2025-26 Bucks/NBA Prediction Thread - Locks TODAY at NOON

[MickeyDavis]

Get as detailed as you want or just give a Bucks win prediction.

This thread locks at noon on 10/21, the day the season begins.

[pifhluk23]

50-32, Kuzma traded at deadline, KPJ All Star

[Siefer]

**** it.

Doc knows the score and we're a pile of athletic bigs and guards, playing fast, and wearing teams out with physical defense and a high threat radius offense. Kuzma is quickly relegated to a bench role and a short leash, our guard rotation is the best of the GIannis era, Turner fits in seamlessly, and it feels like 2018 in here.

54-28, losing in the conference finals to the 1 seed Knicks.

[BUCKnation]

49 wins

[Ron Swanson]

46-36

Preseason might have given me some moderate optimism that Doc finally "get's it" with the personnel and amount of 3's we need to be getting up, but I mean.....it's still preseason. Kuzma is fast approaching Ben Simmons territory in regards to how you pretty much can't play him in any serious, net positive lineup. I'm sure they tried to trade him in the offseason, but he remains a giant boat anchor on this team as long as he's here. Team needs to be Top-10 in both 3PT attempts and defense at minimum to make any noise IMO. Can't be literally the worst offensive rebounding team in basketball, and a mediocre transition unit (we were 6th in efficiency last season but only 22nd in possessions) with this younger personnel.

There's potential for this to be a 2nd round team if they get the right matchup, and who knows, if injuries decimate everyone else like they did for Boston and Indy a couple years ago, an ECF appearance wouldn't shock me I guess. Ultimately this team just isn't talented enough at the guard/wing positions to compete with the true contenders though, and Doc pretty much neuters any hope/potential this roster has to over-achieve and be greater than the sum of its parts. Had you simply replaced Doc with a guy like Kenny Atkinson like you should have, and swung literally any Kuzma trade for a competent 3&D rotation wing, I'd feel much more confident we'd actually have potential as this "dark horse" Finals contender.

Lukewarm to mildly hot take: Loved the extension we got him on, but I'm still not convinced Bobby actually fits the new direction/philosophy of this roster (nor has he fit anything we're trying to do in the post-Bud era). Kuzma is a given, but Bobby should be viewed as a very tradeable contract within the next 6-7 months.

[MickeyDavis]

49-33. We won 48 last year, we can surpass that this year.

I think this will be a fun team to watch. We've jettisoned 3 guys aged 37, 35 and 34 from last years opening night roster. The starting lineup only played about 20 minutes together in the preseason, it will take some time to gel.

The loss of Joe Prunty hurts (really).

I'm really looking forward to the season.

[Daver]

59-23. Bucks blow all you negative nannies out of the water.AC vecomes our stsrting PG with porter jr moving to the 2 .
We are 5th on O 6 th on D .Green becomes 6th man of the year trent gives you 18 CA 15/7/8 porter 17/6/6 plus a all star.
Stars align for us in every possible way( have a storyline like the brewers) n get to the ECF.

[BigO]

It's tough to analyze this team, because Doc is still the coach. Tell me how much he's going to play Kuzma and I'll have a better answer. If Kuzma plays 20 plus minutes a game, then the record will suffer.

But even if Doc makes all the right moves, this board overestimates the talent the Bucks have. With Giannis, you almost automatically make the playoffs. Beyond Giannis and Turner, I don't know who else you can reliably rely on:

1) Green showed yesterday he still can't get his own shot.
2) The Bucks hit some tough shots yesterday, while OKC's motion offense gave them good looks on almost every possession (especially when their starters played).
3) While Doc talks about having the ball move constantly, the ball stuck too many times in Porter's hands or in Trent's hands for one on one offense.
4) On defense, I want to see more picking up full court and more physicality.

I see the Bucks being the fourth or fifth seed and possibly making the second round. Last year I had them winning it all, with a healthy KM and Dame.

[Prez]

46-36. I think injuries will steal some wins from the team but they are 50+ win level when healthy and Giannis is available. Think they make a midseason trade for a legit difference maker using the 2031 1st and they are a noticeably more dangerous team going into the playoffs than their record would suggest.

[fansinceforever]

44 wins. 6th seed. with players like Kuzma, Bobby, Prince likely logging 15-20+ mins/game, I just don't see the team being good enough defensively to greatly outplay expectations.

Tbh, all of KPJ, Green and GTJ really have to take their games to a high level and consistency that we've really never seen out of them before.

Add in Doc coaching and Giannis load management, and it gets very difficult to see high 40s or 50 wins.

Maybe JH has another move up his sleeve. If not, we're out in the first round again unless Giannis goes absolutely nuclear.

[Dick Tate]

Only one prediction: Giannis finishes the season with the Bucks.

Looking forward to good things with the Porter-Green-Trent starting combo.

Rotation:
Porter, Green, Trent, Giannis, Turner
Anthony, Rollins (big year coming), Bobby, Sims... Kuz.

[Packbuckman]

58-24 bucks win the division Ryan Rollins wins MIP Giannis wins his 3rd mvp on his way to the bucks 2nd championship with Giannis leading the way over Jokic and the nuggets 4-2.

[WeMajor34]

Bucks prediction:

47-35

4th seed

Doc gets COTY consideration

Cole Anthony and/or Bobby Top 15 in 6MOY voting

Turner gets All-Star buzz

Giannis 2nd in MVP voting (and All Star)

Lose in 2nd round to Knicks in 6

[GiannisAnte34]

The East is weaker with Indy and Boston being significantly less talented

IDK how you could mark this team WORSE than last years team. Dame and Brook were two of the worst defenders at their position. Dame did not have a good attitude here and he simply didn't fit well with Giannis, so whatever positives he brought with 3 pt shooting were neutralized

50+ wins to land 3rd/4th seed
no way they lose to someone like Detroit/Atlanta in the 1st round. they will have a tough 2nd round against one of Cleveland, Orlando, or New York
any of those three teams are beatable if Kuzma gets converted into a playoff contributor. nobody in the East is close to as talented as the Celtics when they won, the conference is up for grabs

[engelmartin]

48 wins!

[humanrefutation]

We'll go something like 46-36. We'll be on pace for 50+ wins and a top 3 seed in the East until Giannis suffers a lower leg injury and has to sit out for a month. We'll end up as the 5 seed and beat the Pistons in the first round and shock the Cavs in the semifinals before getting gentlemanly swept by the Knicks in the conference finals.

Rollins will supplant KPJ as our starting PG by midseason, and KPJ and Bobby will run our second unit. AJ Green will sign a multi-year extension. Cole Anthony and GTJ will have up-and-down years. Kuzma will be relegated to the end of the bench.

We'll heavily pursue an all-in trade at the deadline, but decide to hold off until the offseason after not getting much traction. The league will be ready to pounce, with Giannis remaining relatively quiet about his intentions throughout the summer.

Then, Horst will push the chips in again, and shock the league with a trade for Devin Booker. It'll be polarizing for what we give up. But Giannis extends.

[blazza18]

I’ll go an optimistic 45. Just think we still have one too many flaws to predict much more.

Think it would be cool if Rollins got some most improved buzz.

[slos]

All I know is that the Milwaukee Bucks will win the Minesota Timberwolves at 6.

[German Athens]

52-30

The bucks will start the year well, and bucks fans who were teetering will return, until we start to sputter prior to the all-star break.

The board will break into chaos.

We’ll make a trade at the deadline that will use the ‘31 1st for a cam Johnson level player. The board will have a mixed view of the trade with the overall sentiment being - decent value on that trade, but doesn’t make sense with our assets/isn’t enough.

That player will gloss over a ton of our issues, and they will have that multiplier impact like a better version of what George hill brought us for a year and half. The board will fall in love pretty quickly with the trade after seeing him here for a few weeks.

Much of the year’s debates will be about Rollins and him getting more time. He’ll make a major jump this year, and he’ll be hard to keep out of the starting lineup. We’ll experiment with KPJ, Rollins, Dairy, Giannis, Turner as our starting lineup with pretty good results, but we’ll move him back to bench after the trade deadline.

Turner will have a pretty monstrous impact on our offense, but people who aren’t watching regularly won’t fully understand to what degree since he’ll still average under 20ppg per night. Him being able to take quick trigger threes, and make a move with the ball in his hands that makes it look like he’s still playing the same sport as the other 9 guys on the court will create a rhythm and confidence that others feed off of.

Giannis will win MVP, but much of the narrative will cause many bucks fans to be irate throughout the year - like when Giannis is behind the usual suspects in most of those straw polls up until the last one.

We’ll make the conference finals, and play with enough passion that many bucks fans will feel proud and re-energized by this team.

Most bucks fans have a very different perspective by the end of the year, and think we’re only one more piece away.

Next draft we push in our remaining chips for a very good two-way talent. Giannis extends here.

[paulpressey25]

48-34 and 3rd or 4th in the East.

But it’s going to be a tough season to endure the media doing a “who will Giannis play for next” segment every weekend.