Milwaukee Bucks: Who is the third-best player on the team right now?

It’s evident who the top dogs are for the Milwaukee Bucks, but which member of this loaded roster deserves the rightful title of the third-best player?

Based on the trends of this past offseason, the era of Big Threes has been downsized. Most contending teams, including the Milwaukee Bucks, have bought into two key players as their leaders with a balanced group of auxiliary role players to pursue the coveted Larry O’Brien trophy. There’s no contending that the combination of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton are the go-to leaders of the league-leading 53-win Bucks.

While Giannis is on track to become the first back-to-back MVP since Stephen Curry in 2016, Middleton continues to sneakily slot in as an elite second-option for Milwaukee. For the second year in a row, Middleton was selected to the Eastern Conference All-Star reserves for his ravishing scoring, two-way effort and leadership.

However, no two players can uphold a successful team on their own. Head coach Mike Budenholzer has been very lucky to work with a talented group like this one. Eleven players logged at least 800 minutes for the Bucks this season, which has been a major reason for their sustained success.

Multiple key rotation players including Malcolm Brogdon and Nikola Mirotic departed from the team in the 2019 offseason. Despite that, the Bucks managed to improve en route to the league’s top record before the stoppage. This is due in large part to the increased production from key rotation players who’ve stepped into larger roles to fit in around their stars.

There are multiple candidates in consideration as the third-best player on this team.

Seven players on the team have a positive plus/minus differential per 100 possessions. Besides the two All-Stars, that list includes Donte DiVincenzo, Eric Bledsoe, Wesley Matthews, George Hill and Brook Lopez. These are the five players who we’re putting into the pool of potential candidates as the third-best Buck. Once we dive deeper, it becomes obvious who rises above the rest.