3 NBA teams whose stocks are skyrocketing, 3 that are fading fast

Fading NBA Team #2: Milwaukee Bucks

The Milwaukee Bucks made the biggest move of the offseason when they stunned the NBA by landing star Damian Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers. However, thus far, the Bucks have stumbled out of the gate, even with a top-3 player in Giannis Antetokounmpo and a top-15 player in Lillard.

The team’s biggest issue has been their defense, which was a big concern after they traded defensive ace Jrue Holiday in the deal to acquire Lillard. The thought was that with two elite players, their offense would be unstoppable and they could get away with a near-league-average defense.

That may still prove true but through their first eight games of the season, they rank 8th in offensive rating—great but not elite. On the defensive end, they rank just 26th, a far cry from their fourth-ranked defense last season with Holiday. It’s still early and they may very well get up to a top-5 offense as Lillard gets more comfortable while they also improve on the defensive end.

Lillard’s scoring is down nearly 8 points per game from his career-high average of 32.2 points last year and that is a result of poor shooting. He is not only taking significantly fewer threes but is also shooting nearly 8% from deep and is also shooting far worse on two-pointers.

Lillard could very well improve to the mean, though at 33, he may be in decline. It may not be a steep decline considering he’s still averaging over 24 points per game but it may be enough to make the Bucks less dangerous.