Milwaukee Bucks veteran forward Bobby Portis has been known as the team’s emotional leader, but his frustrations boiled over earlier this season.
ESPN’s Shams Charania detailed an instance in which Portis called out the Bucks in practice after suffering a 45-point road loss to the Brooklyn Nets in December.
“This is why we suck — we carry ourselves like everything is fine, and we have no f–king urgency,” Portis said during the practice session. “We just lost by 45. Everybody’s body language is terrible. No one is listening to coaches.”
Unfortunately, Portis’ blowup in that December practice didn’t do much to turn the season around for Milwaukee. At 31-47, the team is set to miss the playoffs for the first time since the 2015-16 campaign. Charania detailed some of the Bucks’ most abysmal statistics from this year.
“They have had 13 losses by 25 or more points as of Tuesday, the most in a season in franchise history,” Charania stated. “During their four-game losing streak from Feb. 27 to March 4, the Bucks were outscored by 97 points, the largest combined margin of defeats in any four-game stretch in team history.”
Milwaukee’s season of futility could lead to some major changes. NBA insider Marc Stein recently reported that the Bucks and head coach Doc Rivers “could be heading for some sort of parting or job restructuring” this offseason, adding that the team is already eyeing potential replacements.
The future of star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo is also in question. Despite holding onto him at the trade deadline this season, Milwaukee could explore deals for the two-time NBA MVP this summer if the franchise decides to commit to a rebuild.
“When your best player is one foot in, one foot out,” one team source told Charania, “you’re not going to win.”