Piecing together the Milwaukee Bucks’ dream starting 5 in 5 years
By Dalton Sell
In all likelihood, the Milwaukee Bucks are going to look incredibly different than they do right now five years from now.
Players will come, others will go, and others might just stay put in Milwaukee. With a fast-aging roster, tweaks will have to be made over the next few years to keep this team right in the thick of championship contention. There’s no way to tell exactly what the state of the Bucks will look like in a half-decade, but fans can certainly dream.
That said, let’s piece together a potential dream starting five for the Bucks five years from now while also keeping things somewhat realistic.
Milwaukee Bucks Point Guard: Trae Young
The Milwaukee Bucks are going to need a long-term point guard replacement for Jrue Holiday very soon. Holiday has made it clear that he wants to retire when his current deal is up, which would be after the 2024-25 NBA season. If the team wanted to find a household name to run the point, the perfect target could be Trae Young.
Young, a two-time All-Star, immediately hit the ground running after coming into the NBA, having averaged 25.5 points and 9.3 assists per game for his career. The guard has established himself as one of the best scoring and passing guards in the league, and at 24 years old, he’s still growing as a player by the day. There’s no telling how good he could be in five years.
Two questions are how available Young may be via trade and what it would take to get him if the Atlanta Hawks decided to move him. Young hasn’t outright been made available, but there have been some rumblings, notably with The Athletic’s Shams Charania reporting that the Hawks are monitoring Young’s commitment to the franchise.
If Young were to become available right now, Milwaukee would have no shot of acquiring him, as they have very limited assets. However, they are set to restock up on tradeable assets very soon, starting in the 2024 off-season. As they aim to keep Giannis Antetokounmpo happy, it would not be surprising to see the Bucks push their chips to the center of the table to get another All-Star.
Looking at the current market, Young is among the All-Star point guards who could realistically hit the market and be within Milwaukee’s reach in the coming years.