Giannis Antetokounmpo consistently stuffed stat sheets last season — not out of selfishness, but because the Milwaukee Bucks needed him to do so.
Antetokounmpo finished the regular season among the NBA’s top 10 players in points (30.4, second) and rebounds (11.9, sixth) per game, helping the Bucks to a third-place finish in the Eastern Conference with a 48-34 record. He then turned things up a notch during the playoffs, averaging 33.0 points and 15.4 rebounds per game as his team suffered a first-round exit for the third straight year.
The Bucks’ brief stint in the postseason demonstrated the need for the organization to build around Antetokounmpo this offseason. But after losing production in the form of Damian Lillard and Brook Lopez, even more responsibility will likely fall on his shoulders.
Antetokounmpo likely to be called upon ‘even more’ during the 2025-26 campaign
The Athletic’s Eric Nehm agrees with that sentiment.
“It’s still likely that the Bucks will need even more this season as they move into a new era after waiving and stretching Damian Lillard this offseason,” Nehm wrote. “Myles Turner is a great player, and he should be able to help with offensive production, but even his best scoring season (18 points per game in the 2022-23 season with the Indiana Pacers) would be almost seven points fewer than what Lillard scored per game last season. The Bucks will obviously count on a committee of players to help replace Lillard’s production, but it won’t just be his scoring that’s needed. Lillard also was the Bucks’ leader in assists last season (7.1 per game), so a creation void will need to be filled, as well.”
Antetokounmpo is no stranger to producing at as high of a level as he did last year. He has averaged at least 27 points and 11 rebounds per game each of the last seven seasons, during which he has also shot well over 50% from the field.
But Nehm believes that the 2025-26 campaign will demonstrate the extent to which Antetokounmpo can carry much of the Bucks’ weight on his own.
“As a point forward, or whatever the organization will call the position this season, Antetokounmpo will get the first shot at taking up extra scoring and playmaking opportunities,” Nehm wrote. “But at some point, there is only so much one player can do. Antetokounmpo will have the chance to show the world how much can he do, and he has always relished such opportunities, but this season may end up revealing what the limit will be in this regard.”
