Previewing The 2024-25 Milwaukee Bucks
September 11th, 2024
by Alan Lu
The Milwaukee Bucks had won the 2021 NBA championship a couple of years ago, but they’ve struggled to reach those heights ever since. Since then, they have been bounced out of the playoffs earlier than expected for the past three seasons, as they have dealt with injuries and at times questionable play or coaching in the postseason.
Last season, they traded Jrue Holiday in a blockbuster trade to land star point guard, Damian Lillard from Portland. The Bucks tried to give Adrian Griffin the reins, but even though he won a lot of games early on, there didn’t seem to be much team chemistry and the players didn’t seem to take much of a liking to him, so he was fired just before the All-Star break. Milwaukee then hired Doc Rivers to be the head coach for the rest of the way, but Doc finished 17-19 in 2024, and Milwaukee won 49 regular season games before they lost to the Indiana Pacers in 6 games in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
This year, the Bucks will bring back Giannis, Middleton, and Brook Lopez, but they’ll need to ensure that they stay healthy in the playoffs. They were able to get some much needed offensive firepower by adding Damian Lillard via trade, but they lost a substantial amount of defensive prowess when they traded Holiday away. The Bucks have gotten older, but it seems their window of opportunity may be closing, and Giannis, Lillard, and company will need ensure that 2024 was merely a hiccup for them, and they will need to get the Bucks on track to be legitimate title contenders once again in 2025.
After a relatively disappointing 2024 season, their star point guard Damian Lillard and superstar forward, Giannis Antetokounmpo will look to help the Bucks have a rebound season and to re-establish themselves as title contenders for the 2024-25 NBA season. (Photo: Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images, via Bleacher Report)
Star Players:
F Giannis Antetokounmpo and G Damian Lillard
Giannis is a superstar point forward that is a tremendously athletic player that can really score, make plays, and defend on the court. He is one of the best in the game, and he’s helped his team win the 2021 NBA title.
Damian Lillard is a tremendously skilled point guard that can really shoot and score the basketball, and he will facilitate to rack up assists in games. He will need to improve his defense, but his strong offensive skills and jump shot should enable him to have an All-Star level year this season.
Additions:
F Taurean Prince, G-F Gary Trent Jr., G Delon Wright, F-C Tyler Smith, and G AJ Johnson
The Bucks added a slew of veterans and rookies that will add some talent and depth to their team, and Prince, Trent, and Wright will likely play key roles on this year’s Bucks’ team.
Subtractions:
F Jae Crowder, G Patrick Beverley, F Danilo Gallinari, G Malik Beasley, and F Thanasis Antetokounmpo
The Bucks lost a slew of important role players that were on last year’s team, and that could potentially deplete their depth, but it will also allow other players such as Andre Jackson Jr., MarJon Beauchamp, and AJ Green to step up and get more playing time this season.
Rookies:
F-C Tyler Smith and G AJ Johnson
Tyler Smith is an athletic, energetic big man that showed an improved outside shot and has some defensive skills, but he’ll need to be a more consistent player in games. Johnson is a very athletic combo guard that struggled in limited minutes in the NBL for Illawarra, but he played very well in the combine scrimmage games. Both players may not be expected to contribute much this season, but of the two, Smith could be more ready to contribute right away, and both could end up being solid role players in this league.
Expected Rotation:
Giannis and Brook Lopez played very well during the regular season last year, and both will lead their team into the 2023-24 NBA season.
(Photo: Stephen Lew/USA Today Sports, via Sports Illustrated)
The Milwaukee Bucks have one of the best starting lineups when healthy. They have a tremendously skilled superstar forward in Giannis, and Damian Lillard is a gifted scoring point guard that can make difficult clutch shots. They also have two good complementary players in Middleton and Lopez. Lopez has been very solid as a stretch big and interior defender. They’ve struggled with injuries though, but when healthy, the Bucks are a formidable team in the NBA.
Projected Starting Lineup:
Key Bench Players:
Bobby Portis is the Milwaukee Bucks’ best bench player, and he has energized his team in his role for years.
(Photo: Jeff Hanisch/USA Today Sports, via Sports Illustrated)
The Bucks have a solid bench led by Bobby Portis. Portis is a strong, tough big man that can stretch the floor and defend, and they also have a slew of solid veteran role players to round out their cast off the bench. Beauchamp could be due for a breakout season, and he is an athletic, energetic swingman that can score and defend in games.
F-C Bobby Portis
G-F Gary Trent Jr.
The Rest of the Roster:
G-F MarJon Beauchamp
F-C Tyler Smith
G-F Stanley Umude (Two-Way)
G Ryan Rollins (Two-Way)
C Anzejs Pasecniks (Two-Way)
Others in Camp:
G James Akinjo (Exhibit 10)
Team Options at the End of the 2025 Season:
Here I will project the likelihood of the Milwaukee Bucks to pick up and accept or decline the team options for various players at the end of the 2025 season.
MarJon Beauchamp – Team Option Will Likely Be Accepted (50%-60% Certainty)
Head Coach:
Hiring Doc Rivers seemed to be a rather sensible move for the Milwaukee Bucks at the time, especially given the discord between Adrian Griffin and the way he treated players and assistant coaches, but Doc Rivers’ 17-19 regular season finish with Milwaukee and first-round exit only raises more questions, although he will get a full season to coach the Bucks this time around.
(Photo: Sam Hodde/Getty Images, via CBS Sports)
Doc Rivers
2023-24 (MIL): 17-19, 2-4 in the playoffs
Coaching Career: 1114-782, 113-108 in the NBA Playoffs, won 1 NBA championship with the 2008 Boston Celtics
After the end of the 2022-23 season, Doc Rivers was ousted from the Philadelphia 76ers, and he ended up in the ESPN booth as a TV analyst. Midway through the 2023-24 season, the Milwaukee Bucks felt like they needed to make a change, and they felt they needed a more experienced, player-friendly voice, especially after the debacle in which Griffin yelled at Stotts that led to Terry Stotts’ resignation, and the incident in which Bobby Portis screamed at Griffin during the mid-season tournament, and midway through last season, the Bucks fired Adrian Griffin and hired Doc Rivers.
Based on various online sources, it seems that the players have taken much more of a liking to Rivers, and Doc does boast having a very good coaching pedigree and resume. However, Rivers went just 17-19 with Milwaukee and they wound up being a first round exit of the 2024 playoffs, although to be fair, he wasn’t with the coaching staff to start the season. Rivers may have blown plenty of 3-1 and 3-2 leads in the playoffs, but his best coaching job was with the 2008 Boston Celtics, in uniting them and leading them to win the NBA championship, as he was able to get Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Rajon Rondo their first championship together. Rivers’ Ubuntu coaching methods really helped the Celtics, and the 2025 Bucks could some Ubuntu for the upcoming season.
NBA Head Coach Rank: 25
Outlook:
If they can keep their top players healthy, the Milwaukee Bucks will likely make a deep playoff run in 2025.
(Photo: Getty Images, via Sports Illustrated)
In 2021, the Bucks reached the pinnacle by winning the NBA championship that season, but they haven’t gone nearly as far in the playoffs since. They’ve been slowed down by injuries and disappointing playoff runs in the past two seasons, and they ended up firing longtime head coach Mike Budenholzer as a result, and Adrian Griffin didn’t even make it to All-Star weekend before they parted ways with him.
Last season was a disaster for Milwaukee, especially since they were considered title contenders and after having made a blockbuster trade to land Damian Lillard, but it now seems that trading away Jrue Holiday impacted Milwaukee negatively, especially on the defensive end, and Milwaukee’s defense took a major hit last season, especially in the playoffs.
The Bucks will need to regroup and refocus, and they are still a very talented team that could potentially make a deep playoff run, but they’ll need to make back the defense that they lost in trading away Holiday. They’ll need Giannis and Dame Time to be much more in sync with each other this season, and they need Middleton and Lopez to recreate the magic they had in 2021, but as the Bucks are getting older and aging, there are concerns that maybe they aren’t the title contenders that they once were.
Projected 2024-25 Finish:
Expected Win-Loss Record: 44-38
Projected Regular Season Finish: 6th in the Eastern Conference
Expected Playoff Finish: Projected to lose in the 1st Round
Preseason NBA Power Ranking: 15
I went to Basketball-Reference and SalarySwish to look up some information for this write-up. It will be an exciting basketball season this year, and I’m looking forward to see how the upcoming season will unfold. Anyways, that is my write-up on my preview of the 2024-25 Milwaukee Bucks. Thanks for reading.