Milwaukee Bucks: Khris Middleton’s early season play shows why he got paid

Unlike in previous years, Khris Middleton has delivered a strong start to the season and a reminder of why the Milwaukee Bucks paid him in the summer.

Over the past couple of years, it seems safe to wager that no Milwaukee Bucks player has been the subject of squabbling and in-fighting among fans more regularly than Khris Middleton has.

With that considered, it has become apparent that for all of the conversation focused on Middleton, little of interest or substance is ever actually said about him. There’s a lot of focus on what he isn’t, on what he earns, on whether he’s good enough to be the sidekick of the NBA’s best player, but never all that much about what he actually is in context and how that has led him to the point he’s at today.

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This isn’t new by any means. For his first few years in Milwaukee, Middleton was the go-to choice for fans and analysts tasked with identifying the NBA’s most underrated players. That phenomenon continued for so long that the cliché of being described as underrated so often that he might actually be overrated came to apply for Middleton.

The NBA is very much a tier-based league. It’s no secret that the most elite of individual talent dictates the shape of the league, and that’s only become even more apparent with the increase in player movement in recent years.

With that, the NBA can be broken up into four categories at its top end: true superstars, those who have superstar reputations but not necessarily the positive production to match, middling stars incapable of single-handedly leading a team into contention, and then those who are clearly better than even the best of role players but not necessarily good enough to be a full-time primary option.

Analysing any All-Star, or even borderline All-Star, requires that kind of class structure to be considered as the context for how a player performs, and what they earn. In Middleton’s case, considering he plays alongside one of the few players belonging in that exclusive top-tier, it’s arguably even more important.

For the 27-year-old, he falls between categories three and four. Middleton is not a superstar. Middleton is also not a player with an ego that requires he’s made a focal point even though he can’t live up to such a role. Middleton is content to be a secondary option on a great team rather than seeking out a much larger role on a distinctly average squad.

What really sets Middleton apart, and brings him into a space where anybody would feel it’s worth arguing about his role and salary, is that he’s incredibly well-rounded. This is what separates him from even some of the best role players, and that’s already evident in his play this season.

Middleton is prone to bouts of inconsistency, but even in that he illustrates what makes him so useful in the first place.

Looking at Middleton’s two worst shooting outings of this still young season, it doesn’t take much to notice that he grabbed eight rebounds against the Rockets, and seven assists against the Raptors.

Middleton is, by his nature, a jack of all trades and a master of none. Players who really fit that bill in the NBA are much rarer than most would probably realize. How many players could put in stellar defensive performances as Middleton did regularly against Kawhi Leonard in the Conference Finals, deliver shooting exhibitions such as those that have burned Boston two seasons running in the postseason, and also be capable of stepping up and leading a team in assists and rebounds on any given night?

Versatility gets players paid even at the lowest levels of the NBA, and Middleton offers that attribute with a much higher base level of play to begin with. Early season per game averages of 19.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 3.4 assists, on shooting splits of .515/.413/.850 reflect that. Even on the nights when one element of his game isn’t working, Middleton can make positive contributions in other departments.

As has already been demonstrated through Milwaukee’s opening few games of the season, more often than not, Middleton is likely to score around 20 points, shoot 40 percent from deep, hold his own in a key defensive assignment, and add in close to five rebounds and five assists for good measure.

He doesn’t do it every single night, and if he could then he’d likely land a lot closer to the true top tier category than many of his critics would like to admit. After all, consistent excellence across the floor with meaningful usage is no small feat in the NBA.

So as the Bucks rally through what has been a challenging start to the season, it’s time to take a moment to reflect on how Middleton has bucked the larger trends of his career in delivering a strong individual start to this campaign. Not only has he done that, but relative to their respective bests, Middleton has performed at comfortably the highest level of any of the Bucks’ starters.

Middleton shouldn’t be judged by what he can’t do just because the NBA imposes an artificial ceiling in the form of a salary cap, and then in turn sets up a dynamic where teams are pushed into paying more to keep players than their open market value would likely dictate.

Instead, Middleton should be measured in the context of how few players can do what he can around the NBA, how difficult and costly it is to acquire them, and just how important he is to this Bucks team.

The early signs suggest that not only could Middleton be more important than ever this year, but also that may well be up to that task too.