The Bucks are in real crisis! Antetokounmpo will discuss the future with the team. Many trades failed and the prospects for the championship are bleak

On May 1, ESPN's long article analyzes the Bucks' situation this summer. After ending the first round of the playoffs for the third consecutive year, the team may face an unprecedented crisis.

For the Bucks, the upcoming offseason is crucial, and Antetokounmpo's idea will not only change the team's fate, but may even cause waves in the league. At the moment, nothing touches the hearts of the people. This season, several sources revealed to ESPN that Antetokounmpo is still happy in Milwaukee. He respects Lillard very much and is satisfied with the results of the cooperation between the two this season. This season, the pair became the league's highest-scoring duo, averaging 58.4 points per game, and led the Bucks to rebound strongly from the dilemma of 2 wins and 8 losses at the beginning, winning the NBA Cup championship in December.

Nevertheless, famous reporter Shams reported that the Bucks plan to meet with Antetokounmpo after the season to discuss his future and the team's plans. While this is a regular meeting held every year between the two sides, this conversation this summer is of great significance – after all, even if the star plays dominant performance, the team still fails to win a playoff round.

For a long time, Antetokounmpo has emphasized that his goal is to compete for the championship at his peak, and the Bucks have always built a team around this goal. However, the continued impact on the championship is expensive, and every year and every decision is compressing the team's fault tolerance space. Since winning the NBA championship in 2021, the strength of the lineup around this superstar has gradually declined. Since winning the championship, the Bucks have only won one round of the playoffs and have been eliminated in the first round for three consecutive years. They have lost to their old rival Pacers in the past two times, which seems to have achieved a breakthrough against the Bucks.

"This feeling is terrible, man," Antetokounmpo said after the fifth game, "It's really bad. I can only face myself, I have to be stronger, I have to do better."

Since winning the championship, injuries have become a "stumbling block" for the Bucks' playoffs. In 2022, Middleton sprained the medial collateral ligament in Game 2 of the first round and missed the remaining playoffs; the Bucks lost to the Celtics in the second round tiebreak. Bucks insiders still insist that they were the strongest team in the league that season.

Before the 2023 playoffs, the Bucks achieved the best record in the regular season, but Antetokounmpo suffered a back injury in the first game of the first round and had to miss the second game. Despite his comeback in the rest of the series, the eighth seed Miami Heat upset the top seed Bucks.

A week before the 2024 playoffs began, Antetokounmpo's calf was wounded and failed to make the game throughout the playoffs.

In the two seasons when Lillard traded, the Bucks had expected the pair to become the strongest duo in the league, but Antetokounmpo and Lillard only played two full playoff games together in total.

Less than two weeks ago, Antetokounmpo reiterated his desire for victory on a podcast.

"If I didn't help the team win a second championship... Looking back on my career, others might say, 'Wow, his career is incredible, Hall of Famer, first round selection,' But for me, my personal goal is to let myself down if I can't do that," Antetokounmpo said.

These words gave people a glimpse of his heart and also explained why the Bucks have always made major decisions under high pressure in the past seven years.

However, every time Antetokounmpo's future falls into doubt with the Bucks, he eventually chooses to stay in the team. He has renewed his contract with the team twice - signed a super maximum salary contract in 2020 and renewed it again in 2023. His contract currently lasts until the 2027-2028 season.

However, although the Bucks have made the playoffs for nine consecutive seasons, this record is second only to another team among the league's active teams, their room to improve their roster is now very limited. This has also triggered a key question that has been hotly discussed across the league: If Antetokounmpo can win the second championship, will it be achieved in Milwaukee or elsewhere?

Sitting in front of the podium at the press conference after the game, he knew that this question would be asked sooner or later.

"I don't want to talk about this now," said Antetokounmpo, "I don't want to think about this. I know that speaking it will be over-interpreted. I don't know, man. How much I hope I can continue playing, how much I hope I can continue playing, how much I hope I can return to the court to train.

"I really don't know. ”

Head coach Rivers was hired to stimulate the maximum potential of the two stars, but in two seasons, he has a record of 65 wins and 53 losses (55.1% win rate), and has not led the team to win the next playoff round.

"I really hope that all the team members are healthy," Rivers said, "I am serious. I wish Lillard could stay healthy, but this year it was backfired. However, the various difficulties this year have also made us discover many potential players. AJ Green was born, and his performance was amazing. Gary Trent Jr. proved that he is not only a qualified NBA player, but also better. Portis took on a lot of playing time inside. Himes is also the player we signed, and he has now become a force in the inside. ”

" Kevin Porter Jr. will become a stable force in the team in the future, and he has proved his strength. Although Kuzma performed poorly in this series, he could help the team. But we haven't found a way to make him perform at the best level. We will do it in the future and he will definitely contribute to the team. ”

Antesco also expressed support for the sophomore coach, the fourth head coach in his 12-year Bucks career.

"I love Doug (Rivers)," he said, "They are really good, they are a great person. He knows how to boost morale and can always say the right things at the right time. I really like him, not only because he is a coach, but also because of his character. ”

During the series with the Pacers, the Bucks completed a contract renewal with general manager Horst to ensure that he will remain the team’s main decision-maker in this critical summer.

According to sources, Horst’s contract was originally due this summer. Last summer, when the Pistons’ president of basketball operations vacant, the Bucks refused to let Horst go for an interview, and the renewal was also to retain the important manager.

Since Horst became general manager in June 2017, the Bucks ranked second in the league in regular season win rate (64.7%, second only to the Celtics). According to ESPN reporter Bobby Marks Statistics: During Horst's tenure, the Bucks completed 25 transactions, including Eric Bledsoe, George Hill, Nikola Mirotic, Ju Holiday, P.J. Tucker, Grayson Allen, Serge Ibaka, Jay Claude, Lillard, and most recently Kyle Kuzma.

These transactions made the Bucks pay seven first-round draft picks, three-year draft pick swaps and 18 second-round draft picks. When they traded Holiday in 2020, they gave the first-round draft picks this year, and Holiday was later traded (for Lillard's trade) and won the championship with the Boston Celtics. Last game The Bucks are reluctant to send out the draft pick in the negotiations before the deal deadline this year. Although this approach may be cautious, it also makes the team unable to make a significant improvement on the roster during the trade deadline. Although the team has asked several former All-Star players about the possibility of a deal, such as Zach Lavender before the trade deadline was traded away. In the end, the Bucks got Kuz Horse. In 2020, Kuzma won the championship with the Los Angeles Lakers, but in this deal, the Bucks sent off Middleton, a legendary player in the history of the team.

Middleton has been limited in recent seasons, playing only 37 games this season, of which the Wizards in Rebuild have only played 14 games after the deadline for the deadline for the final day of the trade. In addition to his focus on Kuzma's stability, Horst also believes that he can improve the performance of the two core players of the team.

"The key is how we can make the two core players in the team play at their best," Horst said after the deadline for the final day of the February trade, Horst said, "and how other players play their respective roles around them." ”

However, in the playoffs, Kuzma became the team's burden. In the first game, he became the sixth player in NBA history to play for at least 20 minutes in the playoffs, but failed to score a single point, no rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. His performance did not improve throughout the series. By the third game, his playing time was reduced to less than 20 minutes per game. In the series, he averaged only 5.8 points, 2.2 rebounds and 0.8 assists, with a shooting percentage of 34.3% (1 of 10 three-pointers), and was even pressed on the bench in the fifth game. His poor shooting ability often put the Bucks' offense to a standstill. This game In the season, Kuzma's three-point shooting percentage was only 30.7%, ranking fourth from the bottom among players who meet the statistics.

To get Kuzma, the Bucks also sent away AJ Johnson, the 20-year-old defender showed potential in the late stages of the Wizards and scored a career-high 20 points on March 27. Such low-couple draft players are often the key to extending the championship window - but in a recent series of operations, the Bucks obviously failed to seize such an opportunity. Next season, the Bucks have only four players with guaranteed contracts - Antetokounmpo, Lillard, Kuzma, and rookie Taylor S., who rarely gets a chance. Mies. Three other players - Portis, Pat Connaughton and Kevin Porter Jr. have player options. If all three choose the execution option, the Bucks will pay more than the estimated $154.6 million salary cap before filling the remaining 8 rosters.

, Lillard will pay as much as $113 million in the next two years, of which $63.2 million in the 2026-2027 season. The deal gets Kuzma to make the Bucks' salary lower than the second rich line in the labor-cap agreement. Horst did not emphasize this much at the trade deadline, but this operation may evaluate the team's subsequent choices this summer Play a key role.

However, the gap between the Bucks and the top teams in the East has been exposed. This season, they have a record of 0-10 when facing the top three seeds in the East. The Pacers have played 19 times in the past two seasons, with the Bucks only 7-12, with 3-8 losses in the playoffs.

Horst has made consecutive moves and has tried to seize Antetokounmpo's peak. However, the Celtics, Cavaliers, Knicks, Pacers, Pistons and Magic have either surpassed the Bucks or are pressing step by step. The Bucks' prospects are now so bleak that they may have surpassed Antetokounmpo's time since they selected Antetokounmpo in 2013.