The Milwaukee Bucks Have Changed. So Has Giannis Antetokounmpo.

For the 1st time in his 11-year profession, Giannis Antetokounmpo goes via a season outlined via trade.

In his time with the Milwaukee Bucks, Antetokounmpo has observed all of it. He’s been via two possession adjustments, 5 training adjustments and innumerable roster adjustments. He’s observed in-season trades, offseason strikes and the entirety in between.

But by no means has one season featured such a lot instability.

Look at the entirety that has transpired because the final time Antetokounmpo returned to Milwaukee from the NBA All-Star Game.

On April 14, 2023, proper ahead of final season’s playoffs, the NBA Board of Governors authorized the Bucks possession percentage acquire via Haslam Sports Group. Two weeks later, after an damage that sidelined Antetokounmpo for 2 and a part video games, the No. 8 Miami Heat disappointed the No. 1 seeded Bucks in 5 video games. Every week after the loss to the Heat, the Bucks parted techniques with head trainer Mike Budenholzer. A month after firing Budenholzer, the Bucks formally employed head trainer Adrian Griffin on June 5, 2023.

But it didn’t forestall there. At the tip of September, simply days ahead of the beginning of this season’s coaching camp, the Bucks pulled off the lovely business for All-Star level guard Damian Lillard. A month later, Antetokounmpo signed an extension to stay with the Bucks throughout the 2026-27 season.

Then, after an asymmetric and on occasion chaotic begin to the season, the Bucks pushed aside Griffin on Jan. 23 and employed Doc Rivers as their new head trainer 3 days later. As the Bucks go back from the All-Star destroy, they need to to find their footing with a brand new trainer in a season not like any that Antetokounmpo has skilled ahead of.

In a wide-ranging, unique interview with The Athletic heading into the All-Star destroy, Antetokounmpo mirrored on all of it: the ill-fated Griffin bankruptcy, the desire for him to grow to be a extra vocal chief throughout those difficult occasions, the early days with Doc Rivers, his courting with Damian Lillard and the consistent theme of trade that has surrounded those previous 10 months.

“It’s been hard because so many changes, so many injuries, so, so many things,” Antetokounmpo informed The Athletic. “A lot of things, up and down. Changes, as I said, game plan, structure, all of the BS.

“We can start from f—— ownership, changed. Coach, changed. Coach, changed again. Star players, changed. From Khris being in and out. Like so much f—— s—. It’s just up and down. Up and down. So many things changing, man. But we got to stay together, I don’t like to victimize myself. I don’t like to feel bad about myself. That’s not who I am.”

Despite the tumult, Antetokounmpo has controlled to position in combination considered one of his easiest person seasons.

He’s averaging greater than 30 issues in keeping with sport (30.8) for simply the second one time in his profession, with the 1st coming final season. He may be averaging a career-high 6.4 assists and 11.2 rebounds. On most sensible of that, Antetokounmpo has performed in 54 of the Bucks’ 56 video games this season in Year No. 11. That places him on tempo to play 79 video games, which will be the maximum video games he has performed since showing 80 video games in his fourth NBA season.

If Antetokounmpo ends the season with the ones numbers, he would sign up for Oscar Robertson as the one participant in NBA historical past with per-game season averages of 30 issues, 11 rebounds and 6 assists (Robertson posted the ones numbers – 30.8 issues in keeping with sport, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists – whilst averaging a triple-double within the 1961-62 season).

On most sensible of that, this has been the most productive season of Antetokounmpo’s profession, posting profession highs in efficient box objective proportion (62.7 %) and true capturing proportion (65.1 %). He has eradicated many of the 3-point makes an attempt from his repertoire and his rim completing seems to be an terrible lot love it did throughout his first MVP season in 2019.

In that season, Antetokounmpo took a career-high 66 % of his pictures on the rim and made 81 % of the ones makes an attempt, in line with Cleaning the Glass. This season, Antetokounmpo is as soon as once more taking 66 % of his pictures on the rim, tying his career-high, and making 78 % of the ones makes an attempt, whilst dunking considerably not up to he did within the 2018-19 season.

Yet, at this level in Antetokounmpo’s storied profession, his seasons are judged via group good fortune. It’s a truth that the Bucks ahead understands and accepts. With such a lot of person accolades, the two-time MVP and eight-time NBA All-Star ahead is aware of his seasons will most effective be considered as a hit if the Bucks now not most effective compete for championships however win the entire thing.

And that, as he sees it, signifies that Antetokounmpo should nonetheless have the ability to do much more for this Bucks group that sits in 3rd position within the Eastern Conference at 35-21, 8.5 video games at the back of the first-place Boston Celtics.

“Personally, I have to keep on pushing,” Antetokounmpo informed The Athletic. “If I have to talk more in the film sessions like I’ve been doing all year, if I have to f—ing grab the f—ing board and write something down — if I don’t, I don’t know — but you cannot just let opportunities like this go to waste.

“I feel like I don’t want to look back and be like, ‘Damn, I had some great teams and I wasn’t able to get over the hump.’ We have to stop feeling bad about ourselves. I’m tired of this. We have to stop doing that. Things are not going to be given to us. We have to go and take it. Like I’ve played with guys that never felt bad about themselves. Came in, did their job, went home, did their job, went home, did their job. That’s what we have to do. We’re not doing it right now, but hopefully we can do it.”

They without a doubt weren’t ready to do it within the first part of the season. And Griffin, whose Bucks tenure started with a nod of approval from Antetokounmpo within the interview procedure, paid the cost.

While the Bucks compiled a 30-13 report with him on the helm, avid gamers frequently spent their postgame media classes discussing the group’s disorganization. Whether they have been proceedings of mismanaged end-of-game eventualities in Las Vegas or difficulties figuring out what the group used to be looking to accomplish defensively in Houston, the Bucks lacked concord on each ends of the ground.

That ended in Antetokounmpo placing extra on his personal shoulders as a pacesetter, which incorporated strolling teammates via drills in follow, drawing up performs and diagramming movements greater than he ever has in his profession and being way more vocal as a pacesetter.

“I just had to do it. I had to be more vocal this year,” Antetokounmpo stated. “Things (weren’t) the way they were supposed to be, how can I say it? The last couple of years, I’m used to a specific structure of things, a specific culture, there’s a certain way that you have to do things in order for you to win games, you know?

“And if that level is not being met, as a leader, you have to push that envelope. Push everybody, your coaching staff, your teammates.”

Even with Antetokounmpo’s extra vocal management, the Bucks couldn’t organize to get at the similar web page on each ends of the ground. So normal supervisor Jon Horst, in addition to the Bucks possession workforce, made up our minds to make a transformation and employed veteran head trainer Doc Rivers to run the display.

Under Rivers, the Bucks received simply 3 in their 10 video games ahead of the All-Star destroy, however that hasn’t materially modified what Antetokounmpo feels his new head trainer has delivered to him in Milwaukee.

“Some peace of mind,” Antetokounmpo stated. “He’s tough. He’s Doc f—ing Rivers. He knows his s—. Same thing for Coach Bud. Same with Joe Prunty, J-Kidd. And Coach Griff was a great coach, a great person to work with, but, at the end of the day, it was his first time.

“He was figuring things out, how to lead a group of guys, how to operate with star players and sometimes, that might be hard. I think everybody did a good job. His coaching staff did a good job too, helping him and making him adjust and I think he did a tremendous job leading us to a 30-13 record, but Coach Doc has won 1,100 games. So it’s totally different.”

With a veteran trainer on the helm, Antetokounmpo looks like rather a little bit has been taken off of his plate.

“Now it’s almost like I don’t have to do that anymore,” Antetokounmpo stated of the additional emphasis he had placed on management to begin the season beneath Griffin. “I just have to keep the guys together and try to go out there and try to win.

“Coach Doc, he’s a great guy, been in the league for a lot of years, won a lot of games. Like you go to bed, you sleep well at night. Win or lose, you know that the coaching staff is going to be prepared. And not just him, from Rex (Kalamian), from Dave Joerger, like come on, man, Joe Prunty, we have guys that are extremely smart and know the game of basketball. So, from that aspect, you don’t have to worry anymore.”

While Antetokounmpo would possibly now not really feel like he must spend as a lot of his psychological and emotional bandwidth organizing his teammates with Rivers main, the Bucks are nonetheless some distance from being true name contenders. While they without a doubt have the ability to stay with any group when wholesome, their shape has been inconsistent during the season.

“It drives me crazy,” Antetokounmpo stated. “It drives me crazy, I’m not gonna lie … Like, (against Denver), I felt like. ‘Hmm, we got something going on here.’ Now, (against Miami), I feel horrible. But there’s going to be ups and downs. We have to keep on working.”

“Coach Doc’s coached great players, he’s coached great teams. But our team is different, it’s unique. (There are) things that have been working and things that haven’t been working. They’ve added so many new things that we’re like, ‘Oh, s—. We can take advantage of this.’ And there are some things that we have to recover.

“We have to keep on evolving. We don’t have to change our identity. Of course, we gotta be stronger. We gotta be tougher. I have to play better. I have to see the game better. But we have to keep on evolving. We have to add coach Doc’s philosophy with what has been working and hopefully can create a great mix for the next 25 games that we have and compete in the playoffs.”

Improving the Bucks protection used to be considered one of Rivers’ most sensible priorities when he took over in Milwaukee and he has completed that, in spite of going through some of the league’s hardest schedules over the 2 weeks ahead of the All-Star destroy. During Rivers’ tenure, the Bucks were the league’s tenth easiest protection. Under Griffin, they have been twenty first in defensive ranking.

But whilst the group has discovered a better degree on protection, it has misplaced its manner on offense. While the Bucks have been 2d in offensive potency beneath Griffin, the Bucks were twenty fourth in the similar class beneath Rivers, scoring 111.9 issues in keeping with 100 possessions.

And whilst Rivers used to be adamant that the Bucks had to be a just right defensive group to compete for a championship this season when he first arrived in Milwaukee, the Bucks will wish to have the ability to be nice on each ends.

If the Bucks wish to contend for an NBA name this season, they wish to pair nice offense with nice protection. And as Rivers emphasised when he took the activity, the Bucks wish to have the ability to lend a hand Lillard carry out at a better degree.

In 51 video games with the Bucks, the 33-year-old level guard has publish 24.6 issues, 4.6 rebounds and six.7 assists in keeping with sport – forged sufficient numbers to position him in place to begin his first All-Star Game this previous weekend – however as Lillard himself has mentioned at period, it’s other than what he used to be ready to do because the chief of the Portland Trail Blazers for the decade.

Once Lillard turned into a high-usage, 25-point-per-game scorer in his fourth season, he averaged 27.5 issues, 4.5 rebounds and seven assists in keeping with sport over the following 8 seasons. He shot 44.3 % from the sphere and 37.4 % from at the back of the 3-point line throughout that span.

In Milwaukee, Lillard has made 42.3 % of his pictures from the sphere and most effective 34.1 % from deep.

If the Bucks are going to develop into into contenders this season, it’ll require getting extra out of Lillard. No one is aware of that higher than Antetokounmpo.

All season lengthy, Antetokounmpo and Lillard were peppered with questions on their pick-and-roll partnership. And whilst the Bucks have found success while running pick-and-rolls with Antetokounmpo and Lillard, after two-thirds of a season in combination, Antetokounmpo believes the Bucks nonetheless have extra paintings to do to make that motion simpler and a bigger a part of their offensive assault.

“It has to be organic,” Antetokounmpo stated. “It can not just be, ‘Give the ball to Dame. Giannis set the screen. It’s going to work.’ It doesn’t work like that. While we are operating, guys have to be moving, keeping guys occupied. While the pick and roll is happening, guys have to change spots, so the load men are occupied. While things are going on, Brook’s gotta dive. While this is going on, somebody has to go for the offensive rebound. Like, that’s how it works.

“It’s not (as simple as) ‘You go set the screen’… The days that it is within the flow of the offense — I come set one, he hits me, I come back, I hit him — that’s when we’re finding success.”

For the ones issues to occur organically, Antetokounmpo wishes to search out extra techniques for Lillard to search out his offensive waft out of doors of simply excessive pick-and-rolls with Antetokounmpo. As the season has improved, Antetokounmpo has began to select up on the ones dispositions.

“One of the things that I see, when I rebound, early in transition, throwing the ball ahead to Dame, it allows him to operate at a high level,” Antetokounmpo stated. “From 3s, from driving the ball, getting and-ones, getting in the paint. Like when they’re loading (up) and you throw the ball ahead and you let him operate, it’s very good for him. It’s really, really good. Also, I try to set as many screens as I can for him to be able to operate.”

During the Bucks’ title-contending seasons, Antetokounmpo has labored frequently with Khris Middleton, his teammate of eleven seasons. And whilst Antetokounmpo concept a part of the explanation why he struggled to search out pick-and-roll chemistry with Lillard throughout the first quarter of the season used to be their unfamiliarity with each and every different, he has since discovered that would possibly in fact have extra to do with Lillard’s dispositions and strengths within the pick-and-roll.

“The other thing is, you gotta give him space,” Antetokounmpo stated. “You gotta give him space. Like he’s not like Khris, you don’t need to always set screens for him in order for him to get that little space to operate for the floater, for the mid-range, for the space for two, or the behind-the-screen three. Khris is kind of different.

“Sometimes, you need to set screens for Dame. Sometimes, you’ve got to give him space. When I come down and you see that I’m on the right side, he’s on the left side, I always throw the ball sideways to him because once they’re loading and I throw it there, he just operates. That’s been helping the team.”

If the Bucks wish to meet their postseason objectives, Damian Lillard and Antetokounmpo will wish to discover a post-All-Star Game rhythm. (Petre Thomas / USA Today)

Antetokounmpo and Lillard were given a head get started at the paintings that must be achieved within the ultimate 3rd of the season this previous weekend as a part of NBA All-Star festivities. Lillard had a large weekend taking house each the NBA 3-Point Contest championship, in addition to All-Star Game MVP, however because the veteran level guard laid out following the Eastern Conference’s win, the time they spent in combination would possibly were much more essential than the rest that came about at the court docket.

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Damian Lillard turns All-Star Weekend into Dame Time with sport MVP, 3-Point Contest win

“When you go somewhere outside of your team with a teammate, you usually naturally turn to each other more, just a lot of conversation,” Lillard stated. “I think it was just a positive weekend for us because we just had a lot of interactions.

“We were able to have conversations about where our team has been lately and what we want to do, how we can help each other better. When you can break away from not only the season and have All-Star break, but also break away from the team and be able to just be man-to-man and just bond like that, it’s always helpful.”

Now, they wish to put what they discovered over the weekend to make use of and work out how to achieve their complete doable in combination ahead of they begin their first playoff adventure in combination in two months.

In the tip, as Antetokounmpo is aware of, Lillard merely should keep in mind that the Bucks are actually his franchise as smartly. But taking into account the large phase Antetokounmpo has performed since arriving in Milwaukee again in 2013, and his position in Bucks lore after the 2021 NBA name, that form of famous person steadiness has confirmed extra evasive than the pair to begin with anticipated.

Antetokounmpo is the franchise’s all-time main scorer. His non-public brand ornaments the hallway out of doors of the Bucks locker room in Fiserv Forum. He is, for all intents and functions, the face of Bucks basketball.

For this to paintings, Antetokounmpo defined, Lillard wishes to grasp that the most productive participant in Bucks franchise historical past is able to hand him the keys within the moments that topic maximum. And if the Bucks are going to compete for a championship this season, Lillard will wish to take over similar to he did throughout all the ones “Dame Time” years in Portland.

“I am his biggest fan,” Antetokounmpo stated. “Good or bad, I ride with Dame until the f—ing end. I ride with Dame. Like I’ve been saying this over and over again. This. Is. His. Team. Down the stretch, he’s going to get the ball. There’s nothing else that we will do. I don’t know how else to put it. I don’t know what else to say.

“But at the end of the day, he has to believe it too.”

(Top photograph of Giannis Antetokounmpo: Justin Ford / Getty Images)