The Milwaukee Bucks are in a weird place heading into the 2025/26 campaign. They have one of the best players in the world in Giannis Antetokounmpo, but frequent injuries have left those associated with the team concerned. Doc Rivers and Darvin Ham, the coaching team, have not generated the success the front office envisioned, and they also waived Damian Lillard in the offseason. So, what’s next for Giannis?
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Things don’t look as bleak as they may seem from the outside. The Eastern Conference has been significantly weakened, with the Celtics and Pacers both losing their franchise players (Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton, respectively) to injuries. The Bucks could make a serious push for the postseason, but their road lies through Giannis, who hasn’t been very reliable of late.
Giannis has played more than 70 games in a season just once in the last five years. That was 73 games in the 2023/24 season, but he missed the playoffs due to injury, where the Pacers defeated the Bucks. Now, with a weakened team, he’ll be expected to carry a lot more of the load—perhaps even emulating a campaign a former MVP once had.
Given Giannis’ recent injury history, his potentially heavy workload could be the difference between a deep postseason run and an early exit. Tim Bontemps compared the Greek Freak’s upcoming season to what Russell Westbrook did with OKC after Kevin Durant left in 2017. He’d have to shoulder nearly all the scoring burden, remain the Bucks’ best defender (which he is), and play more than 75 games.
“To your point, if Giannis can play 75+ games, which he obviously has not done in a long time, he’s got a chance to win MVP,” Bontemps said in an ESPN segment. “Because he’s going to put up astronomical numbers, and if he does that, they could finish third or fourth, they could win a lot of games, and he would get a lot of credit for that. Sort of like the Russell Westbrook MVP season.”
The NBA insider’s colleague Tim McMahon also brought up Giannis’ two-way abilities and questioned how impactful he’d be on the defensive end if he were required to score nearly 30 every night.
“Giannis obviously has been a DPOY. He has the ability to be a massively impactful defender, but how much is he going to have to give you on the defensive end if you need him to go for 32-12 and 8 and have the ball in his hands?” he asked.
So dire is the situation in Milwaukee right now that Bontemps believes the team is a heavy favorite to lose every game they play without the Greek. This whole conversation also brings up the rumors of Giannis leaving Milwaukee, which he made sure to quash when signing autographs for fans a few weeks ago.
