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Milwaukee Bucks Could Dominate the 2020 Olympic Games

By Ti Windisch

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The Milwaukee Bucks only had one player active in the 2016 Olympics, but that could change completely by the 2020 games.

Watching Matthew Dellavedova represent both Austalia and the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2016 Olympics was great fun for a lot of Bucks fans. Now imagine that much fun multiplied by six, and you get an idea of what the 2020 Olympics could look like for Milwaukee.

The Bucks field a whole lot of international players, and many of them could find themselves competing for their respective countries (should they qualify) in 2020. Dellavedova and Team Australia seem to be a lock to make the tournament after their great run in 2016, but Delly might not be the only Buck on the Boomers in four years.

Thon Maker is an Australian too, and by the time he’s 23 he could join a terrific Team Australia that includes Ben Simmons, Dante Exum, Andrew Bogut and his Milwaukee teammate Dellavedova. If Team USA struggles as much as it did in 2016 (which is about as much as an undefeated, gold medal-winning team can struggle), that team might just give it a run for its money.

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Speaking of Team USA, there are a few Bucks with ties to that team as well. Michael Carter-Williams was supposed to be on the USA Select team in 2014, but unfortunately missed out due to injury. He did manage to play in the 2015 USA Basketball Showcase though, and was impressive there.

Both Jabari Parker and Malcolm Brogdon were members of the USA Select team in 2016, meaning both of them practiced against the squad that has represented America in Rio. Parker probably has a much better shot to make the team someday than Brogdon, but any connection to Team USA is good, especially for a young player.

Khris Middleton has no such connections, but after Team USA suffered mightily from a lack of spacing and defense in Rio this Olympics he’s exactly the sort of player they could use. Maybe Jabari could put in a good word to Coach K about him?

Giannis Antetokounmpo will certainly be representing Greece in the next Olympics. He was one of the cornerstones of the Greek team in the qualifying tournament before this Olympics, but unfortunately the Greek team failed to make the final cut. Hopefully next year Greece can put on a better show and get Giannis to the world stage.

Team Canada also fell short in the qualifying tournament, meaning Tyler Ennis didn’t get a chance to compete in the 2016 Olympics either. Ennis serves as the starting point guard on the Canadian team, and did a pretty good job in his time with the team earlier this summer. Again, hopefully Canada can make the cut next year to get more Bucks in Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics.

Finally, Mirza Teletovic captains the Bosnia and Herzagovina national team. Teletovic is third all-time in Bosnian scoring in international play, although Bosnia has never qualified for an Olympics. With Jusuf Nurkic coming into his own on the Denver Nuggets though, this might be the best Bosnian team yet.

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Teletovic won’t necessarily be with the Bucks in four years–his deal is only good for three–but even if he doesn’t stick around it could be fun watching the old stretch four work with Nurkic to bring some shine to the Bosnian team in their first ever Olmypics.

Luckily Bucks fans won’t have to wait that long to watch Teletovic and Nurkic play–they’ll be together representing Bosnia in the Eurobasket qualifiers starting on August 31st, when they play Russia.

Even if only some of these Bucks end up playing in the 2020 Olympics, it should still end up as a great affair for fans of the team.

Next: Could MCW Win Sixth Man Of The Year?

The Milwaukee Bucks might be working on winning some trophies of their own by 2020, but the Olympics will make the offseason go by that much quicker four years from now.

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