Bucks Already Have Huge Advantage Heading into 2025-26 Season

The Milwaukee Bucks are looking for a better end to next season than they had this past season. For the second straight year, they were bounced in the first round of the playoffs by the Indiana Pacers.

Heading into next year, their roster will look quite different. Damian Lillard will no longer be handling the point guard duties, and Myles Turner is the new starting center.

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Before the season even starts, and they figure out how well Turner meshes with the rest of the roster, the Bucks will head into next year with a nice advantage in hand.

The Bucks have one of the easiest schedules in the NBA

Milwaukee has one of the easiest schedules in the league. In fact, they have the sixth-easiest schedule in the league, according to Tankathon.

It certainly helps that the Bucks don't have to face Tyrese Haliburton four times next year, since he is out for the year with his torn Achilles injury. The same goes for facing the Boston Celtics three times without Jayson Tatum — also shelved with his own torn Achilles.

The Bucks need to take advantage of this easy schedule to make the playoffs and get home-court advantage. That will give them the best chance to finally make a deep run in the East.

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Next season could be Antetokounmpo's best chance to emerge out of the East since 2022, when the Bucks' championship defense was impacted by a critical Khris Middleton injury in the playoffs. They have to figure out how to run the offense now that they don't have an elite point guard.

The Bucks have to take advantage of their weak schedule early on in the season

Giannis Antetokounmpo is not fully comfortable with what the Bucks have been doing with the roster over the last few years. That's why he has let it be known he might want to leave at some point.

In order to keep him happy and in Milwaukee, the Bucks must play well early in the season. A losing record at the trade deadline would almost certainly fire up trade rumors around Antetokounmpo again.

Staying healthy is going to be a big key for the Bucks next season, something that has plagued them late in the season over the last couple of years. That's another reason they must start fast.

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