Bucks News, Transactions, Trade Ideas - Horst Given Extension

[bucksfansince88]

Who is our next GM/Pobo and head coach?

[CharityStripe34]

Who is our next GM/Pobo and head coach?

He who has been there through all the trials and tribulations. Joe Prunty.

Sent from my Pixel 8 Pro using RealGM mobile app

[mke_design]

Wild to me that people want to punt on Giannis at this point. Maybe he would buy into a rebuild. However I have no confidence in this ownership group to hire anyone smart.

[Iheartfootball]

Moved to appropriate thread...

Bucks ownership group may talk about continuity and culture, but their actions don't line up. The truth is, draft and develop isn’t just missing from the team’s on-court strategy — it’s not in the DNA of the ownership group itself. That’s because long-term vision doesn’t align with their core objective: short-term valuation spikes and flexibility to exit at peak market value.

The current ownership consortium is built like a startup investor syndicate, not a legacy sports family. They came in during the post-sale boom, added glamor partners (like Aaron Rodgers), and executed a win-now strategy. That approach — trading away future draft picks for aging stars, cycling through coaches, and pushing cap limits — makes sense if you're trying to boost the franchise’s valuation before a partial or full sale. And that’s exactly what we saw when Marc Lasry sold his stake in 2023 to Haslam Sports Group.

This kind of ownership isn’t rooted in the fabric of Milwaukee. It’s not built to nurture a roster or invest five years in player development. It’s transactional, not transformational. Which explains why the Bucks struggle to build an identity beyond their superstar era. They’ll mortgage the future if it means a playoff run this year — because the business model is built on liquidity, not legacy. It's like the Kohl era on steroids.

Contrast that with teams like the Nuggets or Thunder — where a clear developmental philosophy is tied to ownership stability. Those teams can draft, develop, and grow because their leadership isn’t just looking for exits.

If the Bucks are serious about building a sustainable contender, they need to reorient from “flip” culture to “foundation” culture. That starts at the top. Until then, expect short-term patches and long-term instability.

[GoldenAntlers]

Wild to me that people want to punt on Giannis at this point. Maybe he would buy into a rebuild. However I have no confidence in this ownership group to hire anyone smart.

Who wants to punt on him? I'm under the impression it's more so people believing that Giannis deserves another chance at a title but that they have little confidence it will happen in Milwaukee.

[Buckfan76]

Wild to me that people want to punt on Giannis at this point. Maybe he would buy into a rebuild. However I have no confidence in this ownership group to hire anyone smart.

Who wants to punt on him? I'm under the impression it's more so people believing that Giannis deserves another chance at a title but that they have little confidence it will happen in Milwaukee.

THAT PART! Listen what Giannis has done since coming to MKE has been historic. But Giannis is one of the most competitive players out there and I think our Bucks just aren't a championship caliber team. I 100% wouldn't be surprised if we lose to Pacers, if Giannis and Dame are gone in the off-season.

[soxperry]

Giannis is 30. If we cant make something happen this off-season to make us actual contenders, im going to feel bad watching him play for us. We might need to get a petition going.

I used to think that i want to see him in Okc but they got too good too fast. The best thing would be for him to go to a team with really young talent but that doesn't already have their SGA. Houston perhaps. They have those tasty Phoenix picks... i bet Phoenix is counting on getting those back for KD but theres no way Houston passes on Giannis. Still, no trade feels like it will be enough for us. We lose no matter what. I just don't want to see any more of his prime go to waste

[RogerMurdock]

Contrast that with teams like the Nuggets or Thunder — where a clear developmental philosophy is tied to ownership stability. Those teams can draft, develop, and grow because their leadership isn’t just looking for exits.

The Thunder's owner isn't looking for an exit because he already achieved his goal of moving the franchise from Seattle to Oklahoma City.

[tydett]

Contrast that with teams like the Nuggets or Thunder — where a clear developmental philosophy is tied to ownership stability. Those teams can draft, develop, and grow because their leadership isn’t just looking for exits.

The Thunder's owner isn't looking for an exit because he already achieved his goal of moving the franchise from Seattle to Oklahoma City.

Also an ownership group that notoriously cheaped out on perhaps the greatest young roster in recent league history and has basically been non-competitve since then 'til last year. Easy to let Sam Presti do his thing when it leads to the team coming in under budget (and Presti is great, no doubt). That being said, with Denver looking like they're floundering in post-title years and OKC yet to secure a title, this seems like an odd comparison even if I don't disagree with the premise that the organization has been run poorly. I think it's just really hard to thread the needle between maintaining your championship-caliber roster and building for future success when you're drafting in the mid to late 20s (which have an abysmal hit rate) and can sometimes trades those picks for finished versions of what those quality of draft picks eventually become.

[Iheartfootball]

Okay, remove OKC from the equation. My point still stands. If you want to give me an argument for our ownership group and the confidence you feel in them, please, have at it.

[mke_design]

Wild to me that people want to punt on Giannis at this point. Maybe he would buy into a rebuild. However I have no confidence in this ownership group to hire anyone smart.

Who wants to punt on him? I'm under the impression it's more so people believing that Giannis deserves another chance at a title but that they have little confidence it will happen in Milwaukee.

I’m not in the camp of assuming what Giannis feels entitled to or not. But as a fan I want him to feel like he wants to do it in Milwaukee even if it takes pain to get there. If he wants to do it elsewhere so be it but I’m not going to go around saying yeah trade him we can’t help him.

[German Athens]

Thinking about how limited NY looks in the playoffs, and their rumored interest in KD, how would you feel about something like this?

Mke: Hart
Nyk: KD
Phx: Mikal, Bobby, Robinson, ‘31 swap from us

I don’t think it would be at the top of my list this off-season, but I do love Hart as a player.

[soxperry]

Thinking about how limited NY looks in the playoffs, and their rumored interest in KD, how would you feel about something like this?

Mke: Hart
Nyk: KD
Phx: Mikal, Bobby, Robinson, ‘31 swap from us

I don’t think it would be at the top of my list this off-season, but I do love Hart as a player.

i think it probably makes sense to keep the swaps on even years so that we can fully trade every other. Also, I love Hart but i think we would better off finding the next Hart and hypothetically getting a bargain. Thats how many of these teams are now profiting. See: Hart, White, Powell, etc

[Bernman]

It's simply about being honest w/ ourselves if we're a legit contender by the first couple of weeks in FA. We'll know what happened w/ KPJ, if he was ever a legit #2 in the 1st place. Also we should know what we could get for Dame, after teams have explored FA 1st themselves.

If that looks like a legit contender, we can keep going fw w/ Giannis. Otherwise we should probably trade him too, because we're only going to get later in his contract to reduce his trade value, while we miss out on blue-chip prospects like Flagg & Harper + premium draft capital.

[raferfenix]

If ownership sets up Horst to be the fall guy I’m curious what else he’d spill.

If he really got overruled on Atkinson there’d be plenty to leak if he wanted.

And Horst might be a free agent this offseason (haven’t seen any definitive reporting). Either way he could just bounce to control the narrative and his future career prospects.

[paulpressey25]

If ownership sets up Horst to be the fall guy I’m curious what else he’d spill.

If he really got overruled on Atkinson there’d be plenty to leak if he wanted.

And Horst might be a free agent this offseason (haven’t seen any definitive reporting). Either way he could just bounce to control the narrative and his future career prospects.

I like Horst.In the end he made creative trades that got this team a title. And he kept Giannis happy and here for a couple big contract extensions. Those are amazing accomplishments for any GM, especially one in an incredibly small northern market.

At the same time, he’s had a complete inability to find young talent. And that’s killed us as our mainstay guys (Khris, Brook, Jrue, Dame, Pat, etc) got old.

[tedbrogen]

Gotta let Brook walk, gotta ditch Kuz, gotta ditch Prince, gotta fire Doc and his 85 assistants.

[KidA24]

Gotta let Brook walk, gotta ditch Kuz, gotta ditch Prince, gotta fire Doc and his 85 assistants.

Prince would be fine if he were the 8th guy small ball 4 and occasional 3, as he should be.

[drone3]

Very curious how we look with Kenny as coach

[tedbrogen]

Very curious how we look with Kenny as coach

Could they look worse? It would be hard to look worse. They gave up 40 in the first quarter.

Honestly, even Grief might be a better coach because eventually it was Giannis and Bobby making all the decisions and they know more about the modern space and pace than Doc.