To say the Milwaukee Bucks’ season has fallen apart would be an understatement. They have a 32-49 record, their first losing season since 2015-16, they are missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade, and they’re in the midst of an NBA investigation into their handling of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s availability.
Trade rumors have swirled around the two-time MVP for nearly a year, tensions with ownership have spilled into public view, and the relationship between the franchise and its superstar looks irreparably strained. Now, with the season mercifully ending, Bucks head coach Doc Rivers has offered the most candid assessment yet of what went wrong and what Antetokounmpo might do next.
Doc Rivers Admits the Bucks Don’t Have the Pieces Around Giannis Antetokounmpo
Appearing on “The Dan Patrick Show” this week, Rivers was asked directly: “What does Giannis want?”
His answer was blunt. “Oh, boy. Um, I don’t know. Uh, and we talk probably more than anyone,” Rivers said. “Um, you know, Dan, it’s a tough one because he has done such a great job here in Milwaukee, right? And yet he still wants to win a title.”
Rivers didn’t stop there.
“And clearly we have to do a better job here with our roster to make that even look like a possibility,” he continued. “And if we can’t do that, then he’s going to look outward. And so I think that’s a two-fold answer. I think one, if we had all the pieces here, I have no doubt he’d want to stay here. But we don’t. And so that puts him in a tough spot.”
It’s a striking admission from a Hall of Fame coach about his own roster’s shortcomings, but he’s 100% correct.
Milwaukee set a franchise record with 13 losses by 25 or more points this season. A 45-point blowout in Brooklyn in mid-December sent the locker room spiraling. Bobby Portis erupted at teammates during practice that week, saying the team carried itself like “everything is fine” when urgency was desperately needed.
The Bucks went 0-4 without Antetokounmpo during one stretch, and the supporting cast simply couldn’t hold the line. Ryan Rollins and Kevin Porter Jr. were called out by coaches after combining to shoot 9-of-27 in a loss to the Chicago Bulls.
Role players like Gary Trent Jr. posted alarming plus-minus numbers. Nothing clicked.
Antetokounmpo himself has walked a tightrope publicly.
In February, he declared, “I love wearing that jersey. I will never ever disrespect people that have helped me.”
But in the same breath, he acknowledged reality: “I want to win a championship with the Milwaukee Bucks. And if that’s not on the table or in the plans, that’s when you’re kind of like, ‘OK, maybe I’ve got to pivot because I really want to win.'”
That pivot appears increasingly likely. Antetokounmpo has one guaranteed year left on his contract before a player option in 2027-28, and the league-wide belief is that a summer trade is now a matter of when, not if.
The New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors, and Miami Heat have all been linked to him. The Bucks’ front office, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, held on to Antetokounmpo at the trade deadline with the belief they would receive better offers in the summer.
The clock is ticking in Milwaukee, and neither Antetokounmpo nor the Bucks seems willing to watch it run out together.
