The Milwaukee Bucks, like many of the elite teams in the NBA, are fortunate to have multiple All-Star and superstar players on their roster. The defending NBA Champions, the Boston Celtics, boast star players such as Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Jrue Holiday. The Philadelphia 76ers recently acquired Paul George to pair with Joel Embiid.
Out in the Western Conference, former Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer‘s Phoenix Suns boast Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. The Los Angeles Lakers, coached by former Bucks guard JJ Reddick, have LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
If anything has become clear in the past several seasons, it is that NBA teams that seriously desire to compete for a Championship need more than one elite player. When the Bucks won in 2021, they had Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday, and Khris Middleton. While Middleton did not make the All-Star team that season, he had been named an All-Star in the two years prior and made it again the season after.
The Milwaukee Bucks Have to Find a Balance Between Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo
Last offseason, the Bucks traded Holiday and Grayson Allen away in an effort to acquire Damian Lillard who, like Giannis, is a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team. Prior to the trade, both Giannis and Lillard had named each other as the other superstar they would like to team up with the most. They believed that their games would complement each other perfectly and make their team very difficult to beat.
That conclusion, though, was based on the notion that they would have adequate time to prepare and learn each other’s tendencies. Because the trade occurred so close to the start of training camp, the two superstars did not have an opportunity to do that.
The result of such a short amount of time to prepare together for the 2023-24 NBA regular season was that the two stars often could not figure out the best ways to play off of each other. While there were numerous reasons as to why the Bucks failed to dominate the regular season and, ultimately, fell short in the NBA playoffs, Giannis and Lillard being unable to build offseason chemistry surely hurt the product on the court.
One of the things that the two struggled with was figuring out what their own individual role was on the team. While they were never at odds, it was clear that neither really knew how to best play with the other. Neither wanted to upstage the other and both claimed that the other was the top option on offense.
Milwaukee Bucks Point Guard Damian Lillard Reveals the Lesson He Learned Watching Devin Booker in the Olympics
In 2021, Lillard was a key member of the United States Men’s Basketball Team that took home the Gold Medal during the Tokyo Olympics. He did not play this year, though, in an effort to get and stay healthy and well-rested for the upcoming season.
He did, though, tune into the games and identified one important lesson he learned from watching Suns star Devin Booker, who settled into a supporting role on this year’s Gold Medal-winning team.
Damian Lillard to @RSaenzFox10 on why he could use the humility of Suns’ Devin Booker being a superstar but his willingness to be a role player for Team USA as a teaching tool at Lillard’s Formula Zero Elite Camp. pic.twitter.com/4LOLSH7PxH
— DANA (@iam_DanaScott) August 16, 2024
“I think anytime you look at a guy who is a superstar player in the NBA, and is humble enough, and has a winning mentality, you know, he’s a star amongst stars. Not everybody can be the star. Everybody can’t have the ball. Everybody can’t score the points, you know, somebody got to be willing to play a role and contribute to the ultimate goal.
“And I thought, watching the game, I think it was extremely obvious that he went into it with that mentality.”
Lillard is using Booker’s example to teach young players at the camp that he is currently hosting but will also take that lesson into the upcoming season.
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