Milwaukee Bucks: Takeaways from 109-102 win over Dallas Mavericks

Minutes management

While the Big Three’s combined play has been exceptional to start the season, Jason Kidd‘s rotation of them has been far less successful. With Antetokounmpo, Bledsoe and Middleton all having missed time in the past due to lower limb injuries, the fact they are all leading the league in minutes played is discouraging to say the least.

On Friday night, Antetokounmpo played 43, Middleton 38 and Bledsoe 35 minutes. Further to this, Brogdon was asked to play 40 minutes also. Admittedly, this team struggles mightily when two or more of these four are off the court. This likely speaks volumes to the injury list and lack of depth this roster suffers from.

But if Kidd and the Bucks expect to travel deep into the playoffs this season, then the current rotation needs some serious tinkering. This will likely improve when Matthew Dellavedova, Tony Snell, Mirza Teletovic and Jabari Parker all return from injury.

But the point remains, the Bucks’ best four players are all close to leading the league in minutes played. This is not sustainable over an 82 game season and something has to give at some point.