Why the Milwaukee Bucks Could Be Making Another Huge Mistake

Nearly three years ago, the Milwaukee Bucks won their second NBA Championship in franchise history and their first in 50 years after beating the Phoenix Suns in six games. Now, three seasons later, they are sitting 14th in the Eastern Conference with a record of 2-8 in their first 10 games of the season. For a team with championship aspirations, Milwaukee could not have imagined a worse start to their 2024-2025 campaign. Although there is certainly enough time for a rebound, considering other talented Eastern Conference teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, and New York Knicks, the Bucks should waste no time beginning their rebuild.

Since their championship run during the 2020-21 season, the team finished third in the conference in the 2021-22 season and eventually lost in the Eastern Conference Semifinals to the Boston Celtics. In the 2022-23 campaign, the team finished with the best record in the league but lost to the eight-seed Miami Heat in the first round. Afterwards, the team made the first of their three major changes since their title victory, letting go of head coach Mike Budenholzer before the 2023-24 season. Secondly, in the 2023 offseason, the team traded vital championship team member Jrue Holiday and more to the Portland Trail Blazers in return for point guard Damian Lillard. Then, after posting a 30-13 record through their first 43 games of the 2023-24 year, the team fired new head coach Adrian Griffin out of nowhere and landed former championship-winning coach Doc Rivers, only to lose in the first round of the playoffs again. Thus far, all of these moves have seemed to backfire on the franchise and the future does not seem to be getting any brighter. To make matters even worse, in the meantime, Jrue Holiday has already won another championship as a starter with the Boston Celtics, one of Milwaukee’s biggest competitors.

While former two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo has continued to play great basketball this season, averaging 31.6 points, 12.8 rebounds, and 5.2 assists per contest, the team is still struggling to find offensive continuity between him and eight-time All-Star Damian Lillard. As a result, the team is ranked 19th in points per game and has shown difficulty moving the ball, ranking 27th in assists per game. While Khris Middleton has yet to play this season due to an ankle injury, the team has an average age of 27.87 years old, which is the eighth oldest in the NBA. Furthermore, the team has one of the oldest starting lineups in the league when healthy with 36-year-old Brook Lopez, 34-year-old Damian Lillard, 33-year-old Khris Middleton, 29-year-old Giannis Antetokounmpo, and 25-year-old Gary Trent Jr. who signed as a free agent in the offseason. All of these reasons suggest it is certainly time for the Bucks to capitalize on the trade value of their roster as soon as possible but to add insult to injury, the team has recently stated that they will pursue trades to improve around the current roster rather than to rebuild. Considering the team does not own the rights to their next six first-rounders, three being traded away and three being swapped, this is certainly a head-scratching move. Although star players like Antetokounmpo and Lillard bring in lots of money for the team via ticket sales, jersey sales, and sponsorships, the team may lose out on future team and financial success due to their desire to ride it out with their current roster.

What makes this the perfect time for the Milwaukee Bucks to make a move is not only the increasing age of their star players but also the teams around the league searching for talent. Teams like this include the Miami Heat, who are linked to Antetokounmpo but were also interested in Damian Lillard before his eventual trade to Milwaukee. The 8-2 Golden State Warriors are also said to be interested in a blockbuster trade, looking to maximize their championship window with veteran point guard Stephen Curry. Other young teams worth monitoring are the Houston Rockets, with young talent in the form of Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun, and the Brooklyn Nets, who have plenty of assets to play with after trading James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, and Mikal Bridges over the past three seasons. 

These four teams would provide the Bucks with a great selection of draft capital and young talent. The Nets hold 15 first-round draft picks over the next seven years in addition to young players like Nic Claxton and Cam Thomas. The Rockets have seven first-round picks in the next four years as well as young stars like Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun, or recent draft picks Reed Sheppard, Jabari Smith Jr., and Amen Thompson to choose from. The Warriors have two first-rounders in the next five years but do have great young players like Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody, and Jonathan Kuminga to use as trade chips. Lastly, the Heat do not own a single first-rounder until 2029 but have a mix of young talent and established NBA players to trade like Jaime Jaquez Jr., Tyler Herro, Nikola Jovic, and Bam Adebayo who would likely be included in a trade to the Bucks in order to match salaries. Moreover, other valuable veterans with playoff experience like Brook Lopez, Delon Wright, Taurean Prince, and Gary Trent Jr. would be easy to trade to other contending teams for assets as each player has contracts expiring at the end of the season. Bobby Portis and Pat Connaughton would not be difficult to trade either despite having player options for next season as they are set to make a team-friendly 13 million and nine million respectively, assuming they opt into the final year of their contracts. Khris Middleton may prove to be the hardest player to trade despite having been linked to the Rockets before, as he has dealt with many injuries as of late and has a player option worth 34 million next season.

Either way, with all of these players in mind who could return valuable draft capital or young pieces, the Milwaukee Bucks could quickly revamp their roster without having to go through a long and grueling rebuild. The plethora of suitors for talent like Golden State, Houston, Brooklyn, and Miami gives current Bucks General Manager Jon Horst the ability to mix and match his most preferred young players into a younger, much more athletic roster. On the other hand, if the Bucks do not pull the trigger on these deals this season, they may miss the chance to offload expiring contracts, or they may not be able to get as valuable of a return on their two stars who continue to age and will be due nearly 300 million dollars combined throughout both of their contracts, assuming each player remains with the team until they expire. In the meantime, as NBA Cup group stage play begins tonight, the Bucks will look to collect their third win this year as they take on the 2-9 Toronto Raptors, the only Eastern Conference team with a worse record. Unfortunately, the team will be doing so without Khris Middleton, who remains out due to an ankle injury, and Damian Lillard, who will miss the contest due to a concussion.