The Milwaukee Bucks’ season ended in heartbreaking fashion in Game 5 on Wednesday, as a 128-126 loss to the Miami Heat in overtime sent them home.
With that, the championship aspirations that everyone had before the season and before the playoffs are now dead, and it’s time to move forward to the future; General Manager Jon Horst will have some decisions to make. Mainly his decision to run it back with the same roster as last season didn’t work, and now the question looms what will Milwaukee’s roster look like next season?
Milwaukee has 10 players who are set to be free agents, and since the strategy didn’t work to bring back every free agent last season, here are three guys who are more likely to come back to the Milwaukee Bucks.
1- Thanasis Antetokounmpo
This is pretty obvious. As long as Giannis Antetokounmpo is on the Milwaukee Bucks, Thanasis Antetokounmpo will have a spot on the roster.
Known for his exuberant energy, Thanasis is a guy who keeps team morale high and is there to give Giannis motivation when he needs it.
But let’s be clear, Antetokounmpo deserves a spot on the roster because while his offensive game is limited, there hasn’t been a 13th guy on any bench in the NBA who has had as many posterizing dunks as him.
His games played have decreased in the last two seasons since playing in 57 games in the championship run. Antetokoumpo played an important role in that run as Head Coach Mike Budenholzer would bring him in with less than 30 seconds left to be a defensive stopper. I would like to have seen that role get brought back for the playoffs, but since the Bucks lost in five games, it probably wouldn’t have mattered.
The Antetokounmpo lineage is strong in the Bucks organization, as you have Giannis and Thanasis, but you also have the younger Alex Antetokounmpo, who plays the Bucks G-League affiliate, Wisconsin Herd.
The goal for the Bucks organization has been to do anything to keep Giannis happy, and giving his brother a spot on the roster does that.