What could the Milwaukee Bucks roster look like in 3 years?

Possible Extensions

Retaining players from a championship team is the easiest way to keep a dynasty going. Obviously, the Milwaukee Bucks are in no way a dynasty yet as they haven’t even made the NBA Finals, but they’ve been in the upper echelon of contenders in the past two years and are hoping to break through soon. Getting Giannis Antetokounmpo to stay is priority number one, but there are other contributors that are important to their success as well.

Players that I don’t see being in Milwaukee because they will probably be too old to make the kind of impact on the game that they are currently having are George Hill, Ersan Ilyasova, Wesley Matthews, Kyle Korver, and Marvin Williams. They are all at least 33 now and will likely not be doing much helping other than offering a veteran presence on a team if they’re in the NBA at all.

The players that I see a slim chance of being around for the 2022-23 season are D.J. Wilson, Robin Lopez, and Pat Connaughton. Wilson really just hasn’t gotten his chance here in Milwaukee. Early in the 2018-19 season, Budenholzer let him get some meaningful minutes and he did some really nice things, but he never quite stuck and the trade for Nikola Mirotic put him out of the rotation. This season, he played even less and the Marvin Williams signing did the same thing, burying him on the bench. I predict he will look for greener pastures.

Meanwhile, Robin Lopez has put together a solid defensive season in Milwaukee. He probably will opt into his contract next year, but at 32 years old, he is aging and already painfully slow. He may stay on a few more cheap contracts, but he’s not getting any younger and the Milwaukee Bucks may opt for a younger more athletic center.

Finally, Connaughton is on an extremely cheap contract and someone else will pay him. He could give the Bucks a hometown discount as he seems to enjoy Milwaukee, but it’s not a great bet.

Then there are the four players that I think have a pretty reasonable chance of signing extensions. First is Thanasis Antetokounmpo. I know, I know, not the Antetokounmpo anyone wants to talk about. However, if having him in Milwaukee makes Giannis happy and keeps him here, a minimum salary and the 15th spot on the roster is a small price to pay.

Next is Sterling Brown. With Connaughton gone in this scenario, keeping Brown as a backup wing for cheap is a nice move. He hasn’t shown much development in his three years, but he can shoot the three fairly well and his defensive intensity at times is top-notch. He is a restricted free agent after the season, so any contract offered to him by another team can be matched and he can be retained, but it would be ideal to keep him for cheap.

The first impact player that is due for an extension before 2022 is Donte Divincenzo. He made a huge jump in production this year, almost doubling his scoring from 4.9 to 9.4 points per game, rebounds per game from 2.4 to 4.9, boosting his three-point percentage from 26.5 to 34.4 percent, and becoming a thief on defense with 1.5 steals per game. His intangibles might be even better. His instincts, defensive IQ, and hands have all been top-notch and he has a great feel for the game. An extension may be somewhat expensive, but the Bucks will have Bird Rights on him so they can go over the cap to keep him.

Speaking of Bird Rights, that is the exact thing that will keep Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee. They will not have any cap space to re-sign him, but they can go over the cap and offer him a supermax contract. This would be a monster deal, even much bigger than Middleton’s, but it would be well worth it.

Giannis will likely be a back-to-back MVP by the time he would sign this deal. He is a once-in-a-generation talent that the Milwaukee Bucks cannot afford to let slip out of their fingers. All signs point to him signing the extension. He seems to love Milwaukee and everything about the city and the organization. We can never truly know what’s in his head, but we’re all hoping that he’ll be here for at least another five years.