Milwaukee Bucks: How often will we see lineups with both Lopez brothers?

The Milwaukee Bucks fortified their center depth this offseason by reuniting both Brook Lopez and Robin Lopez together and we’re already seeing early indications that they could share the floor with one another throughout the 2019-20 season.

With one preseason game left to be played and exactly one week until the start of their 2019-20 campaign, the Milwaukee Bucks are primed to follow up their 60-win season from last year.

That’s certainly been the indication from their play through their first four preseason games, even if they haven’t sported a full squad for much of their preseason slate. But even as the Bucks have played their cards close to the vest this preseason, all opposing teams around the NBA are well aware of what the Eastern Conference runners-up is capable of, as we all saw last year.

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And the Bucks are hoping the few veteran-laden additions they made over the summer will make them that much more of a team to be reckoned with as they set their sights on contending for an NBA title this season.

It’s through that lens where the Bucks hope the pickup of Robin Lopez will gave the team an added layer of physicality, savviness and another threat from outside, though much work has to be done on that front.

Of course, by bringing him in this summer on a two-year, nearly $10 million deal, the Bucks have reunited Robin with his twin brother and starting Bucks big man, Brook, and the duo will play with one another for the first time in their NBA careers after doing so throughout their time at Stanford University.

Through that experience, as well as growing up and making a name for themselves as prospects, respectively, the Lopez twins have developed a chemistry and interplay that they will look to rekindle now that they have rejoined forces in Milwaukee. And by all accounts, the Bucks are eager to explore that as well.

The prospect and topic of playing both Brook and Robin together has been a popular one all throughout the offseason, training camp, and as we’re currently seeing now, the preseason. As a reminder, here’s what Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer said in regards to rolling out both Lopezes on the floor for minutes throughout the upcoming regular season at last month’s Bucks Town Hall Q&A:

"“As a coaching staff, the summer is great. You kind of consider everything. You throw everything at the wall and it’s including can we play Brook and Robin together. And it’s certainly something to consider and we’ll try it. One of the great things about last year is we played some unique lineups, unusual lineups. The lineup in Utah that one night was very different. So playing Robin and Brook, if there’s opportunity, if we feel like they can help us win and we could be good defensively, we’re going to try it.”"

Needless to say, the reigning NBA Coach of the year has kept true to his word as both Lopezes have seen the floor together for limited minutes throughout the preseason, including in the starting lineup for their opener against the Chicago Bulls. And after both Lopezes powered the Bucks to victory with strong showings, Budenholzer evaluated that specific pairing as Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relayed after the Bucks’ win over Bulls last week:

"“They bring unique talents to the game and hopefully giving them some freedom in letting them play in different spots and play together,” Budenholzer said. “I don’t think we’re going to expect to use it a lot but when there’s opportunities and we can see what it looks like (we’ll try it). With so many guys not playing tonight it was a great opportunity to play them and look at it and I thought (there were) a lot of positives.”"

There are still plenty of kinks to work out with rolling out both Lopezes for a super sized frontcourt lineup, the kind of which that Coach Bud has been eager to explore since coming to Milwaukee, and Robin’s developing three-point shot is at the heart of that formula. And the concerns defensively center around whether the Bucks will have enough mobility, and cover enough ground, with the 31-year-old twins on the floor at the same time.

But the size advantages that come with pairing bot Lopez brothers together are appealing enough to continue experimenting with for stretches throughout the year in advance of a long playoff run. That will loom even larger at that point in the year, considering the Philadelphia 76ers have beefed up their own frontcourt with the addition of veteran center Al Horford over the offseason to have next to All-Star big man Joel Embiid.

The Bucks have prided themselves on adding as much as lineup flexibility and different dimensions as they can through the players they have brought on over the summer, which includes adding more size than they originally had by the end of last season.

As the Lopez brothers learn to get along again with one another now that they’ll be sharing a locker room together for the first time in 11 years, being able to regain that synergy with one another and their teammates could be a key configuration the Bucks hone throughout the 2019-20 season.