Milwaukee Bucks: Who are their biggest X-factors with playoffs nearing?

Donte DiVincenzo’s production will be a pivotal factor for the Milwaukee Bucks

There were many justifiable concerns surrounding Donte DiVincenzo entering this season with the Bucks, most notably his timeline.

This would be the guard’s third season with the team, and it was legitimate to question whether or not he was capable of being the starting two-guard on a championship team. It seems that the team themselves answered that question in the offseason when they initially shipped off DiVincenzo and others to Sacramento in a deal centered around Bogdan Bogdanovic, which ultimately fell through.

Electing to keep him on the roster in the aftermath of that debacle, the Bucks have relied more heavily on the 24-year-old this season than ever before. Sliding him into the starting shooting guard slot, the third-year guard is averaging 10.3 points on .415/.377/.737 shooting splits, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.1 assists in 27.5 minutes per game. While several of those are career bests, the guard has struggled mightily to find the balance between hot and cold on a game-to-game basis.

April has particularly been a tough month for him when it comes to scoring the basketball as he has finished with double-figures just three times in the team’s 11 contests. Shooting a mere 38 percent from the floor and 33.9 percent from behind the arc during this stretch, things are starting to grow worrisome for the young guard. While his role does not solely revolve around putting points on the board, that was an area that the Bucks needed to see improvement in, and it has not all been there.

There have been glimpses of DiVincenzo at his best though, one of which did indeed come earlier this month in the team’s 116-101 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. Without Giannis Antetokounmpo in the lineup, DiVincenzo stepped up by scoring 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including an impressive 6-for-10 from distance. While DiVincenzo will certainly not hit 20 points nightly, some steady scoring will undoubtedly help the Bucks.

If the Big Ragu can find any sense of consistency with his scoring heading into the postseason, it could alter things entirely for the Bucks. As the weakest link in their starting lineup, DiVincenzo remains a massive X-factor for the team.