As the NBA’s most disappointing team last season, there are plenty of reasons to doubt the Bucks as a major NBA title threat in 2025. But according to one Bucks executive, assistant general manager Milt Newton, they are poised to take back the East this season with a healthy core trio.
“Healthy Dame — we didn’t have Giannis — and a healthy Giannis and a healthy Khris in the playoffs, we haven’t seen that,” Newton said on the ‘Hear District’ podcast with Marques and Kris Johnson. “And I believe that when that happens, we’ll be an unbeatable team. We’ll be an unbeatable team.”
It wasn’t that long ago when the Milwaukee Bucks were champions of the basketball world. Back in 2021, a year removed from Giannis’ second MVP win, they made a run to the NBA Finals where they beat the Phoenix Suns in 6 games to win their second title in franchise history.
At the time, it was thought that the Bucks were the site of a new dynasty in the East but things have not gone according to plan for Giannis and his crew. Since winning the championship, Antetokounmpo has watched as the Bucks have parted with several key personnel, including the highly well-respected Mike Budenholzer.
Last summer, they also traded their longtime point guard in a risky trade for Damian Lillard. Lillard’s star status gave the Bucks the impression that he would be an upgrade over Jrue Holiday but his performance has been underwhelming so far with averages of 24.3 points, 7.0 assists, and 4.4 rebounds per game on 42.4% shooting.
Eventually, Lillard admitted that off-court family drama was limiting his focus and that it was difficult for him to adjust after spending his first 11 years in Portland. Couple his struggles with the mid-season coaching change from Adrian Griffin to Doc Rivers, and it becomes much more clear why the Bucks failed to reach expectations last season.
Of course, injuries may be the biggest culprit of all. Going into the playoffs, the Bucks were missing several key players, including Giannis Antetokounmpo who was sidelined for the entire first round with a left calf strain.
The Bucks managed to win two games in the series without Giannis before Damian Lillard went down in the closing minutes of Game 3 due to re-aggravating his right Achilles tendon. Without their two stars, Khris Middleton tried to set up and fill their shoes, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
After winning just 49 games in the regular season, the Bucks failed to win more than twice in the playoffs and lost to a 6th-seeded Pacers team that was underdogs the whole way through. Going into next season, not much has fundamentally changed for the Bucks.
With the same roster, the same coach, and rising superteams in the East, the Bucks have an uphill battle ahead of them to win over the trust of the people and cement their status as a title favorite in the East. Because even as disastrous as the last campaign was, they still have more talent than 90% of teams in the league.
Between Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, and Khris Middleton, the Bucks have a star-studded core that every GM in the NBA would love to call their own. If they can stay healthy and find some chemistry next season, the Bucks could make people regret ever counting them out of the championship race.
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