Milwaukee Bucks general manager Jon Horst has already received backlash from the fanbase during the 2024 offseason. Many fans were unhappy with the way he addressed the 2024 NBA Draft. They didn’t like how the Bucks selected A.J. Johnson, a 19-year-old project with the 23rd overall pick in the draft
Milwaukee also selected Tyler Smith from the G-League Ignite in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft. Many question whether both will be in the Milwaukee Bucks rotation for the 2024-2025 season. The ultimate goal was to fix the roster around Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard now, but those questions may not have been answered yet.
The Milwaukee Bucks flamed out in the NBA Playoffs for the second straight year in the first round. General manager Jon Horst could still salvage the offseason and trade players like Brook Lopez, Pat Connaughton, Bobby Portis, or Khris Middleton.
Milwaukee Bucks General Manager Jon Horst On the Hot Seat Following the 2024 NBA Draft
NBA free agency has already opened, other teams around the Eastern Conference have gotten better, and it appears the Bucks are regressing. Dairylandexpress.com writer Brian Sampson believes that general manager Jon Horst is on thin ice after the 2024 NBA Draft. Sampson said:
“Jon Horst seemingly came out of nowhere when he was announced as the Bucks’ general manager in 2017. He hasn’t been perfect in his role since then—nobody has—but he has overseen Milwaukee’s transformation from a perennial contender for the eighth seed to a legitimate championship contender.
Since Horst took over as GM, the Bucks are 364-191 (.656 win percentage), with one NBA Championship and seven playoff appearances. That’s a huge turnaround for a once-struggling franchise.
However, Horst’s squad has been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in back-to-back years. They’re also on their third coach in one-plus seasons and have a growing salary cap problem. Oh yeah, and his roster is one of the oldest in the entire NBA.
Horst showed that he was thinking about the next version of the Bucks’ roster when he selected Johnson and Smith in the draft. Both players will need a couple of years to develop and Milwaukee hopes they can be part of the second version of the Giannis era.
That’s a lot of pressure to put on two 19-year-olds, but even more pressure on Horst. The Bucks’ ownership clearly wants to win now and is willing to pay a boatload of money to make that happen. There have been some questions about who is really calling the shots in the Bucks’ front office, and those appear legitimate. However, Horst is clearly the face of the decision-making and will be the Bucks’ fall guy if they have another down season in 2024-25.”
There might be five teams that are better than the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference. The Boston Celtics, the New York Knicks, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Indiana Pacers, and the Philadelphia 76ers are the teams that are currently better than the Bucks at the moment. Milwaukee has a lot of work to do in free agency and also with working the trade market.
General manager Jon Horst can not run it back with the same roster for the 2024-2025 season. If he does run it back with the same roster and not make any substantial moves to make the Bucks better, he could be out of a job after next season with even more questions to answer with this franchise.
