in the sweep at the hands of Miami, and Jennings scored 13.3 points per game while shooting 29.8 percent from the floor.
Furthermore, the preference of Ellis would be questionable since he and big man Larry Sanders reportedly got confrontational in the Bucks' playoff series loss to the Miami Heat this year, CBS Sports' Ken Berger reported.
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