The Milwaukee Bucks have gone all-in on up-and-coming players who have the potential to develop into franchise cornerstones. It's unlikely that every gamble will pay off, but they've acted with determination as they round out the rotation with promising pieces. Their latest target epitomizes that pursuit, as Milwaukee is reportedly interested in Jonathan Kuminga.
Though the Bucks deserve applause for their efforts to both retool and rebuild, the unfortunate truth is that they lacked this sense of urgency when Giannis Antetokounmpo was around.
Milwaukee traded Antetokounmpo for a youth-heavy package that centered around 26-year-old All-Star Tyler Herro, 20-year-old guard Kasparas Jakucionis, 25-year-old wing Jaime Jaquez Jr., and 22-year-old center Kel'el Ware. They've since drafted Nate Ament and Brayden Burries, re-signed 23-year-old forward Ousmane Dieng, and traded for 24-year-old guard Kam Jones.
The Bucks' latest target appears to be Kuminga, with Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reporting that they're one of several teams that have expressed interest in a sign-and-trade for him.
"Kuminga, 23, has also drawn sign-and-trade interest from the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Milwaukee Bucks."
It's an intriguing pursuit on Milwaukee's part, but it also begs the question: Where was this sense of urgency to think outside the box when Antetokounmpo was still in town?
Bucks are finally valuing upside, finding creative roster solutions
Milwaukee found itself in the position it ultimately landed in with Antetokounmpo for an abundance of reasons. Injuries undoubtedly played a part, as both of the players the Bucks assigned the No. 2 scoring role to—Damian Lillard and Khris Middleton—ultimately went down with serious ailments. They also carried massive salaries that limited the front office's options.
Along the way, however, the Bucks became rather stagnant in the way they built out their rotation and added talent that could've better supplemented Antetokounmpo's efforts to lead the charge.
One could argue that Milwaukee waited too long to move on from the likes of Brook Lopez, Middleton, and even Bobby Portis. There's an even stronger argument that they moved on too quickly from two-way wing Donte DiVincenzo.
The result was an agonizingly thin rotation that never truly evolved to help the team overcome the inevitable limitations of an aging core.
Bucks waited too long to move on from players, devalued NBA Draft
A significant issue, of course, was that Milwaukee whiffed on several pivotal draft picks and thus deprived itself of a chance to develop talent internally. Doc Rivers has long been criticized for not exactly emphasizing the value of up-and-comers, however, with his own son even acknowledging as much.
Nevertheless, the Bucks spent the better part of three seasons with Rivers running the show—and the internal development of potential complementary pieces fell by the wayside.
The good news is that Milwaukee appears to be learning from its mistakes and valuing untapped potential as a valuable resource in 2026. One simply can't help but wonder how different the Antetokounmpo era could've been had they been this aggressive in acquiring and developing players they could've molded to fit their system.
Perhaps there's no real value in wondering what could've been, but the Bucks could've improved and perhaps extended the Antetokounmpo era with this type of commitment to depth and development.
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