The Giannis Antetokounmpo era is officially over, and the Milwaukee Bucks are now trying to figure out what comes next without doing a full teardown. Milwaukee now boasts a roster with new faces like Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel’el Ware, Kasparas Jakucionis, Nate Ament, and a bunch of draft assets, giving the franchise several young pieces instead of one brand new superstar.
This team needed major changes anyway. Milwaukee went 32-50 last season, finished 11th in the East, and ranked only 24th in offensive rating at 112.9, 27th in defensive rating at 119.3, and 25th in net rating at -6.3. The Bucks also scored only 110.6 points per game, 29th in the NBA, and completely failed to meet expectations in their last push to keep Giannis.
Now Taylor Jenkins takes over after going 250-214 with the Grizzlies and making three straight playoff appearances from 2021 through 2023. This roster actually has a lot of solid NBA players and some very interesting young talent, so I don’t think the Bucks will be terrible in a talentless way, especially because they don’t control their own 2027 first-round pick.
Still, this is a brand new era for the franchise, filled with players who’ve got almost no incentives to compete hard every night, and a clear direction towards retooling the roster for the long term, so being a Play-In team isn’t guaranteed.
Projected Starting Lineup
Point Guard – Ryan Rollins
Shooting Guard – Tyler Herro
Small Forward – Jaime Jaquez Jr.
Power Forward – Kyle Kuzma
Center – Myles Turner
Ryan Rollins might be the most important player in this entire starting five because last season became much more than a breakout pretty quickly. He finished with 17.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 1.5 steals per game across 74 appearances, shooting 47.2% from the field and a very good 40.6% from three on 6.1 attempts per game. At 24 years old, he is probably the best candidate on this roster to become something more than a solid starter.
Tyler Herro gives him a much more proven scorer in the backcourt. Herro had 20.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.1 assists last season with 48.0% from the field, 37.8% from three, and a 60.2% true shooting percentage. The problem was availability, because he played only 33 games and missed 49, with foot, rib, and toe issues all affecting his season.
That makes Jaime Jaquez Jr. very important. He isn’t an elite defender, but he’s got the tools to guard bigger wings, rebound, and give this lineup another player who can make decisions with the ball. Jaquez finished second in Sixth Man of the Year voting after putting up 15.4 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 4.7 assists on 50.7% from the field. His 31.7% three-point shooting is the issue.
Kyle Kuzma is also entering a very different role without Giannis. He had only 13.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.7 assists last year, but his efficiency improved to 49.2% from the field after several inefficient seasons in Washington. Milwaukee doesn’t need him taking 17 shots again, and he’s one of the most likely pieces to be traded, but the young perimeter group doesn’t have one clear high-level perimeter defender, a pretty major problem after the Bucks already finished 27th defensively with Giannis still playing 36 games.
Myles Turner becomes the last line of that defense, which puts a lot on him. Turner still blocked 1.6 shots per game and hit 38.3% from three on 5.4 attempts, but his first Bucks season was disappointing overall, with 11.9 points and only 5.3 rebounds while shooting 44.0% from the field. Milwaukee needs more defensive impact and more rebounding from a center making $26.6 million. Turner doesn’t have Giannis flying around behind him anymore, so the job is harder now.
Offensively, this five has some balance. Rollins can shoot, Herro can score, Jaquez can create inside, Kuzma can attack mismatches, and Turner spaces the floor. The problem is there’s no real No. 1 option. Herro is the closest thing, but he’s a one-time All-Star who just played 33 games. Everybody else is better as a third, fourth, or fifth option. Balanced can work… until late in close games when somebody has to create something special.
Bench Rotation
Point Guard – Kevin Porter Jr.
Shooting Guard – Brayden Burries, AJ Green, Gary Trent Jr.
Small Forward – Caris LeVert
Power Forward – Nate Ament
Center – Kel’el Ware
This is where it gets more interesting. Kevin Porter Jr. might be good enough to start on a lot of nights. He averaged 17.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, 7.4 assists, and 2.2 steals last year. The three-point shot dropped to 32.2%, but the creation was great. Health is the issue again since he only played 38 games and had knee surgery in April. He picked up his $5.4 million player option, so if he’s healthy, it’s a solid deal. A Rollins-Herro-Porter trio gives Jenkins three actual creators.
AJ Green is pure shooting. He hit 41.9% from three on 7.1 attempts and broke Ray Allen’s franchise record for made threes in a season. Gary Trent Jr. had a rough year (8.1 points, 38.7% from the field), but Milwaukee still brought him back on a four-year, $64 million deal that the NBA started investigating.
Then the young guys take over, as Brayden Burries went No. 10 and looked excellent in Summer League with 23.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 2.0 steals in four games on 50% shooting. You can’t just project 20 a night in the real NBA, but the size, creation, and defensive tools are already there. Nate Ament is more of a project so far; he put up solid numbers at Tennessee and a decent Summer League showing, but at 6-10, he’s still learning how to be an efficient NBA player.
Kel’el Ware might have the clearest path to big minutes if Turner gets traded. He put up 11.1 points and 9.0 rebounds in only 22 minutes last year and already has NBA tools to really like. Turner starts for now, but Ware should play every night and could eat into those minutes if the team leans into development.
The bench is deeper than the starting five is strong. That’s actually an impressive feat. Most rebuilding teams don’t have this many actual NBA bodies. The problem is that depth only gets you so far if nobody turns into a top-two option. Milwaukee might have 11-12 guys who belong in a rotation, but they still need Rollins, Burries, Ament, or Ware to take a real leap.
Extra Depth
Point Guard – Kasparas Jakucionis
Small Forward – Ousmane Dieng
Center – Jericho Sims
Kasparas Jakucionis is too good to just vanish from the rotation, even with that crowded backcourt. As a Heat rookie, he put up 6.2 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in 53 games (including 12 starts) before landing in Milwaukee. He’s only 20, and the passing vision is the part that jumps out. On a team that’s clearly rebuilding, you want to give a kid like that some run and see what develops. The problem is pure bodies: Rollins, Herro, Porter, Green, Trent, and Burries can all eat guard minutes. Jenkins can’t develop everybody at once.
Ousmane Dieng deserves another look, as he averaged 11.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 3.6 assists in his Bucks games after last year’s trade, though the efficiency lagged (42.3% from the field, 33.1% from three). Milwaukee still re-signed him to a three-year, $17.5 million deal, so he’s definitely a long-term piece. The 6-foot-9 frame and ball skills are intriguing, but at 23 he needs to start turning those tools into consistent, efficient minutes.
Jericho Sims averaged 5.0 points and 5.5 rebounds in 19.7 minutes last year and shot 78.4% because everything came at the rim. With Turner and Ware ahead of him, regular minutes will be hard to find, but he gives the Bucks a physical third center who can step in for injuries, foul trouble, or matchups against bigger bodies.
That kind of depth matters over 82 games, especially with Herro and Porter both missing big chunks of last season. It also gives Jenkins flexibility if some of the veterans get moved before the deadline. There’s no reason to force LeVert or Trent into 25 minutes a night if Burries, Ament, Jakucionis, or Dieng are clearly playing better.
Conclusion: Could They Surprise In The East?
There’s one number that still sits heavy over this roster: the Bucks went 15-31 without Giannis last season. That’s a 27-win pace. The offense managed only a 110.9 rating in those games, and the defense was worse, giving up roughly 120.2 points per 100 possessions. This isn’t the same group, but the gap is still massive. Giannis was never just a 27.6-point scorer. He generated rim pressure, transition chances, free throws, rebounding, and defensive help that none of the new pieces can replace.
The encouraging part is that this version should be noticeably deeper than those old Giannis-less lineups. Herro remains a legitimate 20-point scorer when available. Jaquez nearly won Sixth Man of the Year. Ware already produces something close to a double-double. Burries looked excellent in Summer League. Porter should return at some point after the knee procedure. And Rollins is no longer an unknown after putting up 17.3 points and 5.6 assists last season.
There’s also a structural reason the Bucks may actually try. Tanking doesn’t solve much next year, as they don’t control their own first-round pick (New Orleans gets the more favorable of its own and Milwaukee’s), so dropping 60 games doesn’t deliver a top pick in the Draft. That reality should push them toward competing, playing the veterans, and treating close games like they matter instead of shutting things down in March.
Even so, climbing back into the Play-In is a significant leap. They won 32 games last year, while ninth and tenth place finished at 44 and 43. That’s an 11-win gap just to reach the final Play-In spot, and the best player on the roster is now probably Herro or Rollins rather than one of the best players in the league.
For a real surprise, several things have to break right at once. Herro needs to stay on the floor for something like 65-plus games, Rollins has to take another step toward 20 and 7, Turner has to look more impactful on the defensive end, and one of Burries, Ament, or Ware needs to develop into a high-level starter faster than expected. Porter staying healthy would help considerably.
None of that is out of the question. This team should be annoying. There aren’t weak links in the rotation. Jenkins can go small, play two centers, run three-guard lineups, give the rookies minutes, and keep multiple threats on the floor most nights. They should also generate enough threes from Rollins, Herro, Green, Turner, and Trent to steal games from better teams on random nights.
What I don’t see is the star power to do it consistently, 40-plus times. I could see 11th if the health holds. I could see 13th if the injuries return. Twelve feels about right. Enough talent to stay out of the basement, no real incentive to tank, but still missing the single player who turns a collection of solid pieces into a playoff team.
Projected record: 34-48
Projected finish: 12th in the East
