Khris Middleton believes he was on a path to increase his minutes for the Milwaukee Bucks by the playoffs, but he was understanding of their decision to trade him in a package for Kyle Kuzma.
“I’ve had many opportunities,” said Middleton. “That’s the way I’ve kind of looked at it. My time ran out. Simple as that. I mean, I could say my time could have ran out a long time ago. They held onto me, believed in the potential, believed in the work that they saw. But I think this time, it was just we think a different route is better for our team going forward. And I can’t do nothing but respect that.
“They leaned on me in a lot of different ways. Giannis [Antetokounmpo] goes down? They counted on me to take them to the next round. Things like that. Giannis is in and out or we need a big shot or we need whatever, they counted on me many times. And I guess they couldn’t count on me.
“As a player and as a person, I mean, I can’t control their opinions and beliefs on me. I can only control what I think of myself. I definitely think I’m still that player. I can still be that player. Yes, it may take a little bit of time, but I think ultimately I can. But they didn’t think that, and they gotta do what’s best for them.”
