In that ever-changing cycle of renewal, Milwaukee Bucks fans are being asked to put aside any disappointments they’ve endured throughout the past three seasons. These include first-round exits in the NBA playoffs, backfired personnel decisions, wildly inconsistent efforts and sloppy defensive lapses.
Added to the mix has been an aging core group of players that continually injures themselves and questions the training methods employed to keep them healthy.
They are simply asking fans to give the team a chance. Besides, you will know by the middle of November which way this is going to go.
Trading Giannis?
The rumors of Giannis Antetokounmpo wanting a trade, or being traded, have been strong since the Indiana Pacers sent the Bucks packing in the fifth game of the playoffs last year. He has played for Greece’s national basketball team during the off-seasons since 2013, and they took the third-place EuroBasket bronze medal on Sunday night.
Fueling his unrest with the Bucks is the perceived inability by management to surround him with support on the hardwood. Despite roster changes, it’s the same core group.
The Damian Lillard experiment came to a halt, following an Achilles tendon tear that rendered him unavailable for last year’s playoffs. He was waived and had a choice to sign with another team, which he did. The $113 million left on his contract is stretched out over the next five years, and likely being paid by an insurance carrier minus the premium.
It allowed salary cap space to sign away Myles Turner from the Pacers, purportedly on a one-time immediate offer that would be pulled of $108.9 million for four years. Pacers coach Rick Carlisle was not happy about the deal, and let the details leak out. The Bucks got a center that averaged 15.6 points per game last season, matched with 6.5 rebounds.
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Filling the Numbers
Bobby Portis Jr. was re-signed after some noise of letting him go. The popular forward had 13.9 points and 8.4 total rebounds per game in 2024-25. Taurean Prince (8.2 ppg) and Kevin Porter Jr. (10.3 ppg) were signed to return as free agents. Re-signing Gary Trent Jr. (11.1 ppg) and Ryan Rollins (6.2 ppg) means trying fill Lillard’s numbers in the aggregate.
Kyle Kouzma, who was acquired in the Khris Middleton trade, is expected to provide a better showing for the Bucks, although he scored 14.8 ppg overall last season.
Thanasis Antetokounmpo led the more recent free agent signings to come back, along with Amir Coffey (9.7 ppg), Chris Livingston, point guard Cole Anthony (9.4 ppg) and guard Gary Harris. Jamaree Bouyea, Cormac Ryan, Mark Sears, A.J. Green, Pete Nance, Andre Jackson Jr. and Jericho Sims, along with forwards Tyler Smith and Bogoljub Markovic, round out the roster. Maybe.
While other teams are focusing on youth and players being brought along, the Bucks have maintained a stop-gap posture. While the bench players are good substitutions and eat up playing time, they are not pieces for the scoring chart. The Bucks have replaced Lillard with another splashy name in Turner, and that’s about it.
If the team sputters, will Giannis Antetokounmpo renew his efforts to move along to another team? The Bucks are seemingly not into renewal, and just staying the same, with new faces.
The Bucks open the season at the Fiserv Forum against the Washington Bullets (Oct.22) and return to play the New York Knicks (Oct. 28), the Golden State Warriors (Oct.30) and the Sacramento Kings (Nov.1).