Giannis Antetokounmpo took some time this summer to express his feelings about the NBA’s view of the Milwaukee Bucks, despite being busy with his wedding and playing in the Olympics. He made a notable social media post reacting to the NBA’s schedule, saying, “No Christmas game?!” along with laughing and crying emojis.
This isn’t the only sign the Bucks have felt disrespected after being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs for the past two years. The Bucks were left out of the five-game Christmas Day schedule, and in a survey of general managers, they ranked fifth when asked to name the top four teams in the Eastern Conference.
“As a basketball player who loves the game, nobody’s talking about us, right?” said Bucks forward Bobby Portis. “Nobody mentions us about championships. Nobody mentions us about Christmas. Nobody says anything about the Bucks.”
Last season brought a lot of unwanted attention to the Bucks. They faced many challenges and changes, including acquiring seven-time All-NBA guard Damian Lillard just before training camp, and firing head coach Adrian Griffin after only 43 games, replacing him with Doc Rivers.
Throughout the season, Antetokounmpo, three-time All-Star Khris Middleton, and Lillard were all available together for only five of the final 39 games.
Now, they are hoping for more stability to achieve greater success. “This year we have a little bit more time to be prepared,” Antetokounmpo said. “Having one year of working together, me and Dame, and a few months with the coaching staff.
That’s also a benefit. We’ll take it day by day and try to build it, and hopefully that will put us in a better position to compete.”
Lillard may benefit the most from this situation. Last year, he spent most of the offseason waiting to see where he would end up after asking to be traded from Portland. This time, he had a full summer to get ready for the season with the teammates he will be playing with.
He mentioned that the Bucks will see the “real version” of him this year. “Now we’ve been in something together,” Lillard said. “We’ve experienced some struggles together and some failure. We’re coming into a new year much more familiar with each other, just being connected over the summer.
I know Giannis’ game better than I did when I got here. I’m more familiar with Doc than when he got here. I’m more familiar with Khris and the rest of the guys on the team than when I first got here.
“So we don’t have to go through that process again this time. It’s just let’s keep the ball rolling and get down to business.”
The team is made up of experienced players leading alongside younger ones, which makes Rivers think about the Boston Celtics teams he coached in the past. Rivers won his only championship with Boston in 2008. “We were having this discussion as a staff, and I don’t want to compare any teams, and I made the comment this is the closest team that I’ve had to that Boston team,” Rivers said.
This year, the Bucks didn’t make as many big changes as last year when Jrue Holiday and Grayson Allen left in the trade for Lillard. Milwaukee needs to fill the gap left by Malik Beasley, who signed with the Detroit Pistons after starting 77 games.
They added veteran players Gary Trent Jr., Taurean Prince, and Delon Wright but lost Jae Crowder and Patrick Beverley. Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Giannis’ brother, is also off the team as he recovers from a torn Achilles tendon.
All the main players are back, and they’ve had time to get used to Rivers, who took the Bucks to Irvine, California, for training camp to help with team bonding.
“The vibe hasn’t been this good in years,” Portis said.
However, none of this will matter if the Bucks can’t stay healthy. Injuries have really hurt the team over the last three seasons.
A knee injury kept Middleton from playing in a second-round loss to Boston in 2022. Antetokounmpo missed two full games and most of a third in a first-round loss to Miami in 2023 due to a back problem, and he didn’t play at all in the first-round series against Indiana last year because of a calf strain.
Staying injury-free could be challenging for this team since they have some older players. Three key players are 33 or older: Middleton (33), Lillard (34), and 7-footer Brook Lopez (36). Antetokounmpo, who turns 30 on Dec. 6, plays with such intensity that he’s always at risk for injuries.
Even last season, the Bucks were often very strong when Antetokounmpo, Lillard, Middleton, and Lopez were all playing together. If the Bucks can develop the chemistry and health they missed last year, they could prove themselves as serious title contenders again.
“You hope with all your veterans, they all make this choice (that) it’s time, it’s time to focus on winning only,” Rivers said. “Because I always think with every team, it has to be the right time. And I really believe this is a group that is in that mental place. It’s time. Or, it’s time again, for some of them.”
