The Milwaukee Bucks did a nice job in 2024 free agency. They didn’t have the resources to spend big but added some solid veteran talent in Gary Trent Jr., Delon Wright and Taruean Prince. All of them are solid rotation players on small contracts, so scooping them all up has been widely regarded as a win.

But the Bucks' draft class has not generated good reviews.

Milwaukee selected AJ Johnson with the No. 23 overall pick and selected Tyler Smith 10 selections later in the 2024 NBA Draft. Both 19-year-old forwards are incredibly raw, which makes them questionable fits on one of the oldest teams in the league. The Bucks needed guys who either can contribute now or can be used in trades later on down the line. Right now, neither player seems to fit that criteria.

In a poll of 20 NBA talent elevators from ESPN's Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo, Johnson going to the Bucks tied for first place in the category of biggest reach in the draft. The pick received four votes, as did the Detroit Pistons choosing Ron Holland II with the fifth overall pick.

“I didn't understand [the Bucks'] draft at all,” one of the ESPN voters said. “You've got Giannis [Antetokounmpo] and Dame [Lillard] in their primes, and you take two guys [Johnson and Tyler Smith] who are two years away from being good G League players. [Terrence] Shannon, Baylor Scheierman in the first and Tyler Kolek and Johnny Furphy in the second were right there and could play a role right away. Sometimes we overthink this thing and [that] seems to be what happened.”

Bucks' 2024 NBA Draft class

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With Jon Horst leading the way, the Bucks have not been great at drafting. Their first-round selection of D.J. Wilson in 2017 didn’t pan out. MarJon Beauchamp has yet to prove himself through two seasons. Even when they hit on a pick with Donte DiVincenzo, he became a much better player on other teams. Some of the decent players that Milwaukee gets in the second round, like Sam Merrill or Jordan Nwora, end up leaving the team after not much time.

Because of the Bucks' previous disappointments in the draft, no one is going to give them the benefit of the doubt that Johnson and Smith will pan out. Their size and athleticism work in their favor but not much else does. Finding true game-changers so late in the draft is hard but the chances that Milwaukee whiffed on both picks is very real.

If the Bucks can’t develop their new rookies the right way, their inability to keep the young talent flowing around Giannis Antetokounmpo will be magnified.