Veteran big man Serge Ibaka began the 2022-23 season with the Milwaukee Bucks, a team that had set high title aspirations for themselves. While they did find a lot of success on the floor during the regular season, the Bucks looked very dysfunctional in the postseason and their year ended in playoff disappointment.
Even before getting to the playoffs, though, something seemed off about this group and this likely factored into a lot of the changes they made in the middle of the season, one of which involved trading Ibaka after he requested a trade.
The now 14-year veteran recently sat down and spoke with The Athletic's Shams Charania about his time with the Bucks and Ibaka did not hold back his true feelings for this team and previous head coach Mike Budenholzer.
“What happened for me, I decided to leave when I feel like I got to a point where I couldn't take what was happening anymore,” Ibaka started. “The summer before when I was a free agent, coach called me and told me about a lot of things, but I knew going there that I was not going to play like I wanted to because you got Brook [Lopez], who had one of the best seasons he's had in the last five to six years, and you got Bobby [Portis] who is playing at a high-level. I already knew going there that it would be hard for me to find minutes to play and we talked about it before I signed.”
Knowing that he was not the player he once was, Ibaka was happy to fill a role on the bench for a contending team like the Bucks. However, his relationship with Budenholzer quickly went south after the team dealt with injuries and Ibaka's role diminished.
“It's a long season and guys can have injuries, so you have to stay ready,” Ibaka continued. “Going there, I said, ‘cool, I'm going to stay ready…' I'm a professional and so grateful to be in this position. It's a blessing no matter if I am playing or not. But now when things start getting more confused for me mentally was like when a guy got injured and nobody called my name to play. And when those guys came back, that's when you called me. And then I play one game and then you don't play me for three weeks? On top of that, there was no communications, so that's mainly the reason why I left…
“I was cool with everybody and everybody was great with me in the locker room, you can ask everyone in that locker room… I'm not asking about playing, just communications at the least.”
As Ibaka eluded to, his biggest problem during his time with Milwaukee is that there was no communication between him and the coaches on what his role was going to be. For a veteran like the former NBA champion, this can be especially frustrating given that he played one game and then sat on the bench for weeks after.
The Bucks are now enter a new era where Giannis Antetokounmpo is still their leader, but former Toronto Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin is their new head coach. This organization still expects to contend for a title, which is why Milwaukee is looking to bounce back heading into the 2023-24 season.
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