Can the Bucks Win a Championship Next Year with Their Current Team?
It is without a doubt a disappointing end to the Milwaukee Bucks season as they suffered a round-one loss to the Pacers in six games. This season the Bucks went all-in by trading for Damian Lillard to pair with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, and Brook Lopez. This amount of talent on one roster should have been enough to propel the Bucks to the Eastern Conference Finals at a minimum. However, a multitude of injuries prevented the Bucks from even making it past the first round of the playoffs. Therefore, what are the Bucks planning to do this offseason to get back to the NBA Finals like they did in 2021?
When looking at this Bucks roster it is noticeably old. The Bucks are currently the oldest team in the NBA with an average age of around 29 years old and entering next season every current starter will be over 30 years old. When compared to other teams that are thriving in the playoffs like the Timberwolves, Pacers, and Thunder, unsurprisingly, their average age is among the younger teams in the league with an average age of about 25 years old. So not only do these teams have more youth and exuberance than the Bucks moving into next year, but also injuries don’t affect their younger roster as much. With the vast majority of the Bucks current players under contract for at least another year, it is evident they intend to run it back and just pray injuries don’t rattle their team as much as they did this year. However, this hope is flawed as Damian Lillard over the past five years has missed around 29% of his games in the regular season while his co-star, Giannis Antetokoumpo, has similarly been ruled out in 20% of his games over that same time period. Compounding this issue is the fact that the time these players will miss due to injuries will only continue to worsen as they age, and recovery times lengthen.
If the Bucks can stay healthy at their core heading into the playoffs next season, they could give any team real trouble as they have dominant players that can shoot and drive the basketball as well as any team in the league. With some of their bench players contracts expiring the Bucks should look to get younger rotational players to infuse some youth and energy into this stacked roster. When the Bucks are at full strength Lillard can give the team 24 points, four rebounds, and seven assists while Giannis can get 30 points, 12 rebounds, and seven assists each game per their season averages this year. However, the combination of an aging roster and injuries likely to plague this team for the next several years it is unlikely they can get back to 2021 championship form.
