What’s Next For the Bucks After Another Stunning Playoff Exit?
In the NBA, having the best record after the regular season doesn’t mean much come playoff time these days. The Golden State Warriors learned that the hard way in 2016.
The Milwaukee Bucks finished the 2022-2023 regular season with a league-leading 58-24 record. That’s a 70.7% winning percentage. Not to mention, Giannis Antetokounmpo finished as a finalist for the Michael Jordan MVP award.
Unfortunately, the Miami Heat, who had been written off numerous times throughout the season, apparently didn’t get the script as to how Round 1 was supposed to play out.
Another Early Exit
Having the best regular-season team and having one of the best players in the league couldn’t save Milwaukee from another early playoff exit. Once the records reset to 0-0 for all the teams, the Bucks looked flat out pedestrian.
Making matters worse, Milwaukee’s latest playoff defeat came at the hands of a team that had to go through the play-in tournament just to secure a berth in the playoffs.
Apologists will point towards Giannis Antetokounmpo’s injury which he suffered in the series opener. An injury that ultimately limited Antetokounmpo to only three games in the Miami series.
Even when he was back on the court, he looked a far cry from the MVP Finalist that fans were used to seeing. Giannis averaged 23.3 points, 11 rebounds, 5.3 assists, on 52.8 field goal shooting in those three games. He scored 38 points and pulled down 20 rebounds in their Game Five loss at home.
After their elimination, Giannis told reporters “There’s no such thing as failure in sports” which largely divided analysts and fans alike as to whether they bought what the Greek Freak was selling at the press conference.
By and large, the Bucks couldn’t do anything to stop Jimmy Butler. In five games, Butler averaged 37.6 points, six rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.8 steals, on 44.4% three-point shooting. He scored 56 points in Game Four before finishing the Bucks with a 42-point outing in Game Five.
Winning 58 regular season games is no small task. And yet, Milwaukee now faces uncertainty entering the 2023 off-season.
What’s Next?
After another disappointing playoff run, Bucks Head Coach Mike Budenholzer’s future now hangs in the balance. The Bucks squandered leads in both Games Four and Five, with coach Bud’s offensive schemes doing little to inspire confidence in fans.
Budenholzer signed a three-year contract extension after the Bucks won the title in 2021. However, the Bucks’ latest flameout may cause the Milwaukee front office to look elsewhere in order to avoid wasting the prime of Giannis’ career.
Khris Middleton’s future in Milwaukee also hangs in the balance as he only has until June 21st, 2023, to decide whether or not he will pick up the player option as part of the five-year contract he signed in 2019.
Middleton averaged 15.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 1.3 assists this season but was limited to 33 regular-season games due to injuries.
Most importantly, there’s also Giannis Anteotkounmpo’s future in Milwaukee.
While there’s little chance of seeing Giannis Antetokounmpo switching addresses next season, as he signed a five-year deal that will run until 2026, some believe the two-time MVP might already be looking elsewhere.
In an interview with Zach Baron of GQ, he casually mentioned that his next challenge might not be in Milwaukee. “One challenge was to bring a championship here and we did,” Antetokounmpo said. “It was very hard, but we did. Very, very hard. I just love challenges. What’s the next challenge? The next challenge might not be here,”
Not exactly the ringing endorsement that will help Milwaukee fans sleep at night. With a current projection of -$27.733M of practical cap space for 2023-24, and a new CBA changing how teams look at the luxury tax threshold, don’t expect the Bucks to simply stand pat and run it back next year.
While regular season accolades are nice, the playoffs are where legends grow. And for Giannis and Co., their storybook ending to 2021 seems long ago heading into the offseason.
-Iggy Gonzales
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.