Summary

Despite not having a great skillset or great athleticism, Lopez has been able to stay in the league as a valuable backup center. Lopez is one of the best rebounders in the league, despite not putting up great rebounding numbers. This is due to Lopez's willingness to box out his man and let his teammates gather up the rebounds. Lopez's teams have almost always rebounded better with him on the court than when he sits.

While he doesn't have the shooting ability that his brother possesses, Lopez has also started to shoot more threes in recent years, and hit a respectable 35% this season in Milwaukee, albeit on a small number of attempts. If Lopez can hit threes at a reasonable rate while still providing value in his usual areas, he will have some real interest in free agency this offseason. Mike Budenholzer did not trust Lopez enough to give him any minutes in the playoffs, so I find it unlikely that any team will have enough interest in Lopez to make it worth it for him to opt out this offseason.

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Cap Considerations

Lopez has a $5 million player option for next season, and if he declines that option he will be an unrestricted free agent with a $5.7 million cap hold and Non-Bird Rights. If Lopez opts for free agency, the Bucks will be limited in their means of re-signing him. Since they will only have his Non-Bird Rights, the most they could offer him using the Non-Bird Exception is a contract starting at $5.7 million. However, the Bucks could use their Mid-Level Exception to re-sign Lopez as well. The Bucks will likely have the $5.7 million Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception available to re-sign Lopez, but could also have the full $9.3 million Non-Taxpayer MLE depending on what happens with their other free agents.

Other teams will have multiple ways to sign Lopez as even teams without cap space could possibly use any of the Non-Taxpayer, Taxpayer, or Room Mid-Level Exceptions to sign him. 

Potential Teams: Bucks, Raptors, Celtics, Heat, Pelicans