(Photograph by Brian Fluharty/Getty Photos)
Earlier than the beginning of final season, the Milwaukee Bucks despatched shockwaves all through the NBA, buying and selling for guard Damian Lillard to persuade celebrity Giannis Antetounmpo that the crew was all in and motivated to compete for championships for the foreseeable future.
Sadly, Lillard was not fairly in form after being in limbo throughout that offseason, realizing he was going to get traded, and Antetokoumpo getting injured once more forward of the 2024 NBA Playoffs resulted within the Bucks failing to stay as much as expectations.
With the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers making vital strikes this offseason, Milwaukee has grow to be an afterthought coming into the 2024-25 NBA season, because the Bucks aren’t getting the identical type of title-contending buzz.
Former NBA star Paul Pierce mentioned he believes that the Bucks aren’t thought-about the identical stage of risk within the Japanese Convention, with often-injured Khris Middleton not being the identical participant he as soon as was.
“He’s the key piece,” Pierce mentioned, by way of All The Smoke Productions. “If Middleton was still Middleton, then we’d be talking more about them. But since his injuries, he lost a little something. He’s declining since them injuries.”
“They don’t have that presence no more.”
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Pierce may truly be proper concerning the Bucks, because the accidents have piled up, and their stars aren’t getting any youthful, which is rarely a superb mixture for a crew with hopes of being a perennial contender.
The Bucks can have the chance to bounce again and make individuals remorse forgetting about them as a drive to be reckoned with within the East, however solely time will inform if they will flip issues round and stay as much as expectations.
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Giannis Antetokounmpo Names The Finest Participant In The NBA