Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks are once again one of the favorites to win the Eastern Conference after getting booted in the first round by the Miami Heat in five games even though they were the No. 1 seed. The hype is valid as the Bucks made a blockbuster trade to acquire superstar Damian Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers.
The big move puts a lot of eyes and pressure on the Bucks and especially Antetokounmpo to make due on their promises and capture their second NBA title after winning one in 2021. With the inclusion of Lillard, people are wondering if this is a match made in heaven or will it hamper Antetokounmpo's numbers and make the team a mess. At the end of the day, the “Greek Freak” is the face of the franchise and the leader of this team, all eyes will be on him.
Here are our bold predictions on Giannis Antetokounmpo for the Bucks upcoming 2023-24 season with Damian Lillard:
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Scoring numbers down for Antetokounmpo
Might be hard to believe when reading the subhead as the former NBA MVP is coming off of a career-best season where he averaged 31.1 points per game. But, with the addition of Damian Lillard, there's no doubt that those numbers will go down.
It won't be to a point where it hampers his skills and the team, but the goal was to pair him with another dynamic scorer so they can both share the weight. Expect Antetokounmpo to score more in the 20s, and the same goes for Lillard. There could be a negative connotation when it comes to the low scoring numbers, but when you acquire another player that averaged 30 plus points per game, it's very unlikely that they continue those numbers when paired together.
If anything, it could prove to be beneficial as when they were both on separate teams, each were heavily relied on to take over every game, but since they're on the same squad, the opponent will be in a guessing game on who to key on defense.
Antetokounmpo more of a facilitator
While Antetokounmpo has always been a solid passer, his assist numbers have a chance to go up this season because of the inclusion of Damian Lillard. However, that doesn't mean that Lillard will be all of those assist totals.
Because of the threat and danger Lillard provides to defenses, opponents will focus on the pass-out to Lillard when Antetokounmpo drives to the basket. However, it'll leave for supporting members of the Bucks to have opportunities to score.
Can't forget about Khris Middleton, while being the No. 3 option now, who can still make shots anywhere around the floor who Antetokounmpo can lean on when Lillard can't get space. Having only played 33 games last season, he's looking to have a bounce back season.
He averaged 5.7 assists last season, expect those numbers to lean more towards the eight or nine range as he could be a sneaky candidate to possibly average a triple-double.
Antetokounmpo and Lillard are a match made in heaven, especially for the health of the Greek Freak
There's no doubt that Antetokounmpo was one of the most heavily used players in the NBA in terms of carrying the massive workload on taking the Bucks as far as possible. With the inclusion of Lillard, it could ease some of that work. It also goes the other way around as this duo can arguably be the best in the NBA by the end of the season. The other big-man and scorer type duos that achieved major success recently are Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray with the Denver Nuggets.
As it usually happens with elite basketball players and their age, they tend to miss more games after every season. For Antetokounmpo, while the start of his career consisted of seasons playing 70 or more games, it's gone down as of recent. The past four seasons, he's played more so around the 60-game mark, with last season being 63 contests he participated in.
The same goes for Lillard who played 29 games in the 2021-22 season and 58 last season. It's a mutual relationship as the two have a chance to contribute in the most games they've played, even in the age of “load management.”
While they played with each other in the preseason, the first true look at the new Milwaukee Bucks is tonight as they open their season against the Philadelphia 76ers. The Bucks have a nice start to the season as they'll be home five times in their first seven games.
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