Which Milwaukee Bucks will and won’t be on 2023-24 opening night roster

General manager Jon Horst has made some minor moves for the Milwaukee Bucks this offseason.

He re-signed Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, and Jae Crowder. He drafted Andre Jackson Jr. and Chris Livingston. He also brought in elite bench sniper Malik Beasley and reunited the Disney World brothers by bringing back Robin Lopez.  The Bucks are a team that thrives on familiarity and continuity with their leading players. They have always kept a smaller rotation and preferred older and proven players to players that need developing and time to grow. Yet, that was under the Budenholzer regime.

Adrian Griffin, a first-year head coach, could bring in a whole new system that could change the sometimes slower half-court offense the Bucks had at times the past few seasons. With a whole new system, sometimes new players to better fit that system are needed. So, before an upcoming blog series of a trade the Bucks could make with every NBA team, let’s see which players will and won’t be on the roster opening night. (For time’s sake, no new offseason signing or rookie will be included)

TIER 1: The untouchable Milwaukee Bucks

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO, KHRIS MIDDLETON, BROOK LOPEZ, MARJON BEAUCHAMP

It should be no surprise to see the first two names in this tier. After all, Giannis Antetokounmpo is, at WORST, the second-best player in the world with more accolades before turning 30 than some Hall of Famers. With five straight top-five MVP-voting finishes and coming off a season where he averaged 31/12/6, there is no way the Greek Freak will be leaving Milwaukee anytime soon.

Kash Money Khris just signed a three-year extension worth $93 million and is going into this season fully healthy for the first time since 2022. Despite only playing in 33 games last year, he looked solid, averaging 23/6/6 in the Bucks’ first-round exit to the Heat. Middleton is a key piece to the Bucks and has been for years.

Brook Lopez may surprise some people for being in this tier, especially when considering that he is entering his age-35 season. But Splash Mountain is so important to what the Bucks do and just signed a new contract to stay with Milwaukee this offseason. With his 3-point range at his size, it allows Giannis to be alone in and control the paint. And that’s even before factoring in Lopez coming off a DPOY-runner-up season.

Since joining the Bucks, Lopez has had the third most blocks while having the third most threes by a center, per Stat Muse. Although it may be viable to start looking for a future replacement for Lopez (solely based on his age), for now, the Disney World fanatic stays in Milwaukee. The last player in this tier should not surprise anyone.

MarJon Beauchamp, coming off an 83-point performance in the Crawsover, seems to be an instrumental part in the Bucks’ future as they bridge the gap between the current and future regime. At 6-foot-6, 200 lbs, and still only 22 years old, Beauchamp looks to make a leap this year with a presumed bigger role and more playing time under new head coach Adrian Griffin. The Bucks would probably rather move off one of their few remaining first-round picks before unloading this uber-athlete with untapped potential.