The Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo are almost ready to get it rolling in training camp before the start of the 2024-2025 NBA season. Many are wondering if the Bucks are finished being NBA championship contenders or not. Entering this season, some believe that the Boston Celtics and the New York Knicks will be the top teams in the East this season.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, the Indiana Pacers, and the Philadelphia 76ers are also teams to watch out for in the Eastern Conference. It is not going to be easy for the Milwaukee Bucks entering the 2024-2025 season.
The Athletic Staff Wonders If the End Of Last Season Will Be the New Norm For the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo
The Athletic staff is previewing training camp for some of the Eastern Conference contenders ahead of the 2024-2025 NBA season. One of the questions they asked about Antetokounmpo and the Bucks was:
“Was last season a blip for the Bucks or the new norm?”
They started the 2023-2024 season with a 30-13 record until they fired Adrian Griffin Jr. as head coach. Milwaukee hired Doc Rivers and they cooled off massively with him at the helm. Some of the things Fred Katz said about the Bucks entering this season were as follows:
“Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo never developed the chemistry many believed they would. Milwaukee fired its coach, hired a new one, then fired the new one halfway into the season. They began autumn deploying an overly aggressive defensive strategy, a change under the new coaching regime, then flipped back to their previous schemes only four games into the schedule, rendering much of their work during training camp irrelevant. Antetokounmpo and Lillard got hurt during the first round of the playoffs, when the Bucks fell to the Pacers.
The defense never looked clean, whether because other teams bull-rushed the Bucks in transition, especially early in the season, or because they lacked staunch perimeter defenders after trading away Jrue Holiday.
And yet, with Murphy’s Law dominating the vibes, they still won 49 games.
The Bucks don’t need everything to go right for them to return to form this season. A return to contention may be only a few tweaks away.”
They did not make many moves this offseason. General manager Jon Horst did not re-sign Patrick Beverley and Malik Beasley. He signed Delon Wright, Tauren Prince, and Gary Trent Jr. Trent Jr. is projected to be in the starting lineup this season for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Giannis Antetokounmpo Trade Rumors
If the Bucks do not turn it around in the 2024-2025 season, the only thing that will be discussed next offseason is will Giannis Antetokounmpo ask out of Milwaukee. If they are another first-round exit this season, some think that Milwaukee may have hit its ceiling and will need to start all over.
Antetokounmpo is under contract for another few more seasons. The New York Knicks, the San Antonio Spurs, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Golden State Warriors are keeping a close eye on the Bucks superstar. Milwaukee needs to get past at least the first round of the NBA playoffs this season to have these talks cool down.
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