Seriously injured, the Bucks have a difficult summer of 2025!

For the Bucks, the regular season record of 48 wins and 34 losses is acceptable, but the results in the first round of the playoffs may not be very satisfactory.

From the playoffs, the ups and downs the team faces are hard to ignore. First, the conflict between Antetokounmpo and Matherine, and then the spark between Halliburton's father and Antetokounmpo. Being eliminated in the playoffs is the same, but he was turned over in the last 40 seconds of overtime. This eliminated ending is simply unbearable for the Bucks.

The main player at the MVP level is, of course, the Bucks do not want to be just a team that is eliminated in the first round. However, from the context of the whole season, the Bucks should indeed realize that the distance between the team and the champion is not as small as a few on-the-spot responses, and if there is no championship, the final difference is just when it will be eliminated.

However, several tragedies have appeared one after another, making the Bucks' 2025-26 season ironically ended, and also made this offseason a critical summer when they must think about the future direction.

More than a month ago, the Bucks seemed to be plagued by bad luck. Lillard was diagnosed with a blood clot, which led to the competition for the Bucks' playoff rankings becoming more and more intense. Fortunately, the Bucks did not immediately face the tragedy, and their ranking did not decline, and finally concluded the regular season with fifth place in the division. Lillard, who had no clear return date at the time, did not fail indefinitely as some experts said. Instead, after optimistic news from all parties revealed, he returned to the team in the second game of the playoffs, and only four weeks had passed since he was diagnosed with a thrombosis.

But such good news did not make the Bucks happy for long. Lillard returned to the team in the second round, but the two games were not good. The second and third games combined only scored 6 goals. The Bucks won the third game, but the key reason was that Trent Jr.'s firepower was fully opened and he made 9 three-pointers in a single game that tied the team's history playoff record.

Trent Jr., who was admitted to the basic salary because he wanted to follow his former Trail Blazers' old partner, gave his old comrades the best support at a critical moment, but after only half a quarter in the fourth game, the nightmare came to Milwaukee.

Once, Lillard fell to the ground without confrontation, which caused Lillard to be unable to get up by himself. The sighs of the fans and various external concerns, the nightmare came true the next day, and the unconfrontational collapsed and the calf twitched strangely, which eventually caused the Bucks to fall into an unfavorable situation of 1-3. Before the fifth game the next day, he had to face the bad news that the main player had to be absent for a long time due to a torn Achilles tendon.

In the 2019 Finals, Durant also suffered a serious injury to the Achilles tendon due to the same calf throbbing. Due to time factors, Durant did not make the outside world think that he had a chance to play in the 2019-20 season, although he later encountered the epidemic and caused huge changes in the 2019-20 season.

The coincidental time point allowed Durant to fall from the fifth game of the 2019 Finals to return to the court in the opening game of the 2020-21 season. He recuperated for 18 months, which was six months longer than the rest time of Achilles tendon patients in the past 12 months. This may be the same as other players who have suffered a sharp decline in Achilles tendon injury. Durant has been able to maintain his All-Star skills for five seasons since the injury.

However, since his serious injury, Durant has no longer been in his previous attendance. In addition to his relatively high attendance last season, he only played 35 games, 55 games, 47 games and 62 games in the other four seasons, with an attendance rate of only 60%.

proposes Durant's example, mainly to compare. Lillard is now injured in the first round of the playoffs. Judging from past examples, if the Bucks can reach the first round next year, he will have a chance to play in a healthy game. But referring to the recovery plan of Murray, Leonard and others in recent years after suffering major injuries in the last moment of the season, and even during the playoffs, unless there is a good team to give it a big deal gift package, the Bucks will most likely not have any stable competitiveness even if they can enter the playoffs next year, and Lillard should not need to go out to save the team immediately.

Then Lillard's recovery time this time should be compared with Durant, which will have about 18 months of recovery time before the opening of the 2026-27 season. And such a long period of recovery may also allow him to recover his previous thrombosis problems steadily.

If he, or the Bucks, can wait until that moment.

At the moment, maybe I can only wish him good luck. At this age, I have suffered such a serious injury and hope that he can return healthily under all kinds of unpromising circumstances. The Pacers' desire for victory in various conflicts after the game is enough to see their desire for victory. Compared with the dusty Bucks, the irony is undoubtedly deepening. What is more likely to make the Bucks deepen these negative emotions is not only the ending of this year is regrettable, but the Bucks have been eliminated earlier than expected in the playoffs for several consecutive years.

In short, although the 2021 championship is enough to make Antetokounmpo proud of the team, the Bucks must face it one thing that the last four seasons have ended with disappointment every year since winning the championship.

In the past four years, the Bucks in 2022 were reversed when they won the fifth game in the second round and won the match point first. In 2023, they were the leader of the Eastern Conference but were staged by the Heat in the first round. Last year, they were defeated by the Pacers as the high pick, and this year they were eliminated with a beat all the way with a close pick.

The Bucks may have to make changes due to the decline in the main champions such as Holiday and Middleton, but after Holiday was replaced by Lillard, the team failed to face the playoffs with a complete lineup for two consecutive years. Middleton was replaced by Kuzma and only got a miserable result of 5.8 points and 2.2 rebounds in the first round of this year and a shooting percentage of only 30%. These changes failed to bring the results the Bucks were looking forward to..

Now the end of the season with a more embarrassing result than expected in the first round again. In addition, Lillard will have to take a year off and the various situations are even less optimistic after returning at the end of next year. For the Bucks, if this year, or the frustration in the past few years really makes them think that they can fight again when they are at their peak, the intention to change will definitely be directly presented in this offseason.

is just that under the current situation of the Bucks, it may not be easy for them to change. The Bucks had already used up all the next first round in the trade to exchange Holiday for Pelicans and then to exchange Holiday for Lillard. The closest and controllable first round is only 2031 left. Daluo is about to become a free agent this summer. Portis and Porter Jr. have player options, and the two are bound to hope to seek a long-term contract.

Connaughton also has a player option of about 9.42 million, and he is more likely to choose to execute, but at present, he is no longer qualified for the Bucks. Although Trent Jr. was willing to accept the basic salary last year to cooperate with Lillard, it is still an unknown question whether he is willing to renew his contract with a lower value this summer.

The only possible change may be with Kuzma. The more likely and suitable operation direction is that since Lillard is destined to take a year off in the summer and there are so many free agents in the team, the Bucks should be calm enough and not be eager to achieve success because of the current loss. They will remain silent for a year to adjust their lineup and think about whether they should still regard Daluo as the main center in the future. When the offseason in 2026, they will use Kuzma, who is relatively friendly in the contract, as a bargaining chip to trade.

And such operations cannot be rushed. The most important thing is to maintain a consensus with the main general Antetokounmpo. When the Bucks were eliminated, many voices began to discuss rumors of Antetokounmpo's departure. This time, like in 2020, Antetokounmpo did not express his opinion on leaving immediately.

Antesco never concealed his idea that he did not want to leave. He just hopes that when the team is not as good as expected, he can actively strengthen it, rather than choosing to leave by himself. Of course, we have no way to know if Antetokounmpo, who has not won the championship at the age of 25 and Antetokounmpo, who wants to win another championship at the age of 30, will have different ideas, but I personally understand that there is really no need to rush to discuss Antetokounmpo's statement that once the team loses, they will rush to discuss Antetokounmpo's departure.

Perhaps James has started a trend of team transfers for star players, and Doncic's transactions may make the entire league no longer have any non-sale products, but I always believe that top stars should have their own opinions on their stay or leave and should be valued by the team. As long as the main level stars in the formation do not want to leave, there is no need for the outside world to speculate too much.

Of course, we can imagine whether Antetokounmpo will accept himself staying because of the team's difficulties, and the team's situation next season may not be very good. But we can also see from Doncic's shocking deal and Dallas fans' huge disgust for the Mavericks that such a star of the main player level is far more valuable to local fans than on paper.

Since the Bucks are facing such a dilemma now, since the team does not have the first round to operate, and since there will be so many free agents in the lineup, perhaps the lost elimination at this moment will make people have more negative emotions, but it may not be bad to hold on without moving. We can also see from many examples of teams in the past that if you are eager to change for the sake of change, you may not necessarily get the desired results. You are a little patient and think about it. When the chips and trading time are in place, there may be better results.

It can only be said that if the season ends, there is still hope for the next season, it is okay, but at the end of this season, the Bucks are disappointed that there is nothing to look forward to in the next season. Milwaukee's offseason summer may be more harsh than before.