For half a decade, the Bucks were one of the league’s best and most consistent franchises, but in less than a year’s time, Milwaukee has descended into chaos and controversy, and given their 1-3 start to the 2024-25 season and a brutal schedule ahead, it’s possible that things are only bound to get worse.
With the season just over one week old, the rumor mill is already ablaze with talk that in time, Giannis Antetokounmpo could end up being traded, with the Heat and the Nets being the two teams Giannis would prefer to go to, and the Thunder lingering as a dark horse. A move of such magnitude would just require sign-off from Doc Rivers, who has accumulated power and pull within the Bucks organization and is now “the key voice in basketball decisions,” per Bill Reiter of CBS Sports.
“They tell me it’s up to Doc now, that they’re going to wait 20 games and then see what Doc wants,” Reiter noted that one person familiar with the Bucks’ front-office inner-workings shared with him. “It sounds like it’s a mess.”
An alternate read on the downfall of the Milwaukee Bucks would be that when they decided to trade Jrue Holiday, Grayson Allen and three 1st-round picks away for Damian Lillard, willingly sacrificing one of the league’s best defenses in order to find a more suitable number two scoring option behind the Giannis Antetokounmpo, with Khris Middleton’s night-to-night impact — and availability — dwindling.
Looking at the numbers alone, you’d be inclined to say that this trade was a success. Since their partnership began last October, Giannis and Lillard are averaging a combined 55 points per game. But watch any Bucks game and you’ll see a tangible lack of chemistry between Milwaukee’s two alphas. Look at the advanced stats, and you’ll see that in four games this year, Giannis and Dame have a disappointing plus/minus of -4.8.
How Milwaukee responds over the course of the next two weeks, and how this partnership between Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard continues to materialize, could send ripple effects throughout the entire league.
NBA rumors: The Doc Rivers reason why Giannis Antetokounmpo could force exit from Bucks
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