The 44-24 Milwaukee Bucks, currently slotted into the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed, will be without one of their All-NBA stars against the No. 1-seeded Boston Celtics, who at 54-14 are 10 spots clear of the Bucks, and seem to have the conference’s top seed all locked up. For a No. 2 seed, Milwaukee has been in the midst of a tumultuous year. After the team flipped All-Star combo guard Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for All-NBA superstar point guard Damian Lillard in the summer, fans and pundits alike ignored Lillard’s age and defensive shortcomings while adjusting their expectations of Milwaukee’s ceiling to bona fide title contenders.
But the Bucks added Lillard late, long after they had supposedly completed their summer transactions. Milwaukee had made a series of moves to reinvest in their 30+ year-old incumbent starters Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez. Middleton has barely been able to see the floor for the past several seasons, so paying him at least $93 million (it’s worth up to $102.2 million with incentives) over three years was always dicey. Lopez, however, has remained the surprisingly durable 3-and-D stretch five option he’s been for all but one of his six seasons with the team. The Bucks brought back reserve forward Jae Crowder and added now-starting shooting guard Malik Beasley on minimum deals.
By offloading Holiday and Grayson Allen late, Milwaukee sacrificed a ton of its perimeter defense to add an aging Lillard. The team also signed a first-time head coach, Adrian Griffin. The Lillard and Griffin additions seemed to inspire superstar Bucks power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who inked a three-year, $175.9 million contract extension in late October.
