AP Photo

The Spurs receive just the type of injection they needed by acquiring Richard Jefferson. A top four of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Jefferson is among the best in the league, especially assuming Ginobili is healthy entering the 2009-10 season.

San Antonio has been bitten by the injury bug as of late, and Jefferson has been extremely durable in recent seasons. He’ll play 35 minutes a night, or more in the event Ginobili’s ankle issues unexpectedly linger for longer.

The players sent to Milwaukee – Bruce Brown, Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto – all averaged fewer than 19 minutes per game this season. All three are also over 34 years old, and while Jefferson is no spring chicken (he turned 29 on Sunday), he gives him youth in relation to their roster. Bowen may even return to the Spurs when the Bucks let go of his non-guaranteed contract.

Jefferson will make over $14 million this coming year, and has an early termination option in his contract for the 2010-11 season. It’s doubtful that he’ll exercise the option given its value.

The trio swapped for Jefferson will make a little more than $11 million this coming season, and all will come off the books completely next summer.

San Antonio lost a sizable chunk of potential cap space in 2010, but the move remains a good one.

The Spurs have never been a very popular free-agent destination, so they were better served using the space in a trade for a guy like Jefferson then hoping they’d be able to land a second-tier star in the famed summer of LeBron, I mean 2010.

Jefferson is a solid defender and is unquestionably athletic. He’s not the type of defender that Bowen was at his best, but he’ll fit just fine into Gregg Popovich’s scheme.

Grade for San Antonio: A-

The deal could mean the end for Ime Udoka in San Antonio, and possibly Michael Finley, who has a player option for next season.

They did, however, lose a considerable amount of height in the trade. Matt Bonner, who prefers the perimeter, and Tim Duncan are the only players over 6’7” that San Antonio has under contract for next season. I’d venture to guess that they’ll almost certainly use the 37th overall pick on a big man, if not also the 51st or 53rd picks.

If the Spurs aren’t happy with whom they might be able to grab in the second round, they could use the mid-level exception on a big man. Zaza Pachulia, Brandon Bass, Rasho Nesterovic (gulp), and Melvin Ely could all be options. They don’t need much given the star power they possess at the other four positions.

Brian Reynolds contributes to the GTD from the Bucks perspective

The Milwaukee Bucks side of the deal is pretty clear: it’s a salary dump.

The move will save the team about $6.5 million for the upcoming season, as the contracts of Bruce Bowen and Fabricio Oberto can and will be bought out at $2 million and $1.9 million respectively.  More importantly, Milwaukee frees up $15 million for the summer of 2010, and is looking to join just about every other team in the free agent bonanza that is James, Wade, Bosh and company.  It’s a smart financial move, but the trade does not necessarily make them a better basketball team.

General Manager John Hammond really likes the idea of Charlie Villanueva and Andrew Bogut as their starting front-court, so a qualifying offer has already been made to Villanueva.  However, the odds of him signing are slim, leaving him a restricted free agent and the Bucks in a position to match any contract offer he receives on the open market. 

With that money tied up, I would expect the Bucks to draft small in Thursday’s draft.  DeMar DeRozan from USC or Jrue Holiday from UCLA would be terrific combo guard options, leaving them the flexibility to let Ramon Sessions walk as a free agent next year and make Beno Udrih money somewhere else.

The youth movement will continue as Milwaukee is expected to release Bowen and Oberto to open up playing time for their younger players like Joe Alexander and whoever they obtain with their 10th pick.  So don’t be surprised if Bowen lands back with the Spurs.

Even though the deal is financially sound, I can’t give a very good grade for the Bucks.  Remember the last time a big-time free agent from another team signed with the Bucks?  I can't either and there are simply not a lot of players eager to sign there.  Odds are they will end up paying Villanueva more than he’s worth, and it becomes basically the same team as last year, with Alexander replacing Jefferson (that’s a downgrade by the way).  If they can’t put a competitive team on the court, fans are going to become all too familiar with these types of financial deals in the future.

Grade for the Bucks: C

Andrew Perna is Deputy Editor of RealGM.com and co-host of RealGM's Radio Show. Please feel free to contact him with comments or questions via e-mail: Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com