2025-26 Milwaukee Bucks / NBA Thread

[adambr2]

So who is our starting 5 as of right now? 

[rwa12]

Rollins

Herro

Jaquez

Turner

Ware

Woukd be my guess

[Joseph Zarr]

That JS Online article just printed is wild. Man alive. What a quagmire. Clearer more than ever things had simply devolved to a point of no return. The divorce was essential. Hard to fathom things could get to that point but, then again, they brought Doc Rivers into the building.

[nate82]

Just now, Joseph Zarr said:

they brought Doc Rivers into the building.

Doc Rivers was a Giannis pick or one to placate Giannis.  I think Giannis wanted Kidd to come back and be the HC again.  Giannis is a great player but OMG is he a petulant little child sometimes.  You are the veteran on the team take some dang leadership and accountability. You don’t have to be told what to do all the time.  Grow up and be a man.  I think Turner was onto something here and that Giannis has no leadership skills at all and he is a petulant child and a child who has to be lead through everything.

[LouisEly]

And now the Celtics need to deal with the fallout of Brown being talked about in a number of trades, and then not getting traded and still with the team.

[adambr2]

I’m still sad. This is a tough one. Giannis was the kind of player you really wanted to see here for his entire career.

Nonetheless, they did what they had to do. Losing Giannis for nothing would have been catastrophic. And it’s clear that they weren’t going to be able to do anything more than be a fringe playoff team for the rest of his career here. 

You can’t really replace a Giannis one for one but I can’t fault them for taking basically the equivalent of six 1st round picks. 

[Joseph Zarr]

KPJ opts in to his Player Option.

GTJ is opting OUT. Glorious.

Maneuver and construct this roster from depth. Plenty of fantastic Guard depth to work with and trade from if need be.

Gary Harris opting in is very Meh. Hoping Prince opts Out as well and chases a ring.

[jay87shot]

Super surprised KPJ didnt test the waters, I would have thought he could have got a mid-level exception. I would guess this mean Herro is even more likely to go. We can always bundle Harris and Prince with Herro or Turner to open up roster space. It would be nice to get another big back for Herro and Turner. Get back Dieng cheap and cut Kuz for all i care.

Trade Herro and Prince to Memphis for Santi Aldama and a protected 1st.

Memphis got Boozer and Stewart which will reduce Aldama's role. Herro fits well there if they do or dont trade Ja. Aladama would be an interesring big with  Ware. 

Turner and Harris to Toronto for Poetl, Grady Dick, and a protected 1st.

Poetl doesn't fit that roster, Turner does. Poetl has a bad contract but it is less per year so maybe easier to trade down the line when a contender gets big needy. We get the shooting of Dick and a future pick.

1/2 Rollins, Burries, KPJ, Jac, Green 3)Jaquez, Dick 4) Aldama, Ament, Bogoljub 5)Ware, Poeltl, Sims

Depth and upside is good. No real top end players but there are 4 or 5 guys who could potentially be 20 per scorers.

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

3 hours ago, jay87shot said:

Super surprised KPJ didnt test the waters, I would have thought he could have got a mid-level exception. I would guess this mean Herro is even more likely to go. We can always bundle Harris and Prince with Herro or Turner to open up roster space. It would be nice to get another big back for Herro and Turner. Get back Dieng cheap and cut Kuz for all i care.

Trade Herro and Prince to Memphis for Santi Aldama and a protected 1st.

Memphis got Boozer and Stewart which will reduce Aldama's role. Herro fits well there if they do or dont trade Ja. Aladama would be an interesring big with  Ware. 

Turner and Harris to Toronto for Poetl, Grady Dick, and a protected 1st.

Poetl doesn't fit that roster, Turner does. Poetl has a bad contract but it is less per year so maybe easier to trade down the line when a contender gets big needy. We get the shooting of Dick and a future pick.

1/2 Rollins, Burries, KPJ, Jac, Green 3)Jaquez, Dick 4) Aldama, Ament, Bogoljub 5)Ware, Poeltl, Sims

Depth and upside is good. No real top end players but there are 4 or 5 guys who could potentially be 20 per scorers.

I think the goal the next 3-5 years (until we have our own picks back) is probably to develop some young/exciting supporting cast players who can keep the fan base engaged and be ready to support an eventual top end player.  Short of a Giannis type “diamond in the rough” drafting of a player, it’s going to be tough to get a top end player without a top 3-5 pick though (it always is/was)

I think casual fans don’t realize how rare it was to find a superstar that engaged & committed to Milwaukee 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

On 6/24/2026 at 11:16 AM, nate82 said:

Doc Rivers was a Giannis pick or one to placate Giannis.  I think Giannis wanted Kidd to come back and be the HC again.  Giannis is a great player but OMG is he a petulant little child sometimes.  You are the veteran on the team take some dang leadership and accountability. You don’t have to be told what to do all the time.  Grow up and be a man.  I think Turner was onto something here and that Giannis has no leadership skills at all and he is a petulant child and a child who has to be lead through everything.

Not true. The recent, lengthy, excellent post mortem on the divorce from JSOnline states in very certain terms that Giannis was not given any input at all as to hiring Rivers. There was universal agreement in the FO however that Rivers was the right call. Giannis has been desperate for coaching for some time now.

Article also delves into the players souring on Bud because he was militant, only to regret it years later and cry out for a militant coach who had control of the team. Spoelstra is probably a huge reason Giannis wants Miami. The most painful part of all this is going to be watching how much better Spoelstra does.

[patrickgpe]

I watched highlights of the press conference yesterday, I have this feeling that this team will be more watchable than last year. Jenkins seems like he genuinely wants to be here and help these kids. Doc seemed like he was here to chase a check and ring. At his introductory press conference he stated "I wouldn’t wish this on anyone". That quote stuck with me and was foreshadowing of how the last 2.5 years of basketball would go.

It will be a welcomed change to see a bunch of kids that want to (hopefully) grow and learn together and get better, rather than what we saw the last few seasons here post Bud. 

[adambr2]

45 minutes ago, patrickgpe said:

I watched highlights of the press conference yesterday, I have this feeling that this team will be more watchable than last year. Jenkins seems like he genuinely wants to be here and help these kids. Doc seemed like he was here to chase a check and ring. At his introductory press conference he stated "I wouldn’t wish this on anyone". That quote stuck with me and was foreshadowing of how the last 2.5 years of basketball would go.

It will be a welcomed change to see a bunch of kids that want to (hopefully) grow and learn together and get better, rather than what we saw the last few seasons here post Bud. 

I almost forgot about that. What an absolutely horrible first impression to make with a single quote at your introductory press conference. There’s no real context you can even view it from to make it look more acceptable and less out of touch.

You are a championship winning head coach who had the distinct privilege of taking over a 30-13 team and coaching one of the greatest players in the world, and you somehow made it sound like a burden. 

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Doc. My only regret is that you went out on your own terms. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

That quote is one of the centerpieces of the article I mentioned. It stuck with a lot of the players.

[nate82]

The Julius Randle trade is probably what the Bucks are looking at for a return for Turner.  I don’t see a way for the Bucks to get rid of him without including a pick or taking on an equally bad contract.  At best the Bucks will receive a second round pick for him.

[adambr2]

A side benefit of the Giannis trade is that I look forward to not having to tie up roster spots for his significantly less talented family members every year.

[wallus]

Giannis rejected 4 trades. I look at the trade that went down a little more favorably now

[CheezWizHed]

On 6/26/2026 at 3:01 AM, TwinsBrewersWorldSeries said:

I think casual fans don’t realize how rare it was to find a superstar that engaged & committed to Milwaukee 

True, but I don't think Giannis was committed anymore either. He said all the right things, but the body language said otherwise. 

[Brian]

Bucks Malik Beasley point shaving.

https://apnews.com/article/malik-beasley-ed-davis-nba-gambling-charges-7650529136c0a17a1b0d3d09150a71d5

[patrickgpe]

Its crazy that it happened right when Griffin was being fired and Doc was hired.

[Samurai Bucky]

23 hours ago, Brian said:

Bucks Malik Beasley point shaving.

https://apnews.com/article/malik-beasley-ed-davis-nba-gambling-charges-7650529136c0a17a1b0d3d09150a71d5

From the article:

Quote

Feds say Beasley tipped others about his play

So... he was tipping his pitches on purpose.  Sports is such a racket sometimes.

[patrickgpe]

Dieng resigns for with the bucks for 3 years. I expected this to happen because if they weren't 100% confident that they could sign a long term deal with him there would be no reason to not tender him a contract and keep him a restricted free agent. 

[jay87shot]

On 6/27/2026 at 8:28 AM, nate82 said:

The Julius Randle trade is probably what the Bucks are looking at for a return for Turner.  I don’t see a way for the Bucks to get rid of him without including a pick or taking on an equally bad contract.  At best the Bucks will receive a second round pick for him.

I think Turner has a little value, you are right in the part of we will need to take back a bad contract. I do think there is a chance to package Herro and Turner to a team or two. It might not be the worst to keep him we do need a center and some vet leadership. I kind of lean that way over just letting him go. I would prefer to find takers for Kuzma, Harris, and Prince.

3 hours ago, patrickgpe said:

Dieng resigns for with the bucks for 3 years. I expected this to happen because if they weren't 100% confident that they could sign a long term deal with him there would be no reason to not tender him a contract and keep him a restricted free agent. 

6 million a year is a really good deal, there is still some upside. If he could put on 10 plus good pounds he would be a perfect 3 and 4 backup.

Rollins, KPJ (Burries/Jac/Green), Jacquez, Ware, Turner as a starting unit is intriguing. Burries, Jac, Green, Ament, Dieng, Markovic, Sims, and maybe Nance is a quite deep team. That is without any return from Herro or the others (i would be ok with a Green trade as well). I think there enough scorers in that group to get a couple 20 point a night guys and have 7 or more be 10 per guys. I think we should have a chance at the very least for the play in territory.

[patrickgpe]

8 hours ago, jay87shot said:

Rollins, KPJ (Burries/Jac/Green), Jacquez, Ware, Turner as a starting unit is intriguing. Burries, Jac, Green, Ament, Dieng, Markovic, Sims, and maybe Nance is a quite deep team.

They are about 28 million under the first apron if they want to get a free agent or 2 as well. 

[nate82]

T.J. Ford back with the Bucks!

[homer]

37 minutes ago, nate82 said:

T.J. Ford back with the Bucks!

Hope he brings the shorts with him