How confident Bucks fans should be in the team's post-Giannis direction

Milwaukee has significantly shaken up its roster, with more likely to come

Jun 23, 2026; New York, NY, USA; NBA commissioner Adam Silver greets the tenth pick in the 2026 NBA draft, Arizona guard Brayden Burries after he was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Milwaukee Bucks have greatly reshaped their roster after trading franchise cornerstone Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat. This obviously puts a damper on the upcoming season and fans will undoubtably looking for answers from the Bucks organization.

As far as if the fans should have confidence in the organization’s direction, I think that answer lies in what is accounted for on the roster. Through the trade Milwaukee added several promising young players that could blossom in a new environment.

My favorite piece in the traded is Kasparas Jakučionis, who is an excellent prospect at the point guard position. He is an excellent passer and displayed great shooting ability this past season.

They also added Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., and Tyler Herro. Herro has made an All-Star team in the past and can help give some scoring punch. Jaquez Jr. was the Sixth Man of the Year runner up and should be a consistent contributor. Then there is Ware who has all the talent to be an elite big man, he just needs some consistency. These alone are good foundations.

Then you look at the draft, and I think the Bucks knocked it out of the park. The pick of Brayden Burries at #10 was an excellent move and added another young guard to their rotation. Burries is a player you can rely on to find a way to impact the game, no matter the flow. Nate Ament, selected officially by Miami at # 13, is one of my favorite picks in the draft. Ament has a polarizing season at Tennessee, but he greatly improved over the year and has the potential to be an elite shot maker in the NBA. He just needs to get his body a little more NBA ready.  

Overall, I think there should be confidence in the Bucks direction as an organization. They added several promising young players and can now do a complete reset. They also have added several picks to their treasure chest, something they desperately needed to do.

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What others from Bucks OnSI have to say:

Tre Allen

“I think there should be confidence with the Bucks current direction. As hard as it was to let go of Giannis, it was the right move and the Bucks tried to get everything out of him and head into a rebuild. You have a lot of young pieces including two rookies drafted in the lottery. You have multiple young players who can play right away. A No. 1 scoring option in Tyler Herro to somewhat lead the way and you got draft capital for the future. Looking at where they were a few weeks ago, Milwaukee is in a drastically better position.”

Ethan J. Skolnick

“It's never a good offseason when you trade a franchise player, particularly one who remains near the top of his game. So, this was never going to be a fun summer for the Milwaukee Bucks. But with some of the work still in progress, it can be said that the Bucks have seemed to make the best of it. At least there appears to be a direction -- young players with some successful NBA experience on manageable contracts, plus some talented rookies while replenishing the future pick stash.

"It's unlikely that anyone acquired or added will ever reach the level that Giannis Antetokounmpo has, but the damage in that area was done with inadequate recent offseasons, not this one. Milwaukee now has a pool of promising talent, with more ideally to come, and can go any which way. In a new era when tanking won't be rewarded, and the Bucks don't have control of some picks to do so anyway, this was the right approach. See who can contribute to winning, and if the playoffs are out of reach this season, perhaps they won't be in the next few seasons to come.”