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The Milwaukee Bucks began the off-season quietly, re-signing a number of key contributors from last season's team. With Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, A.J. Green, and Jae Crowder all back for at least another year, the team remained quiet for the rest of the summer, seemingly content with returning the core of a championship contender.
But at the end of September, everything changed. Milwaukee made a blockbuster deal, sending Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trailblazers while acquiring seven-time NBA All-Star Damian Lillard. This move changed the entire landscape of the Bucks roster — especially the backcourt — as shortly after, the team signed free-agent guard Cameron Payne.
With so many new guards, the pre-season becomes especially important for young backcourt players and reserves looking to prove themselves. Here is one Bucks player who must have a good preseason to solidify a spot in Milwaukee's rotation.
A.J. Green
A.J. Green signed a multi-year contract with the Bucks in the off-season, with the first season of that three-year deal guaranteed as the second-year guard will make about $1.9 million in 2023-24. As a rookie, Green had a two-way deal but spent the majority of his time with the Bucks. The Northern Iowa product played about 10 minutes per game, averaging 4.4 PPG while hitting 41.9% of his three-point attempts. Given his contract, Green will need a strong sophomore campaign to earn the additional years of his deal.
Milwaukee's backcourt will look much different this year, and it remains to be seen how Green's playing time will change. Gone are guards Grayson Allen and Jevon Carter, as well as wing Joe Ingles. As replacements, the team signed Cameron Payne and Malik Beasley while drafting Andre Jackson and Chris Livingston. The departures of Allen, Carter, and Ingles leave Milwaukee without three of its top five most accurate three-point shooters from a year ago.
The question remains where will A.J. Green find playing time? Though Green is naturally a shooting guard, the team lists the 24-year-old as the third point guard on the depth chart — behind Damian Lillard and Cam Payne — and is eighth-string at the shooting guard position, behind the likes of rookie undrafted free agent Omari Moore and Giannis Antetokounmpo himself.
The one advantage Green has over the other Bucks shooting guards is his ability to space the floor. Green finished as the Bucks' third-best shooter from deep last year at 41.9%, leading the team with 11 attempts per 36 points. Both Payne and Beasley are solid three-point shooters — hitting 36.3% and 37.8% of their career attempts, respectively — but both are good shooters rather than truly deadly marksmen. It also remains to be seen whether rookies Andre Jackson and Chris Livingston can contribute offensively, though their college stats suggest that neither would challenge Green as shooters.
An area where these challengers could jump ahead of A.J. Green is on defense. As a rookie, the Northern Iowa product had a defensive rating of 115. This was tied for the worst of any player on the team with at least 100 minutes played. His offense rating of 121 offset some of these defensive shortcomings, but if Green is going to be a regular member of the rotation, opposing teams are going to find ways to exploit him defensively.
As a rookie, A.J. Green showed flashes of the offensive ability that made him a two-time conference player of the year at Northern Iowa. With so much flux in the Bucks backcourt, Green will need to be a consistent shooting threat as well as an improved defender if he wants to stay the Bucks rotation this season.
