NBA Rumors: Insiders Bash Giannis, Dame’s Bucks; ‘It’s Over. Just Move On’

Julia StumbaughSeptember 19, 2024

Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images

ESPN’s Zach Lowe says “it’s hard to find people who are optimistic” about the Milwaukee Bucks ahead of the 2024-25 NBA season.

“It’s very easy to find people around the league who are like, it’s over. Just move on,” Lowe said on Thursday’s episode of The Lowe Post podcast (17:09 mark.) “Like start thinking about the next steps of the Bucks franchise, whatever, transition.”

The Bucks are preparing to begin their second campaign led by star duo Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard after last season’s title hopes ended with a six-game first-round loss to the Indiana Pacers.

Milwaukee hoped adding Lillard to the lineup could push Antetokounmpo’s team past the second round for the first time since the franchise’s title run in 2021.

But with Antetokounmpo sidelined with a calf strain and Lillard sitting out multiple games with an Achilles injury, the Bucks depth was not able to carry the shorthanded team past the Pacers.

After losing Malik Beasley, who started 77 games for Milwaukee last season, in free agency, the Bucks have had a relatively quiet offseason since their first-round exit highlighted by the signings of Taurean Prince, Delon Wright and Gary Trent Jr.

Khris Middleton, who was limited to 55 games last season, will need to recover from multiple offseason ankle surgeries in order to return to his spot in the starting lineup this fall.

“I think the ifs, and the age, just pile up to the point that it’s too big of a hill for a lot of the skeptics to climb,” Lowe said.

Other than choosing a shooting guard successor to Beasley and the questions surrounding Middleton’s health at small forward, the Bucks seem to largely be planning on running back last year’s lineup centered around Antetokounmpo, Lillard, and center Brook Lopez.

Lopez was the subject of trade rumors throughout the offseason, although Bucks general manager Jon Horst downplayed the reports in July.

Milwaukee is hoping a healthier version of the same core from 2023-24 can take them on a deeper run next spring, even if NBA insiders are reportedly expressing doubt about their title chances.