After making the trip to Las Vegas for the NBA Cup semifinals the previous two seasons, the Milwaukee Bucks are one of the 28 teams watching the action in Sin City from home. While they would have loved to return to the tournament, few teams around the league needed the opportunity to catch their breath and take a break more than the Bucks.
With superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo sidelined with a right calf strain, Milwaukee pulled off a surprise win at home over the Boston Celtics on Thursday. Unfortunately, the good vibes from that win were invalidated after suffering one of the largest losses in franchise history (127-82) at the hands of the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday. The Bucks, now 11-16 on the season, have not won two games in a row since October and are barely holding on to the final Play-In Tournament spot in the Eastern Conference.
With Antetokounmpo, it’s not just the injuries. Trade rumors that typically only bubble up in the offseason have now made their way into the regular season, as Antetokounmpo and the Bucks as a whole have been displeased with the team’s early-season results. That displeasure takes on even greater importance as Dec. 15 marks the league’s unofficial start to trade season. A large majority of the players who signed contracts over the offseason become trade-eligible.
But while the outside noise may have fans of opposing teams drooling about the potential of adding Milwaukee’s two-time NBA MVP to their roster, league sources told The Athletic the Bucks have told teams they are looking to add to their roster in hopes of fortifying their struggling team in the week leading up to Dec. 15. That messaging could certainly change as the Feb. 5 trade deadline nears.
Five months after the Bucks’ stunning decision to waive Damian Lillard en route to adding big man Myles Turner on a four-year, $107 million deal, it appears they aren’t waving the white flag on Antetokounmpo’s future in Milwaukee just yet. Instead, league sources said they’re considering making yet another significant addition that might aid their chances of convincing him to stay.
As this latest inexplicable loss showed yet again, there is no doubt that Milwaukee’s roster could use some serious help.
The Bucks have a group of younger, 20-something guards — Kevin Porter Jr., Ryan Rollins, AJ Green and Gary Trent Jr. — who have been regulars in Doc Rivers’ rotation. But all of them are 6-foot-5 or shorter. Green, one of the NBA’s best 3-point shooters, has missed the last three games with a left AC joint sprain. Milwaukee also has four bigs — Antetokounmpo, Turner, Kyle Kuzma and Bobby Portis — who have contributed all season long.
Kyle Kuzma (18) and Kevin Porter Jr. have been two of the Milwaukee Bucks’ top contributors, but will a Bucks team wanting better results in the win column make a move during trade season? (John Fisher / Getty Images)
With Taurean Prince’s neck injury and subsequent surgery, however, the Bucks essentially have no wings who have earned Rivers’ trust. This has led to Rivers needing to use mismatched lineups, either featuring three guards or three bigs, to get through games.
With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that, as The Athletic confirmed this week, they’ve done due diligence on the Sacramento Kings’ Zach LaVine recently (and have shown interest in him in the past). At minimum, that revelation shows that with their backs against the wall, the Bucks might once again be willing to take a more sizable swing than just adding around the periphery as they search for solutions.
If the Bucks have any doubts about Antetokounmpo’s future in Milwaukee, using any of the team’s limited remaining assets to improve the team this season could be perilous for general manager Jon Horst.
While Horst limited his team’s salary-cap space over the next five seasons with the decision to part ways with Lillard — the $112 million he was owed will be stretched across Milwaukee’s books for five seasons — the Bucks’ summer moves left their remaining first-round picks intact. But while Horst could move up to three first-round picks starting on draft night (when he could move the Bucks’ 2026 first-round pick), the team can only move one first-round pick at this year’s trade deadline.
But deciding to trade away another future pick would be dangerous. It is especially risky if the Bucks have any concerns about Antetokounmpo’s future in Milwaukee. Ultimately, if Horst doesn’t want to move a first-round pick, Milwaukee’s options to improve the team are limited, as they don’t have enough depth to have players that could be deemed as expendable.
Their best path to more talent may be to use a similar strategy to the waive-and-stretch of Lillard, and look to take on more money from a team looking to get off a player who could crack the Bucks’ rotation, but also carries a less favorable contract than a current Bucks player. That could mean taking on a player who has a longer contract than one of their current players for a similar amount. It could also mean perhaps taking on a player who carries a bigger contract number this season to help another team duck the luxury tax or one of the collective bargaining agreement’s two aprons, considering the Bucks still have salary space below the luxury-tax line.
No matter what the Bucks decide, though, Antetokounmpo’s situation will hang over any decision they make and needs to be considered thoughtfully in any decisions made before the Feb. 5 trade deadline.
