Bucks post touching Brook Lopez tributes after Myles Turner deal becomes official

Alex Kirschenbaum

Bucks post touching Brook Lopez tributes after Myles Turner deal becomes official image

The Milwaukee Bucks' social media team has penned multiple moving tributes to former 2021 champion center Brook Lopez after the club's signing of his effective replacement, Myles Turner, became official.

Lopez ditched the Bucks to ink a two-year, $18 million deal with his hometown L.A. Clippers. That contract became official after the league's dealmaking moratorium for the 2025-26 season ended on Sunday.

On Monday, when Milwaukee officially announced it had signed Turner to a reported four-season, $107 million contract, the team took to X to celebrate Lopez's run.

 

"Thank you, Brook, for the joy you brought, the passion you played with, and your invaluable contributions to help win a championship in Milwaukee. 💚🏆," the Bucks wrote with their first farewell missive.

Lopez first joined the club in 2018-19 as a free agent, and gave the club an instant boost on both sides of the ball.

During his tenure with Milwaukee, the 7-foot-1 Stanford product was a two-time All-Defensive Teamer, proving similarly adept at protecting the rim and stretching the floor from distance.

Along with nine-time All-NBA power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, three-time All-Star small forward Khris Middleton, and two-time All-Star guard Jrue Holiday, Lopez proved to be a critical two-way contributor to the Bucks' eventual run to the 2021 title, their first NBA victory in 50 years.

"It’s been an unforgettable ride, Splash Mountain," Milwaukee wrote in its second goodbye tweet, this time accompanying a video montage spanning the 37-year-old's seven seasons in town.

During his Bucks stint, Lopez averaged 13.0 points on .487/.357/.825 shooting splits, 5.2 rebounds, 2.1 blocks, 1.3 assists, and 0.6 steals a night.

Lopez's run in Milwaukee ended with him being badly outplayed by Turner in a five-game first round playoff series defeat to Turner's Indiana Pacers. The 6-foot-11 Texas product, eight years Lopez's junior, looked far more mobile on both sides of the ball, to the point where Bucks head coach Doc Rivers eventually replaced Lopez with reserve Bobby Portis in his series-ending Game 5 starting lineup.

Now, Lopez heads to L.A. to back up starting five Ivica Zubac.

Alex Kirschenbaum

Alex Kirschenbaum is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He grew up a devout Bulls fan, but his hoops fanaticism now extends to non-Bulls teams in adulthood. Currently also a scribe for Hoops Rumors, Sports Illustrated's On SI fan sites Newsweek and "Small Soldiers" director Joe Dante's film site Trailers From Hell, Alex is an alum of Men's Journal, Grizzlies fan site Grizzly Bear Blues and Bulls fan sites Blog-A-Bull and Pippen Ain't Easy, among others