January 18 – at Brooklyn Nets
While the Eastern Conference is viewed as a two-team race next season, the Bucks will take on one of the rising threats in the conference when they travel to the East Coast to take on the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday, January 18 at Barclays Center.
The Nets shook up the East when they landed both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving on the opening day of this year’s free agency period and, like the Clippers, have wrapped up one of the most stunning transformations in recent history, considering their long-gestating rebuild.
Durant’s Achilles’ injury, though, puts in a major dent for the Nets’ hope to contend for next year’s title and potentially this window that’s now opened for the organization with the arrival of both stars.
Regardless, the Bucks will look to make Irving uncomfortable in the vein of when the Bucks last took on Irving during last year’s Conference Semifinals series when he was a member of the Boston Celtics.