The Milwaukee Bucks are attempting to walk away with as many as three first-round picks at the 2026 NBA Draft. It's a bold and ambitious strategy to load up on promising young talent and all but instantly escape the shadow of the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade saga, replacing disappointment with hope.
If the Bucks have their wish of ending the 2026 NBA Draft with three first-round selections, then they'll be the biggest winners of the event—due in no small part to how stacked this class is.
Milwaukee hasn't exactly embraced the virtue of the NBA Draft during the late stages of the Antetokounmpo era. With the franchise player back on the trading block and the Bucks needing to build for a future beyond him, however, they've finally come around on how rewarding the annual selection process can be.
According to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line, the Bucks are informing those around the NBA that they plan to have three first-round selections at the 2026 NBA Draft.
"The Bucks continue to signal to rival teams and agents that they plan to have as many as three first-round picks in this draft … two more than their current allotment. Which should help explain why so many rival teams have been projecting that Milwaukee will at last push ahead with plans to trade its Face of the Franchise."
With a surplus of promising prospects in a uniquely intriguing class, the Bucks have a chance to kickstart their rebuild with a massive haul.
Bucks aiming to end stacked 2026 NBA Draft with three first-round picks
Milwaukee already has the No. 10 overall selection, which could help it land a landscape-altering talent. It's an admittedly polarizing pick from a historical perspective, but it's been utilized to select active players such as Mikal Bridges, Paul George, CJ McCollum, and Cason Wallace.
Landing a player who lives up to any one of those players' lofty standards would be an absolute win for a Bucks team in dire need of developable young talent.
Only two players on Milwaukee's roster are both 25 or younger and averaged at least 10.0 minutes per game for the team in 2025-26: Ousmane Dieng and Ryan Rollins. Dieng, 23, will enter restricted free agency this summer and Rollins, 24, is eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2027.
In other words: The Bucks don't have a single player on the roster who's under 25, a member of the nightly rotation, and signed beyond 2027.
That makes the strategy to acquire two more first-round picks one based in both logic and need. Milwaukee needs to establish a young core around which it can build, and the 2026 NBA Draft is widely regarded as one of the most promising in recent history.
If the Bucks succeed in utilizing three first-round draft picks to build out their rotation, they'll be the biggest winners of the event by virtue of how they'd finally begin to reverse their misfortune.
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