After dominating the Eastern Conference for the last several seasons, the Milwaukee Bucks are no longer the king of the hill. With limited assets and financial restrictions, the Bucks were forced to basically run it back and hope for a different result. That has made them something of an afterthought, and ESPN's recently released projections (subscription required) seem to take their lack of improvement into account.
They expect the Bucks to win just 49 games and finish with the sixth-best record in the Eastern Conference, but that seems low. The Bucks, after all, still have a top-3 player in the NBA in Giannis, as well as a top-20 player in Damian Lillard. While Giannis Antetokounmpo is set to turn 30 next season and Lillard saw his scoring drop by eight points per game in his first season in Milwaukee, the pairing should be better in 2024-25.
ESPN's questionable Milwaukee Bucks win-loss projection is begging to be proven wrong.
That will largely be due to more stability, with the Bucks unlikely to change coaches again mid-season like they did last season and Lillard should benefit. Bringing him in, having him learn a new system, and then bringing in Doc Rivers and having Lillard learn another system on the fly probably didn't help. A full training camp to learn the ins and outs of the new system should do wonders for Lillard and his teammates.
While they have apparently been shopping players such as Brook Lopez and Pat Connaughton to see what they can get, they probably won't be able to improve their roster enough by moving them. Even so, they still have enough good players to be top-10 on both ends.
Adding players such as Taurean Prince and Gary Trent Jr. for the minimum gives them two cheap rotation players, helping give them a solid starting lineup consisting of Lillard, Trent Jr., Khris Middleton, Giannis, and Lopez. Their bench is also capable, consisting of Delon Wright, Connaughton, Prince, and Bobby Portis, giving them a solid nine-man rotation, though not much depth beyond that.
The Milwaukee Bucks have enough talent to compete in the Eastern Conference.
Their top-line talent is good enough to compete in the East. While they are definitely behind the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks, they could still finish with the third-best record in the East. Even if the Philadelphia 76ers are possibly better than the Bucks, given Joel Embiid and Paul George's injury histories, Milwaukee should have a strong chance at home-court advantage.
That could make for an easier route through the playoffs, with them possibly facing off against the Orlando Magic in the first round, the Sixers in the second round, and only one of the Celtics and the Knicks in the East Finals. That gives the Bucks a realistic path to the Eastern Conference Finals. And having a top-3 player and an elite playoff performer in Giannis and Lillard makes them a potential dark horse in the East, no matter what ESPN claims.