MILWAUKEE — After dropping both games in their back-to-back on Friday and Saturday, the Milwaukee Bucks closed out a stretch of seven games in 11 days with a 2-5 record. Throughout the weekend, head coach Doc Rivers and multiple players discussed how their upcoming stretch — featuring three games in 12 days — could serve as a vital reset for the team after a 10-15 start to the season.
While that is not where the Bucks wanted to be after 25 games, Rivers spent his Tuesday post-practice media session telling reporters the organization needs to remain calm amid their struggles.
“We’re not going to panic here,” Rivers said. “We’re not saying, ‘Oh my God, we need to change our team or anything like that.’ (Reporters) can, we’re not. We’re not at all.”
Following Saturday’s loss in Detroit, Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma described this latest stretch without Giannis Antetokounmpo as sink or swim, and Myles Turner echoed that urgency following Tuesday’s practice.
“We are only 5 1/2 games away from the third seed, so I don’t think it’s time to panic personally; I think it’s time to be aware,” Turner said. “I think being aware and panicking are two very different things. Just aware that we’re not where we want to be, but we’re also not far away.
“With the group we have right now, I think that we’re very capable of making an extra push. But we can talk about it all we want to; it’s a matter of going out there and getting it done.”
The Bucks struggled on both ends of the floor in both games without Antetokounmpo before this mini-break in the schedule, but to get some wins with him on the sidelines, they will need to find a way to score more.
With that in mind, here are four questions related to the four players who should have the greatest impact on the Bucks’ offense moving forward.
How sustainable is Kevin Porter Jr.’s performance?
Kevin Porter Jr. has been spectacular since returning for the Bucks’ Nov. 29 win over the Brooklyn Nets, averaging 24.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 2.4 steals in 32.8 minutes per game. He has put up those numbers while playing the most efficient basketball of his career, knocking down 55.6 percent of his shots, including 61.3 percent from behind the 3-point line.
Outside of rebounds, each one of those stats would represent career highs. On top of that, Porter is sporting a career-high usage rate (28.6 percent) and assist percentage (33 percent), according to Cleaning the Glass. Porter had hot streaks when he played in Houston, but arguably, this is the best basketball the sixth-year pro has played in his NBA career.
“He’s moving the ball,” Rivers said Saturday. “He’s letting the ball come back to him, but then low (shot) clock, we have a guy that you can get the ball to and he makes shots for us, and he’s incredible at doing that. I just love the way he’s playing because he doesn’t do it early in the clock. He tries to move the ball, and then he gets it back, so that’s one of our big pluses right now.”
KPJ is HOOPIN’. 😮💨
14 of his game-high 19 points in Q2. pic.twitter.com/IuDZooMlaL
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) December 7, 2025
The Bucks should ride Porter’s hot stretch, but to his credit, there is evidence he’s trying to do the right things to make sure it lasts as long as possible. For example, through six games, 16 of Porter’s 77 shots (20.8 percent) have been catch-and-shoot 3s. That would be the highest portion of shots dedicated to catch-and-shoot 3s in any season of his career — which is notable considering he knocked down 48.2 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3s, the NBA’s second-highest percentage among players with at least 50 attempts during the 2021-22 season, with the Rockets.
With the Bucks this season, Porter has done a nice job relocating to set up better passing angles for his teammates on drives and post-ups to create looks that he has shown he can knock down at a high clip in the past.
“I try to make myself available, especially if I feel like I’m stationary,” Porter said following Saturday’s game in Detroit. “(If) I’m standing, I try to cut or flow off a drive and kick. In prior years, I was one of the best catch-and-shoot (players) in the league, so I want to try to get as much as I can. I feel like if I do it, that’s helping our team.”
Porter has shown the skill and talent to be a high-level scorer in the NBA multiple times throughout his career. It’s impossible to predict how long he might be able to keep up his career-best shooting percentages across the board. Consistently looking to get to easier looks, like catch-and-shoot 3s, could go a long way to making his performance more sustainable.
How does Ryan Rollins fit?
Outside of Antetokounmpo, no player has been asked to do more for Milwaukee this season than Ryan Rollins.
To start the season, the Bucks were going to use the 23-year-old guard off the bench. They wanted him to learn the intricacies of playing point guard, backing up Porter and playing alongside him at times. That changed almost immediately when Porter was hurt in the season opener. Rollins was asked to take the starting point guard role, and he exceeded all expectations, becoming one of the breakout stars of the first 15 games of the season.
When Antetokounmpo went down, the Bucks asked him to do even more. Since, Rollins’ production has taken a slight turn over the last 10 games. While his overall numbers in points, rebounds and assists have slightly improved, it’s been Rollins’ efficiency that has taken a dip. He’s only shooting 43.1 percent from the field and 30.3 percent from 3 after starting the first 15 games shooting 51.3 percent from the field and 46.3 from deep.
“It’s good because he’s probably had the most on his plate, if you go by all the work,” Rivers said of this potential reset. “Really trying to simplify things for him offensively, because his defense has not wavered, other than getting in foul trouble a couple of games.
“But his offense, he’s almost stuck at times now. (We’re) trying to unstick him and getting him back to taking the right shots, moving the ball when he should move the ball instead of trying to score.”
As he showed in the first 15 games of the season, Rollins can be a three-level scorer. He has the length, athleticism and creativity to score at the rim, the soft touch needed to be a strong midrange scorer and a consistent, repeatable release for 3-point attempts. With Porter back at point guard though, it’s been difficult for him to find a rhythm and pick his spots, which has led to some quick and difficult shots.
Creating a better fit for Rollins and carving out a clearer role for him next to Porter could make things easier offensively for the Bucks.
Does it make sense to ask Kyle Kuzma to score more?
In 3 1/2 seasons with the Washington Wizards, Kuzma averaged 19.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 32.8 minutes per game as one of their primary offensive options. As the Bucks desperately try to find more offensive production with Antetokounmpo sidelined, it seems fair to wonder if they should turn to one of their biggest trade deadline acquisitions from last season.
Doing so, however, could disrupt what has quietly been one of the best developments of Milwaukee’s season.
“This is the most efficient offensive season of his career,” Rivers said Tuesday. “We’ve taken the in-between shots out. Literally, it’s that simple. He’s (going) to the basket and (shooting) at the 3-point line.”
Through 24 games, Kuzma is averaging 12.8 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 25.9 minutes per game on what would be a career-best 54.3 effective field-goal percentage, according to Basketball-Reference. His usage rate of 20.4 percent, per Cleaning the Glass, is the lowest it’s been since his final season with the Los Angeles Lakers (2020-21). He has taken 44 percent of his shots at the rim, and 17 percent of his points have come at the free-throw line, which are both career-high figures.
The Bucks have asked Kuzma to expunge the waste from his game, and he’s done it successfully. Asking him to do more to cover in Antetokounmpo’s absence might not be a bad idea.
How do the Bucks get more out of Myles Turner?
When Turner first got to Milwaukee, the Bucks believed his value was in how the team performed with him on the floor. While some might obsess over Turner’s counting stats, they wanted Turner to help the Bucks get to next-action basketball with his cutting, screening and passing as a floor-spacing center alongside Antetokounmpo.
That has occurred at times this season, but with Antetokounmpo sidelined, Turner hasn’t been able to have the same transformative impact. Look at the first offensive possession from the Bucks’ loss in Detroit on Saturday.
To create room for Jericho Sims’ roll to the rim, Turner popped to the 3-point line to relieve the defensive pressure being applied to Porter. After looking for Sims on the roll, Turner moved the Bucks to their next action. Rather than getting the chance to catch a pass in the short roll and create for a teammate, Turner was forced to pop out to the corner to create space for Rollins, but that didn’t much matter because Jalen Duren was already waiting at the rim with Sims in the dunker spot.
“We want him more involved, but we want them to get him the right shots,” Rivers said. “We’ve gotta move the ball better, bottom line, and that comes from spacing.”
For the Bucks to successfully do that, they might need to give Turner more opportunity to play the role they initially envisioned for him. Rather than playing him at power forward next to a lob threat at center, they might have to go back to playing him at center and giving him a chance to be more of a playmaking hub that rolls and pops rather than a big who spaces the floor.
Turner is shooting the ball well this season — 39.2 percent on a career-high 5.9 3-point attempts per game — but 55 percent of his shots are coming from behind the 3-point line. That is a career-high in the category, while he is also taking a career-low 22 percent of his shots at the rim. On top of that, per screening data from Synergy, Turner is rolling on just 51 percent of the screens he has set this season, while he rolled 68 percent of the time last season with the Pacers.
Rolling more might not necessarily lead to more points for Turner, who is averaging only 12.6 points per game, but it could create more opportunities to score. It also might offer more opportunities for Turner to create for his teammates in the short roll, which could be valuable for a Bucks team with two young guards still trying to figure out how to run the offense.
