3 Reasons to love the Milwaukee Bucks’ 2023 NBA Draft day haul

Draft day was a significant step forward for the Milwaukee Bucks. Heading into the 2023-24 season, the team had a number of issues they needed to address. Their first-round defeat against the Miami Heat laid bare a host of fundamental issues that had been lingering for quite a while in the Mike Budenholzer era.

Entering an offseason with this defeat in mind, the Bucks managed to end draft day snagging young, scrappy, and stout guys like Andre Jackson Jr., and Chris Livingston, in the second round of the draft, then managed to land San Jose State’s Omari Moore and Gonzaga’s Drew Timme via a two-way deal and an Exhibit 10 contract, respectively.

Here are three reasons to love their draft day haul.

No. 1 – Milwaukee’s youth movement is officially underway

The Milwaukee Bucks entered the 2022-23 season with the oldest roster in the NBA, with an average age of 29.9 years old up and down their top-heavy roster. This lack of youth was a major factor in their early exit from the playoffs, as they were no match for the Miami Heat’s athleticism and hustle.

The fact of the matter is that the NBA is a young man’s league, and teams that are able to surround their stars with talented young players are more likely to be successful. A team with a good mix of young and veteran players is more likely to be sustainable over the long term. And for the past few years, the Bucks just didn’t have many future pieces to be excited about besides Jordan Nwora and Sandro Mamukelashvili, both of whom are no longer with the team.

While you can say what you want about how their age affected their on-court play, the Bucks roster’s age also affects them in the long term. Their top-heavy core is not getting any younger, with Giannis Antetokounmpo at 28, Khris Middleton at 31, and Jrue Holiday at 33. The point is, the Bucks absolutely needed to find ways to replace the production of their aging stars with smart moves this offseason.

Compounding matters further is that the Bucks have not had much success developing their young players in recent years. In the past five years, only one Bucks player drafted outside of the lottery has become a regular starter in the NBA, and that’s Donte DiVincenzo.

This most recent draft haul managed to solve all of these problems in one night. Along with MarJon Beauchamp, the Bucks now have five guys aged 22 and younger who are all on rookie scale or team-friendly contracts.

Perhaps more than ever before, the Bucks have new blood to work on developing around the talents of Giannis Antetokounmpo.