3 Bucks playing for their future in Milwaukee in the NBA Playoffs

The Milwaukee Bucks released their first-round playoff schedule earlier this week and will begin postseason play on Sunday at Fiserv Forum. This particular postseason is enormous for the Bucks and could affect how the front office decides to shape the team moving forward.

With big decisions looming on the future of the current Bucks roster, some players will need to make a big impression during this playoff run if they want to remain in Milwaukee. These three players are playing for their future with the Bucks during the playoffs.

Wesley Matthews is playing for his future with the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2023 playoffs

Wesley Matthews is arguably the most underrated player on the Bucks team. Matthews’ importance is forgotten because, unlike most players where you expect big things on offense, he will give you most of his impact defensively.

After giving the Bucks a big boost on the defensive end last season, the team rewarded Matthews with a new one-year contract this offseason. It will take a repeat of that performance for Matthews to stretch his Milwaukee Bucks tenure another year.

Matthews was crucial to the team’s success in slowing down DeMar DeRozan in the 2022 playoffs. During the series against Chicago, Matthews held DeRozan to just 11-for-29 shooting (37.9 percent), per NBA.com/stats.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Jayson Tatum, who shot 46.7 percent against Matthews. Part of that is Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer putting too much faith in others to defend Tatum, and the other part is that you have to tip your cap to a player as skilled as Tatum sometimes.

If Matthews can contain stars such as DeRozan and Tatum in the playoffs in 2023, he could find himself back in Milwaukee next season.