“What’s wrong with our team?” – Bobby Portis doesn’t understand why people don’t think the Bucks can win it all in 2026 originally appeared on Basketball Network.
The Milwaukee Bucks have yet to replicate their success from 2021, when they won the NBA championship — they have not gotten past the second round of the playoffs since then. Heading to the 2025-26 season, Las Vegas oddsmakers have put them in the bottom half of the league as far as championship odds are concerned.
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But while many don’t think that the Bucks can contend for a title this season, Bobby Portis is confident they can win it all again as long as they stay clear of the injury bug, which has plagued them in the last four seasons.
“What’s wrong with our team? Why can’t we do it this year? What’s wrong with our team? The only thing that has been wrong with us is that people have been hurt… We ain’t really been healthy,” he reacted when asked by ESPN Milwaukee what the Bucks need to get back to the top.
Injuries played a big role in Bucks’ struggles
After the Bucks won the 2021 NBA championship, Khris Middleton got hurt. Regardless, they took the Boston Celtics to seven games in the second round of the 2022 playoffs. The following year, Milwaukee went 58-24 in the regular season, but Giannis Antetokounmpo got hurt during their first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat, where they lost in five games.
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During Damian Lillard’s first year with the Bucks in 2024, Antetokounmpo suffered a calf injury and missed the last part of the regular season and the start of the playoffs. Once again, they were eliminated in the first round by the Indiana Pacers in six games.
This past season, the Bucks were looking to tie their opening round series against the Pacers when Lillard tore his Achilles tendon in Game 4. They were ultimately eliminated in five games.
“I don’t make excuses, but that’s just what the tables was for us. So why can’t we do it this year? All you need is health, and good wealth, then good blessings. The healthiest team is the one that’s standing at the end, so we just got to be one of those fortunate and just go out there and build as the season grows,” Portis added.
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Still among the top in the East
ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins agreed with Portis. During last month’s episode of “First Take,” he said he isn’t worried about the Bucks after losing Lillard because they added Myles Turner and still have Antetokounmpo.
“Giannis has been the best player in the Eastern Conference consistently over the last 10 years… When you look at the East, the Boston Celtics are on a rebuild. The only teams that are ahead of the Bucks, in my opinion, are the Cleveland Cavaliers and the New York Knicks. So when I look at adding Myles Turner, when I look at keeping a guy like Gary Trent Jr., who balled out, I’m looking at the Milwaukee Bucks and I’m saying to myself, let’s give it another run,” said Perkins.
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Many lauded the Bucks for getting creative and turning Lillard’s injury into an opportunity to add an All-Star-caliber big man in Turner, who had just played in the NBA Finals. But health is still their priority.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Aug 13, 2025, where it first appeared.