The Milwaukee Bucks will have an extended look at their youngsters this summer. They’re in both the four-team California Classic AND the Summer League that features the entire league.
The California Classic runs from July 3-6, while Summer League will run from July 9-19 in Las Vegas. Here’s the Bucks’ entire schedule for the California Classic:
- Saturday, July 4th vs Golden State Warriors
- Sunday, July 5th vs Brooklyn Nets
- Monday, July 6th vs Sacramento Kings
Milwaukee also announced its finalized roster for the California Classic, which will likely be very similar to its Summer League roster later in July. With two notable exceptions: Nate Ament and Kasparas Jakucionis.
Ament will miss the California Classic with a knee injury that he’s still working through. However, he’s expected to be rostered for Summer League, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Meanwhile, Jakucionis is playing with Lithuania and will also rejoin the Bucks for Summer League (spoiler alert: more on him later).
With the schedule locked in and the roster ready, let’s dive into six Bucks players who could steal the show and spark excitement throughout both summer leagues. First up are Pete Nance and Cormac Ryan.
Pete Nance/Cormac Ryan
Both Pete Nance and Cormac Ryan got extended looks with the Bucks last season, and should, theoretically, dominate these opportunities.
Nance appeared in 47 games for Milwaukee, starting six. His numbers didn’t pop off the screen, however, as he averaged 5.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.0 assists in just under 16 minutes per game.
However, with both Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis gone, there could be minutes available in Milwaukee’s frontcourt. Nance showed he could be a stretch-four in the NBA. He made at least three three-pointers in a game on seven occasions and knocked down 42 percent of his three-point attempts last season.
Ryan only appeared in 11 games for the Bucks, but raised even more eyebrows. He scored 20 or more points in four games over that span.
He’s on a two-way deal, and the Bucks have more intriguing players ahead of him on the depth chart in the NBA. However, a strong summer could force the coaching staff’s hand and force them to give Ryan an extended look in training camp.
Bogoljub Markovic
The Bucks drafted Bogoljub Markovic with the 47th overall pick in last year’s NBA Draft. And after an underwhelming Summer League that showed he was still a ways away from contributing in the NBA, he headed back overseas.
However, Markovic had an incredible season in Serbia. He was named the Adriatic League MVP, refreshing Milwaukee’s interest in his potential.
Markovic will turn 21 in the middle of Summer League, and there’s still plenty of time for him to showcase his potential. This summer will be an excellent opportunity to show if he’s gotten stronger to handle NBA competition and taken the jump he showed in Serbia.
Brayden Burries
Bucks fans are about to unwrap their newest present: Milwaukee’s 10th overall pick in this year’s draft. And this debut promises plenty of fireworks.
Burries is a ready-made NBA player who should get every opportunity to run Milwaukee’s offense. He can do a little bit of everything: score, shoot the three-ball, rebound, dish out assists, and play defense.
It will be intriguing to see whether his physicality carries over to this level of play. He had no issue bullying smaller guards in college on both ends of the court.
On defense, Burries could become Milwaukee’s versatile stopper. He’s quick enough to shadow lead guards, yet sturdy and long enough to switch onto wings—giving the coaching staff a useful new piece to tinker with.
Nate Ament
Although Nate Ament will miss the California Classic, he’s expected to return for Summer League.
Where Burries is a high-floor, low-ceiling player, Ament is the complete opposite. He has high-risk, high-reward written all over him.
Critics point to his inefficient scoring resume in college, where he shot just 33.3 percent from deep and finished with an effective field goal percentage of 42.5 percent.
However, Ament believers blame that on how Tennessee ran their offense and the type of shots they wanted him to take. With a more open court and better emphasis on efficient shots in Milwaukee, believers feel Ament can be a completely different player.
Summer League will be our first opportunity to see which theories hold true. Ament will definitely score. That’s not the question. The question worth watching will be how efficiently and from where he scores.
Kasparas Jakucionis
Finally, if there’s one player who could steal the spotlight this summer, it’s Kaspars Jakucionis. He was reportedly a major sticking point in the Antetokounmpo trade talks—a prize Milwaukee simply refused to let slip away.
Jakucionis was the 20th pick in last year’s NBA Draft and is just 20 years old. In his Lithuania debut on Wednesday, he dropped 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists in a massive win.
He controlled the game from the beginning. Constantly in attack mode, he navigated the pick-and-roll, perfectly balancing looking for his own shot and dishing to teammates when the defense collapsed.
Milwaukee will give him every opportunity to carry that momentum into Summer League. Dare I say a starting gig for him could even be on the line for this season?
Add us as a preferred source on Google