LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 20: Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 and Kevin Porter Jr. #3 of the Milwaukee Bucks high five during the second quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena on March 20, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)
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The Milwaukee Bucks will lean on Giannis Antetokounmpo for every dribble, shot, and possession possible this season. The question is whether there’s enough playmaking around him to keep the load manageable.
Antetokounmpo’s usage percentage in 2024-25 was 34.6 percent, the highest in the NBA. In the playoffs, it climbed to 35.2 percent.
That was with Damian Lillard playing 58 regular-season games. With Lillard gone, Giannis’s usage could hit uncharted levels.
Still, he’ll turn 31 in December. As superhuman as he looks, he isn’t indestructible. Wear and tear adds up, even for the Greek Freak. That makes surrounding playmaking essential.
Head coach Doc Rivers must balance giving Antetokounmpo help without letting the ball fall into the wrong hands too often.
Milwaukee’s guard depth chart features Kevin Porter Jr., Ryan Rollins, and newcomer Cole Anthony.
When Lillard sat out the final 14 regular-season games last year, Rollins stepped in as a starter and averaged 10.8 points, 3.9 assists, and just 1.4 turnovers in about 24 minutes. Solid numbers, but Rollins is more comfortable off the ball than directing an offense. His improved three-point shot is his best path to impact.
That leaves Porter Jr. as the more natural ball-handler. He often closed games over Rollins, and the Bucks went 9-4 when both played without Lillard. In nearly 25 minutes per game, Porter averaged 14.3 points, 4.7 assists, and only 1.8 turnovers.
That blend of scoring and efficiency makes him Milwaukee’s most reliable guard option for now. However, he was prone to extreme hot and cold streaks that can be frustrating for everyone involved over the course of an entire season.
Anthony is the wild card. A first-round pick in 2020, he looked poised for a quick rise after averaging 16.3 points and 4.7 assists in his second season.
But his production and role have declined every year since, bottoming out last year at 9.4 points and 2.9 assists.
He was deemed expendable and traded to the Memphis Grizzlies this summer as part of the Desmond Bane trade and was waived a month later before signing with the Bucks. If he can rediscover his early-career playmaking, he could push Rollins for minutes—or even a starting spot.
The wing rotation also faces new demands.
AJ Green and Gary Trent Jr. are deadly catch-and-shoot threats, but Milwaukee needs them to stretch beyond spot-up roles. Both will be asked to initiate offense in spurts, something neither has done consistently.
The Middleton-for-Kuzma trade still lingers as a misstep.
Middleton’s steady playmaking was replaced by Kuzma’s erratic decision-making. In 32 games with Milwaukee, Kuzma turned the ball over at a career-high rate, posted his worst assist-to-turnover ratio since his rookie year, and struggled to score efficiently.
Rivers tried him at small forward, but he looked miscast. A return to power forward—and a bench role—may be his best shot at salvaging value.
That will be a tricky balancing act with Bobby Portis needing minutes as well. Portis was asked to do more playmaking last season than he has since arriving in Milwaukee–his usage rate was the highest since signing with the Bucks back in 2020.
The results varied. His points per shot attempt were the lowest since his days as a New York Knick. However, he set a career-high in assist percentage and turnover percentage. Milwaukee will try to find the right balance with Portis.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee’s biggest offseason splash, Myles Turner, fits perfectly next to Giannis as a rim protector and pick-and-roll partner. But Turner isn’t a creator. Asking him to generate offense would be a misuse of his skill set.
So, where does this leave Milwaukee?
The Bucks will ask Antetokounmpo to carry them every night, then mix and match secondary options—Porter’s drives, Rollins’s spot-up shooting, Anthony’s flashes of creation, the wings’ expanded roles, Portis’s baseline post-ups, and Turner’s tertiarty playmaking.
It’s not an ideal setup, but it might be workable if enough players punch above their weight.
The Bucks don’t have a clear replacement for Lillard’s playmaking. What they do have is a collection of partial solutions. Their success depends on whether those pieces can add up to something greater than the sum of their parts.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/briansampson/2025/09/24/do-the-milwaukee-bucks-have-enough-playmaking-around-giannis/
