Welcome back to another episode of The Bag Meter! This is a weekly series where we review a player/team doing really well (In Their Bag), a player or team in a not-ideal but manageable situation (Bag Lookin Shallow), and a player/team that has a problem (No Bag).

In Their Bag

Tyrese Maxey

Does Tyrese Maxey ever stop getting better? Seriously, this guy went from averaging 8 points a game in his rookie year to 17 while also doubling his assist numbers in his second year. In his third year, he got to 20 a night, helping push the Celtics to 7 games in the second round. Then, he looked back at his last three seasons and said to himself, “I should actually try to get better this year,” and then went on to win the Most Improved Player award the following season. Now, two years from then, he’s upped his scoring by 6 points, averaging 32 points a game, and just dropped 38 points on Cooper Flagg and the Mavs. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player improve so much not only from one year to the next, but between every year of his career. And he’s the main reason why the 76ers are surpassing expectations and are in 4th place in the East.

Bag Lookin Shallow

Lauri Markkanen

Lauri Markkanen isn’t in this category because he isn’t playing well; he’s actually arguably having the best season of his career. That’s not the issue; the issue is his team is currently in 12th place in the West. Lauri Markkanen is too good not to be playing in meaningful games. In fact, throughout Markkanen’s 9-year career, he hasn’t even sniffed the postseason, and that includes the play-in tournament as well. If I were Lauri Markkanen, I would want a trade to a contender or at least a team that will make the play-in. This would also help the Jazz in more ways than one. To start, the Jazz are nowhere even close to playoff contention, so they might as well try to trade Lauri to boost their odds of getting a top pick. This would also give other young guys more playing time and more opportunity for development like Ace Bailey and Taylor Hendricks. Down the road, this would help these players get used to playing heavy minutes when it really matters

No Bag

Milwaukee Bucks

Where do I even start with this team? This team was on top of the world just 5 years ago; now, they look like they’re in basketball hell for the next 10 years. Since Giannis went out with an injury, the Bucks have gone 2-9. Not only is this horrible, but it also shows how bad the Bucks are without him. Probably not the best situation when you’re trying to prove to your superstar that your team is a championship contender when he’s considering leaving. The worst part of it all, though, is that the Bucks have no way out; they don’t control any of their draft picks and have zero young, talented players to build around. And you can’t forget about their salary cap being cut by 20 million dollars for the next 5 years because they stupidly decided to waive and stretch Damian Lillard’s contract. This team needs to find a way to convince Giannis to stay and acquire some talent so they can actually be championship contenders.