Following their championship-winning season, the Milwaukee Bucks were inevitably going to reward general manager Jon Horst for his efforts.
Well, they did just that on Friday. First reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Bucks have signed Horst to a long-term extension. This move comes as no surprise, as one of the first things people may notice about this Bucks roster is how it was built. Horst and many other executives constructed this team through the NBA Draft, trades, and some key free agent signings over the last few years. Sure, some will point to the rare blips on his star-studded résumé, such as the Bogdan Bogdanovic debacle and the D.J. Augustin singing, but Horst’s overall impact on this franchise should be praised.
Jon Horst has been masterful at constructing the Milwaukee Bucks over the past several seasons
Since Horst replaced former Bucks general manager John Hammond in 2017, he has gone on to win NBA Executive of the Year in 2019, and now, he has an NBA Finals to add to his résumé. While Horst has been at the helm, this organization has reached new levels of greatness and respect in the world of basketball. Thanks to the decision-making on his part, the Bucks will be looked at as a title contender for years to come, especially after ending their 50-year championship drought this past season.
The main job of a general manager is to improve a roster in any way he/she sees fit. With all that being said, let’s take a trip down memory lane and analyze the five best moves Horst has made in his tenure as GM for Milwaukee.
Jon Horst’s best moves with the Milwaukee Bucks — No. 5: Trading for P.J. Tucker
Trading for P.J. Tucker is a favorite for many reasons. First, Tucker’s intangibles that were brought on the court were proven to be invaluable during the 2021 playoffs. Second, his leadership and willingness to bestow wisdom to younger players helped the Bucks improve in more ways than one. Third, and lastly, who can forget his speech during the championship parade?
Milwaukee was able to unload Augustin and D.J. Wilson for Tucker, the undersized Houston Rocket that was virtually playing for the regular season. Houston had nowhere to go beyond the postseason after the James Harden trade, so Tucker was a high-quality player on a low-quality team.
Enter Horst. Once the Bucks traded for Tucker, they were in the middle of a season-long eight game win streak. If you were to have watched Milwaukee after the acquisition, you could feel a shift in fire, energy, and excitement. This was seen as a win right away, but once the Bucks lifted the trophy several months later, the move was solidified.
Even though Tucker signed with the Miami Heat in the offseason, a move that surprised many at the time, he will be forever etched into Bucks history. After all, he was the first player to embrace Antetokounmpo after the buzzer sounded in Game 6 of the Finals, a surreal moment for the team.
Jon Horst’s best moves with the Milwaukee Bucks — No. 4: Signing Brook Lopez
Bringing in former Nets and Lakers center Brook Lopez took the Bucks to another level. After a short stint with Los Angeles, Lopez came to Milwaukee the year that Antetokounmpo went on his back-to-back MVP run. It wouldn’t be the same workload he had in Brooklyn, where he currently holds the franchise record in points scored during his tenure, but that fit him perfectly.
Lopez has averaged 12 points or more in each of his first three seasons in Milwaukee, and that is a trend that should continue to stay moving upward. After not taking a single 3-pointer in his first five years in the NBA, Lopez set a career-high in 3-point attempts per game (6.3) in his first year in Milwaukee.
When someone thinks of the modern-day “stretch-five,” Lopez’s name should enter the conversation. What he has been able to do in a limited offensive role shared with Antetokounmpo and Middleton is fantastic, and it should be celebrated that Horst took a gamble on a player who plays a position that generally declines faster than others. He proved to be an essential piece for the Bucks in their title run, providing some stellar defense and his fair share of offense.
Let’s not forget how much he loves Disney World. Whether he’s wearing a graphic t-shirt or seeming like he was in heaven during the Orlando bubble, Lopez has put unlimited smiles on the faces of Bucks fans.
Jon Horst’s best moves with the Milwaukee Bucks — No. 3: Hiring head coach Mike Budenholzer
After underachieving in years prior, Horst signing Mike Budenholzer was a home-run move for Horst and Milwaukee. With success reaching the Eastern Conference Finals previously with Atlanta, Budenholzer brought a consistent approach to a team that was hungry to win but did not quite know how to reach that point.
Everyone in NBA circles probably felt the heat coming from fans and other analysts for the Bucks to make a decision on Budenholzer after the Bucks lost in five games to Miami in the second round of the 2019-20 playoffs. There was pressure all around, and the tension was palpable heading into the 2020-21 season. If Milwaukee had another early exit, we may not be sitting here with Budenholzer as the head coach.
Fast forward through the playoffs, and Budenholzer made the adjustments that he was once criticized for not making. Milwaukee swept Miami in round one, snuck past Brooklyn in round two, took down his former team in Atlanta in six, topped off with a six-game series against Phoenix in the Finals.
Exhale, Bucks fans, if you haven’t already. Milwaukee is a championship team, and there is credit to give to Horst for the perfect fit. Budenholzer agreed to a three-year extension in August, giving them a chance to repeat with the man who got them there first.
Jon Horst’s best moves with the Milwaukee Bucks — No. 2: Trading for point guard Jrue Holiday
For many Milwaukee fans, this may have been a “do you remember where you were when this happened?” moment. When Horst pulled the trigger on a trade for former all-star and Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday, the ground may have shaken in the city of Milwaukee.
Following years of Eric Bledsoe and George Hill, Horst saw those two as expendable, including them in a draft pick-loaded package to New Orleans for Holiday. Among the league, many mention Holiday’s name when it comes to some of the highest-level defenders. It translated beautifully during the 2020-21 season. Although it took some getting used to as Holiday found himself in a new environment after spending the past several years in New Orleans, the guard ultimately proved in the end to be the needle-tipping addition this team needed to get over the hump.
Taking a moment to reminisce back to Holiday’s alley-oop to Giannis in Game 5 in Phoenix, it is just a small sample of the impact he had on this roster. The ability to run the floor as a facilitator while being a lethal 3-point shooter (career-high 39 percent in 2020-21) showed throughout the team’s title run. Everyone is excited to see what the veteran can do entering year two with the team.
Jon Horst’s best moves with the Milwaukee Bucks — No. 1: Getting a signature from Giannis Antetokounmpo on a supermax extension
Remember when the hottest word in the NBA was that Giannis Antetokounmpo was leaving Milwaukee after the 2020-21 season? Me, too. Remember when that didn’t happen? See the first answer.
Horst locked up Antetokounmpo with a supermax extension before the start of last season, and it silenced all of the talk around the possibility of him leaving. A Buck from the very beginning, Antetokounmpo put the final stamp on his Milwaukee legacy last summer with his phenomenal NBA Finals performance. Off the court, he loves the city. He even became a minority owner in the Milwaukee Brewers, purchasing a stake after last season. He now is a father of two, saying during media day that he wants to continue to grow his family here.
There could not be a better player or man to represent the city of Milwaukee. Horst knows this, as does everyone, so it was not with any hesitation to give Giannis the money that he now has. It goes without saying that re-signing the two-time MVP and future Finals MVP was a massive win for Horst and this franchise, and it will be hard to top that among his greatest moves.
Horst smiling with Giannis with his contract on the table may go down as one of the best pictures in Bucks history. Frame it next to Giannis holding the Finals MVP and Larry O’Brien, and you have yourself a nice array of memories in front of you.