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Fiserv Forum
Fiserv Forum (2024)
There are only 12 games left in the 2025-2026 schedule of the Milwaukee Bucks. In that span, they need to make up 7-1/2 games to catch the Charlotte Hornets for 10th place in the NBA Eastern Conference. It’s the last slot for the NBA Championship Tournament. While mathematically possible, it’s hopeful dreaming.
The team’s descent into a noteworthy total collapse didn’t just happen to coincide with this season. It was many years in the making with questionable personnel moves and optimism in riding the star player’s desire to win. Basically, it was a planned gradual tanking.
The March 15 home game, a 134-123 win over the Indiana Pacers, felt like the team’s last hurrah. A magnificent win that brought back the ghosts of old times.
It has been a downward spiral, since then. Giannis Antetokounmpo left that game with a hyper-extended left knee. It was another in a long string of injuries this year, as in previous years. Is it his desire to win and put his body at risk, or simply age?
Tuesday’s 123-116 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers was cat-and-mouse, until the closing minutes of the fourth quarter and missed shots. Antetokounmpo sat out. Losing to the Utah Jazz on Thursday night, by a 128-96 score, opened the flood gates at the post-game press conference over the usual defensive lapses.
Careless Turnovers
Defensive breakdowns have been used as reasons and excuses for poor play over the past three seasons. Head coach Doc Rivers went after the real cause. “When you give up, that’s a choice. Those defensive breakdowns weren’t accidental. We all saw what happened out there ...t his league exposes you when you don’t do the little things right.
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“Careless turnovers, soft defense, no communication, you can’t play in the NBA like that, and not get punished,” Rivers said. “We lost in the details. At the end of the day, it’s on me. It’s on all of us, players and coaches together.”
It’s not new information. However, coming from the head coach carries weight, as if he’s ready to jettison being involved with such nonsense. The question becomes who engineered this failure situation, and why.
On Friday, Bucks co-owners Wes Edens and Jimmy Haslam showed themselves to be the real culprits on ESPN. Antetokounmpo has said that he wants to play in the closing games. Ownership wants to shut him down. Come October 1, he will be able to sign a four-year contract extension for $275 million.
“Giannis is going into the last year, so one of two things will happen, either he will be extended, or he will be traded,” said Edens. “The likelihood you’ll let him just kind of play out the last year, we can’t afford that.
“It’s not consistent with what’s good for the organization,” he said. “That’s not a Giannis issue. That’s any player in their last year.”
Big League Gossip
Again, not new information considering there are really only two ways to go. Edens also noted that any decision on him playing would be made jointly with ownership.
Yet, during the season, league gossip tied Antetokounmpo to numerous teams via the trade route. No deals were struck evidently because of ownership’s high asking price. Salary cap space and the luxury tax also play into the picture. This doesn’t sound like a team wanting to keep their prime asset.
A healthy “Big Guy” would bring more trade value and draft picks. The team’s poor performance and slide in the standings also puts them in a better position for the NBA Draft Lottery.
Bucks general manager Jon Horst has taken heat for the team’s unraveling, and that same league gossip has ownership overriding many of his choices on players and coaches.
Allegedly, when replacing Adrian Griffin, he wanted Kenny Atkinson (now coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers), and ownership wanted Doc Rivers.
Griffin was 30-13, at the time of his dismissal. The rot of dissension, poor defense, and an unorganized style of play had already set in. Those things are still living and breathing in the team to this day. Even Rivers was rumored to be leaving at season’s end. This could be shaping up for a complete turnover.
Nah.
The Bucks return to the Fiserv Forum on Saturday against the San Antonio Spurs, and Sunday, playing against the Los Angeles Clippers.
