Season Record: 55-27, 4^th seed in the east.

Season highlights: Daz in his first season had an amazing year where he flipped the switch of this Bucks team and wanted to win now. Daz was in the running for GMOTY with this amazing turnaround. Rolling through the playoffs to reach the Eastern Conference finals dropping only 2 games, many would have labelled the Bucks as an upcoming team. Milwaukee coming into this year had spent the first 2 NSL seasons in the lottery with records of 16-66 and 19-63. Good for a 36-win turnaround in his first season at the helm.

Season lowlight: You know you had a good year when your teams season lowlight is losing the Eastern Conference final. It was an unfortunate end to a great season and playoff run.

 

Trading: Daz coming into his first year in the NSL was rather quiet on the trade front trying to see the best option forward for his new squad. The dam wall then burst with Daz making waves through the league moving on from an injured but potentially generational player.

Best trade: This trade at first was very controversial as the player involved was in rumours to be out of the league but in the end proved to be the lynchpin to the success of the Bucks season.

Milwaukee sends: Trey Lyles, Washington 2023 1^st, Milwaukee 2023 2^nd.

Milwaukee receives: DeAndre Jordan

Worst trade: This trade, can�t be sugar coated. It was not great, Daz moved on from what could be a generational player in Zion Williamson. Granted he was injured a lot and was not looking great in terms of staying fit and healthy. However, when you have a guy locked into team control for the next 6 years and put up 27ppg and 7rpg on 60% in his 2^nd season in the league. In my opinion you hold that asset and ride them into early retirement if that�s how it plays out because the upside if he gets it right could win you a title. Add to that, Mitchell Robinson is no longer with the Bucks and was traded pending his UFA status, and then signed an extension in the NBA. To his credit Miles Bridges was looking great and no one could see what ended up happening with Miles potentially out of the league with off court offences.

Milwaukee sends: Zion Williamson

Milwaukee receives: Miles Bridges, Mitchell Robinson, Charlotte 2023 1^st.

 

Other notable trades:

Milwaukee sends: Reggie Jackson

Milwaukee receives: PJ Tucker, 2023 Washington 1^st

Reggie while being one of the better 6^th men in the league was not a necessity in Milwaukee with Daz having SGA as you want him on the court as much as possible. Reggie went on to not do much in Toronto while PJ Tucker played a pivotal role for Milwaukee guarding the 3 and 4 starting or off the bench and was a big part of their success with some lockdown defense on opposition wings.

 

Free agency:

The Bucks will have to be big players in the upcoming free agency period. Currently they only have 11 guys on the books with 1 being Miles Bridges being an RFA but having his NBA status still up in the air with no answer in sight if he is to return. Daz should have a good chance at landing some free agents finishing with a good record the free agent points algorithm should be in his favour. 

Miles Bridges RFA � Returns immediately and Daz will want to bring him back, the burning question is will he be back.

 

Star:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

The face of the franchise, still under 25 and winner of the 2021-2022 Most Improved player award. Shai averaged 25.8ppg, 4rpg, 6apg on 48/21/89 in the regular season and then took it to another level in the playoffs averaging 30.1ppg, 4.4rpg, 5apg on 51/21/83 and lead the team to the ECF. Shai is one of the more polarising young players in the NSL. Has superstar written all over him and will more than likely win an NSL MVP one day.

 

Flop:

Cedi Osman

Cedi in the NBA while inconsistent at times is a 6^th man inside out scorer who can put up 10-15 on any given night in limited minutes and can explode into the mid-20s on a good night where he gets hot. His 2k player hasn�t caught up to that level of play, Cedi only averaged 5ppg on 32/25 from the floor and was eventually benched for the playoffs only playing in garbage time.

 

Draft Grades:

Christian Koloko B-

Picked up at #28 in the NSL draft was taken higher than in the NBA at #33. Koloko is an upside pick for the Bucks at 7�1, 230lbs with a 9�5 standing reach. Drafted to the NBA Toronto Raptors you love his upside and the way Toronto has proven they can develop young talent. Koloko may not play immediately but could be an important piece in the future.

 

 

The future:

Milwaukee made some big off-season moves, bringing in more scoring help with DeMar DeRozan, a multi time defensive team Matisse Thybulle, and quality starting and backup bigs in Nerlens Noel, Tony Bradley.

Free agency will be pivotal in the immediate success of the Bucks championship aspirations. The long-term outlook of this team will be in safe hands with 2 young studs in Evan Mobley who many believe could be the 2^nd coming of the big ticket and face of the franchise SGA.

PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander/Killian Hayes/Malachi Flynn

SG: DeMar DeRozan/Hamidou Diallo

SF: Miles Bridges(?)/Matisse Thybulle

PF: Evan Mobley/Larry Nance Jr

C: Nerlens Noel/Tony Bradley/Christian Koloko