The Association crew wonders if Giannis Antetokounmpo is on pace for another MVP.
How it started: The New York Knicks engaged the Milwaukee Bucks in summer trade discussions about Giannis Antetokounmpo and will be closely monitoring the two-time Kia MVP’s situation this season.
How it’s going: Antetokounmpo appears to have found a new, young running mate in unheralded guard Ryan Rollins, their team is winning, and the Greek superstar is off to another historic start, even chasing one of the NBA’s most elusive statistical achievements.
Those two paragraphs aren’t inherently contradictory, but the second one is crowding out the first as the daily drumbeat around Milwaukee and its franchise player has calmed, reassuring the Fiserv Forum faithful.
Playing and winning, thriving collectively and individually, always beats offseason navel-gazing as a way to pass NBA time. So the Bucks’ solid start and Antetokounmpo’s familiar, hungry pursuit of whatever achievements or history he can snag make for a happier fan base.
The “ambitious Hall of Famer-to-be who craves another championship ring” is only a short walk from “unhappy All-Star who wants out,” and neither is a good look for the NBA. These days, the league is reaping the rewards of parity and a constellation of stars stretched as widely as possible across 30 teams.
Ensemble acts are in, the roster imbalance of three big names and a dozen lesser lights is out, and the widespread viability of championship dreams for as many franchises as possible – seven different winners over the past seven postseasons – is a vision that dates to David Stern’s later years as NBA commissioner.
Adam Silver, Stern’s successor, has helped the mission statement – that any well-managed organization can realistically compete for a title – become a reality. Silver’s tenure began with the end of two semi-dynasties: the Heat and the Spurs meeting in their second consecutive Finals in June 2013. It continued through a run of four straight Golden State-Cleveland championship rounds.
Since then, however, it’s been Raptors, Lakers, Bucks, Warriors, Nuggets, Celtics and Thunder grabbing the Larry O’Brien Trophy, flashing rings and hoisting banners. What Stern admitted once would have been his dream Finals showdown – “Lakers vs. Lakers” – has given way to a “30 teams, 30 contenders” sensibility that has ratings up and a broadcast deal paying $76 billion over the next decade or so.
All of which gets back to the Bucks and Antetokounmpo staying competitive in a wide-open Eastern Conference and sticking together for the long haul, one of the NBA’s feisty little engines and its most popular player ever. He is under contract through the 2026-27 season and, for now, ranks among one-team legends such as Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant and Stephen Curry.
“How it’s going” has been awfully good so far, putting distance, time and success between now and “how it started.” The Bucks entered November 4-1 and, even after a Giannis-less loss at Charlotte on Wednesday (left knee tendinopathy), they are on pace at 7-5 to win 48 games. That was good enough last spring to land the No. 5 seed, a finish that was OK with them until Damian Lillard’s left Achilles tendon ruptured in Game 4 vs. Indiana.
This edition of the Bucks is a bit younger and more offensive-minded. Instead of old teammates Lillard, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez or Jrue Holiday around him, Antetokounmpo is surrounded by fresh helpers such as A.J. Green, Kevin Porter Jr., and Rollins, along with new acquisition Myles Turner at center.
Milwaukee’s scoring is up at 116.3 per 100 possessions, compared to last season’s 115.1 when it ranked 10th, and so is its pace. Defensively, it is yielding an extra three points per 100 (115.7 vs. 112.7), which makes the floor stretching around Antetokounmpo by Green (46.7% on 3-pointers), Rollins (45.9%), Gary Trent Jr. (36.8%) and Turner (36.8%) so essential.
Rollins in particular has been a godsend. The product of Detroit by way of Toledo was a 2022 second-round pick who played just 128 minutes in 22 appearances in his first two seasons with Golden State and Washington. He signed with the Bucks on a two-way contract in February 2024 and logged another 12 minutes in three games.
Last season, Rollins’ role grew as an injury backup to Lillard, good for 19 starts as the veteran scorer dealt with a calf injury and later a blood clot scare. He showed enough at both ends to earn a legit contract this summer (three years, $12 million). But Rollins still needed Lillard being waived and stretched and Porter’s ankle sprain-plus-torn meniscus absence after nine minutes on Opening Night to get this opportunity.
The 6-foot-4 point guard represents a fine internal-development opportunity for the Bucks, whose draft history this decade is strewn with castoffs. Rollins has tripled his scoring average to 17.3, twice carrying the club when Antetokounmpo was out (32 points against the Warriors two weeks ago and 25 at Charlotte Wednesday). With 5.7 assists and 1.8 steals, he ranks as an early Kia Most Improved Player candidate.
Ryan Rollins delivers career-best 32-point effort, leading Milwaukee to huge home win without Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“Learns every day,” coach Doc Rivers said of Rollins. “You know, he’s still young. Still young in minutes, too. Kid is tough and he’s coachable, and he’s probably the hardest worker on our team.”
Second-hardest, anyway. Antetokounmpo continues to challenge and meet his own lofty expectations, out of the gate toward his third consecutive season of averaging more than 30 points on 60% shooting. No one else has done it even once. Bigger still, he is a true NBA rarity, averaging more than a point per minute so far (334 points in 329 minutes).
That’s a rate beyond any of Antetokounmpo’s 2025-26 peers and rivals, such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (441 minutes, 423 points), Luka Dončić (293, 279) or Nikola Jokić (373, 317). None of the game’s most prolific scorers – Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, LeBron James, Kevin Durant – ever managed it for a full season, with one towering exception.
In his unparalleled 1961-62 season, the fabled Wilt Chamberlain logged 3,882 minutes and scored 4,029 points. Broken down across his 80 games, the “Big Dipper” averaged 50.4 points in 48.5 minutes, setting nosebleed records unlikely to be threatened.
Two seasons ago, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid scored 1,353 points in 1,309 games, a half-season in which Embiid was limited by injuries to 39 appearances.
The good news/bad news for the Bucks is that Rivers has managed Antetokounmpo’s workload: at 32.9 minutes per game, he ranks 42nd among league leaders. Not playing him on Wednesday gives him a three-day rest before the Bucks’ home back-to-back against the Hornets again on Friday and the Lakers on Saturday.
The downside is that Milwaukee plays more minutes without its obvious MVP in the game. And Antetokounmpo’s on/off impact, representing a 20-point drop when he sits, has entered Jokić territory.
Having Antetokounmpo off the court for 15 minutes each night is far better than having him off for 48, though. That’s the plight the Bucks and their fans would have faced had the offseason rumors panned out.
* * *
Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X
