In 2018 the Milwaukee Bucks signed Brook Lopez for one year and $3.4 million, using their bi-annual exception. He played well enough that season to earn a subsequent four-year contract worth $52 million, holding down the five spot on the Bucks’ 2021 title team. Raining down threes while swatting shots in the paint, he spaced the floor and allowed Giannis Antetokounmpo greater freedom to roam defensively. Milwaukee would not have the won the championship without him.
At age 37, though, he is slowing down, and that much was evident on the court last season. Grudging his $23 million salary, many Bucks fans turned on him. In the playoffs, he was played off the court. Expected to depart in free agency this summer, Lopez leaves Milwaukee with a polarizing legacy.
Lopez Has Been and, in Lesser Role, Can Remain a Productive Center
Lopez earned the contract that expired last season despite failing to perform commensurately. He signed his two-year, $48 million deal following his best Bucks season in 2022-23, when he averaged 15.9 points, 2.5 blocks and 6.7 rebounds while shooting 53.1% from the field.
Even now, at a point in his career where he is undeniably problematic in matchups against nimble, switch-heavy teams, Lopez has maintained a respectable level of production – 13 points, 5 rebounds, 1.9 blocks in 2024-25, while shooting 37.3% on threes. His durability is underappreciated. Each of the past three seasons, he has logged at least 78 games.
Weary Bucks fans might find it hard to believe, but, with stretch bigs in short supply, Lopez should attract a good deal of attention on the free agent market. When he can get to the ball, he is still a formidable shot blocker.
As the team attempts to get younger, quicker and more athletic, Lopez no longer fits Milwaukee’s roster, but Grant Bilse of the Wisco Sports Show believes he has been an indispensable cog, one whose Bucks tenure should be appreciated rather than disdained.
Splash Mountain Achored an Era of Milwaukee Bucks Basketball
Bilse spoke Wednesday as a guest on the “Locked On Bucks” podcast.
“Some of your listeners are probably going to hate this,” he told host Justin Garcia, “but I’ll be this guy: I think Brook has been really important to the heart and soul of this team, and the personality of this team, throughout it all. Through multiple coaches, and through multiple different point guards who came and went.”
Bilse makes a good point. The Bucks have not been an especially stable franchise over the past four to five seasons, even leading up to the title run.
They cycled through as three coaches in as many seasons (really less than that, given Adrian Griffin’s firing halfway through 2023-24). The Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard trades brought seismic shifts to the roster. Khris Middleton’s exile this past deadline dealt an emotional blow to the whole organization.
By the 2025 postseason, Lopez, Giannis, Bobby Portis and Pat Connaughton were the only remaining members of the championship squad. Bilse continued:
“I am someone who is able to put the results, and I think some of the shortcomings of the team aside for the last year or two, because I think Brook was far from the only issue that plagued them,” Bilse continued. “It’s not like they were a better version of Brook Lopez away from winning a title, at least in my opinion.”
In the event that Lopez ends up elsewhere next season, the city will bid farewell to a “a really important piece of Bucks history.” Last year, the 7-foot-1-er became the first player ever to record 1000 career threes and 2000 blocks.
“I will remember him very fondly for a long time,” Bilse said. If he sheds an inner tear at the end of an era, even knowing that parting ways is probably of mutual benefit, he won’t be alone.
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