Get to know your 2025-26 Milwaukee Bucks NBA Team
After three straight seasons with a first-round playoff exit, the Milwaukee Bucks will look for a deeper run this year in a wide-open Eastern Conference.
Last season’s Milwaukee Bucks adventure was, to put it gently, a disjointed rollercoaster. The team started a disappointing 2-8 before winning the midseason NBA Cup with a perfect record. Milwaukee traded its longtime star Khris Middleton in February and later ended the regular season winning eight games in a row, which came immediately after a stretch of six losses in eight games. Then, in the playoffs, the Bucks fell to the Indiana Pacers in five games in the first round. And they did all that while posting the best three-point percentage in the entire league, at 38.7 percent.
This offseason, the Damian Lillard experiment officially ended. The Bucks waived the All-Star after he tore his Achilles tendon during the playoffs, and he returned to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Now, the Bucks will look to move forward with a lineup that looks largely similar to last season, with a few new guys joining the mix. Here’s how the 2025-2026 Milwaukee Bucks are shaping up.
The 2025-2026 Milwaukee Bucks starting lineup
The Bucks have one new player in the starting lineup, with four returning guys alongside him who have had some time to gel. Of course, they’re still led by their MVP superstar.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, PF
Giannis Antetokounmpo is just a delight. The Greek Freak has been a star in Milwaukee almost since the day he arrived in 2013. He won back-to-back MVPs in 2019 and 2020, has made nine All-Star teams and seven All-NBA First Team rosters, and led the team to a championship in 2021 despite hyperextending his knee during the playoffs. He’s an absolute monster on the court and will once again shoulder a heavy load for the Bucks.
A big part of Giannis’s charm is his personality off the court. He’s kind and thoughtful in interviews. His natural curiosity with things like smoothies is refreshing to see. And who could forget when he ordered 50 Chick-n-Minis from Chick-fil-A after he dropped 50 in the clinching Game 6 to win the Bucks the title? What a magical moment.
Kyle Kuzma, SF
Kyle Kuzma has one of my favorite bloopers in recent years, from when he was a member of the Washington Wizards. He languished in the league’s cellar for a while (sorry, any Wizards fans reading this, but the team has had some rough years) before the Bucks traded for him this past February. He immediately entered the starting lineup and should be back there again this season.
In Kuzma’s first playoff game with Milwaukee, he played 22 minutes and recorded zeroes across the board in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. That’s only the sixth time someone has managed that feat in the playoffs. It was a low moment in Kuzma’s Bucks career, though the good news is that it’s a new season. And you can really only go up from there.
Gary Trent Jr., SG
Gary Trent Jr. joined the Bucks before last season and wound up playing in a career-high 74 games. He mostly came off the bench, finishing with double-digit points per game for the sixth consecutive season. The team will rely on him even more as he moves into the starting role.
The Bucks are hoping for a repeat performance of what Trent did this past postseason. He tied a franchise playoff record with nine three-pointers in Game 3 of the first round, then scored 33 points in Game 5. Milwaukee would certainly take more of both.
Kevin Porter Jr., PG
Kevin Porter Jr. will be entering his first full season with the Bucks. The team traded for him in February, and though he only played in 30 games, he put up the best field goal, three-point, and free-throw shooting numbers of his career. He largely came off the bench, so a promotion to the starting lineup should get him more action on the court.
Coincidentally, Porter’s return to the Bucks is a bit of a full-circle moment. Milwaukee selected him with the 30th pick of the 2019 draft. He was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers via the Detroit Pistons. He’s also spent time with the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Clippers, and even played games overseas with Greek club PAOK. The Bucks hope he sticks around for a while.
Myles Turner, C
Myles Turner was one of the more dramatic moves of the summer. About two weeks after the NBA Finals ended, Turner, who had played a big role for the Indiana Pacers during the playoffs, left the only franchise he had ever known and signed with Milwaukee on a four-year, $107 million deal. Turner joining a divisional rival rubbed some Pacers fans the wrong way, though he maintained that Indiana simply didn’t offer him as good a deal as the Bucks did.
Turner should slot in nicely into the role that Brook Lopez filled for the past seven seasons. He’s coming off a career-best 39.6% three-point percentage, and he’s a better rebounder and defender than Lopez, especially at this stage of their careers. He’ll look to take some of the scoring pressure off Antetokounmpo.
Key players off the bench
You’ll see quite a few familiar faces coming off the bench for the 2025-2026 Milwaukee Bucks. Bobby Portis returns as the team’s enforcer after signing a three-year deal in the offseason. He tested positive for Tramadol (an opioid painkiller medication) last season and missed 25 games due to suspension, but came back before the playoffs and was a key contributor during the Bucks’ brief stint. Guard A.J.
Green will look to build on his numbers from last season; he played in a career-high 73 games and posted career-bests in points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, and field goal and three-point percentages. And Taurean Prince will be another solid piece. Prince became the first player to secure multiple Cup titles when the Bucks won the NBA Cup last year. And he still holds the honor of the greatest response to a dumb reporter question among any basketball player ever.
Jericho Sims joined the Bucks in the middle of last season, only playing 14 games before tearing a ligament in his thumb. He’ll look for a fresh start this year and will likely have a handful of highlight dunks throughout the year. Newcomers Amir Coffey and Cole Anthony should be serviceable backup guards. Coffey comes from the Los Angeles Clippers, where he nearly averaged double-digit points last season. Anthony spent the first five years of his career with the Orlando Magic and is the son of former NBA guard and current broadcaster and analyst Greg Anthony.
Andre Jackson Jr. and Chris Livingston are back, too. The pair of 6’6” wings haven’t played a ton over their two-year careers—even though Jackson did start 43 games last season—but should get a bit more run this time around.
The head coach of the Bucks
Doc Rivers is entering his third season as head coach of the Bucks and 26th as an NBA coach overall. From player to broadcaster to coach, he’s had quite the illustrious career that’s spanned five decades.
Rivers won an NBA title in 2008 with the Boston Celtics and has been one of the best regular-season coaches in the league. His teams have finished with a winning record in 21 out of the 25 seasons he’s coached. In 2022, he was named one of the 15 greatest coaches in NBA history.
This season, Rivers will feel some pressure to make a deep postseason run. After winning the championship in 2021, the Bucks lost in the conference semifinals and then bowed out in the first round the next three seasons. That includes upset losses as the 1- and 3-seeds in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
The Bucks are starting the 2025-26 campaign with a relatively healthy team, while a few Eastern Conference foes are facing injuries to star players. There could be an opening for Milwaukee to make some noise this season and improve upon last year. With Giannis leading the charge, there’s always a possibility for greatness.
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