Following the Bucks’ decision to waive Damian Lillard and sign Myles Turner, the future does not look very bright in Milwaukee. They no longer have a top-tier guard with significant experience in the league like they did with Damian Lillard and Jrue Holiday before him.
Therefore, a lot of experts and veterans of the league have suddenly lost faith in Doc Rivers’ roster. Among them was the former NBA champion Vernon Maxwell, who appeared on the ‘All The Smoke’ podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson and expressed his opinion on the Bucks’ situation. Barnes and Jackson also agreed with Maxwell that the Bucks’ future looks dim with Giannis Antetokounmpo at this moment.
“Giannis don’t want to be in that motherf***er,” said Maxwell as Barnes criticized the Bucks’ moves this summer. When Barnes asked him if it’s time for the Bucks to rebuild and trade Antetokounmpo, he did not mince his words.
“Yeah, it’s rebuilding (time). They’ve got to cut the cord with Giannis. Let this mothe****er go cause he doesn’t want to be there. You know what I mean? But yeah, they’re in a rebuilding situation. That sh** is all f***ed up over there in Milwaukee now.”
“And especially when your main man doesn’t want to play with you anymore, and he’s done giving you everything he could give you. I mean that man could have left, and he stayed there, you know. They say he don’t like to move around a lot so—But it’s a good situation for him man, I just think they in rebuilding situation, man, the goddamn Milwaukee Bucks. That sh*** trash over there, I don’t know, I wouldn’t even want to go there and play.”
At the end of Bucks’ 2024-25 season, there were rumors that Giannis Antetokounmpo is open to considering a move away from the Bucks. If they want to retain him, they will have to give him a championship-contending team.
The Bucks no longer have a reliable second option for scoring after they waived Lillard. Jackson went on to criticize the Bucks and claimed that things started going downhill for them when they traded Khris Middleton away.
Yes, Turner is a defensively sound big who can stretch the floor for the Bucks, a more skilled Brook Lopez, one could say, but his production is nowhere close to covering for what they lost with Lillard. He averaged 15.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks last season, which only replaces what Lopez did for the team.
Damian Lillard averaged 24.9 points, 7.1 assists, and 4.7 rebounds last season. Kyle Kuzma, who joined the team in February after the Middleton trade, averaged 14.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in the time he has been with the Bucks. Even if they increase his offensive usage, his production is nowhere close to what Lillard brought to the team.
They extended their point guard, Kevin Porter Jr, on a two-year, $10 million deal. But even he is not a highly rated potential replacement for Lillard on their roster. The Bucks will need to carefully think about their moves in the remaining offseason if they want to compete for a championship with Giannis Antetokounmpo.
