Milwaukee Bucks' Top 3 Priorities During 2026 NBA Offseason

For the 19th time, it finally feels like the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo are headed for a split.

Coming off an injury-plagued year and openly hostile attitude toward the front office over late-season benchings, Antetokounmpo is certainly acting like someone trying to trigger a divorce without officially demanding one. That's been his move for most of the past year, and one imagines the Bucks (and probably some of their fans) are sick of it.

So, after missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade, the Bucks are at a crossroads.

Milwaukee has several small-time calls to make. None of them can even be addressed until the franchise has clarity on Antetokounmpo's future. But while this will be The Summer of Giannis, it won't be just about the Greek Freak.

Let's break down the key goals for a Bucks franchise facing its most consequential offseason in years.

Bonus Priority: Find the Right Head Coach

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The Bucks and Doc Rivers parted ways on April 12, a predictable outcome after both a brutal season during which the Hall of Famer lost (or maybe never really found) the locker room and later talked frankly about wanting to spend more time with his grandchildren.

His departure creates another significant offseason priority in Milwaukee. Of course, finding and hiring the franchise's next head coach ties directly to Antetokounmpo's future.

On the off chance Giannis sticks around, he'll certainly have input on the selection. In that hypothetical, we should expect the Bucks to seek out a veteran option because no rebuilding will take place as long as the two-time MVP is still in Milwaukee.

More likely, Antetokounmpo will be gone, the Bucks will turn the page and the new head coach will be in the Jordan Ott/Charles Lee/Joe Mazzulla mold—a relatively young but experienced and respected assistant who can take the team into a new era.

3. The Darkest Timeline

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There might be a tiny fraction of Bucks fans who want more of the same. They'd prefer Giannis on the team going forward, even if that meant mortgaging the future in trades with little potential to produce a contender.

More power to them.

The unsentimental approach is the right one. Milwaukee should trade Antetokounmpo ASAP and start over, but history suggests the franchise will resist the difficult, correct decision for as long as it can.

If that's how things go, and Antetokounmpo is improbably back in the fold, Milwaukee will surely shop its 2026, 2031 and 2033 first-rounders. With nine players potentially hitting free agency—enough to wreck the rotation but not enough to clear up meaningful spending space—trades are the Bucks' only real way to improve.

We've seen Milwaukee add talent to appease Giannis several times before, and that'll have to be the plan again—even if years of recent evidence suggests that's just throwing good money after bad.

2. A Giannis Trade?

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The Bucks' offseason will be a little unusual because this priority will rocket to No. 1 the moment extension talks fail (or don't begin in the first place). That's the state of things in Milwaukee, where one maximally urgent issue, once addressed, just gives way to another.

The Bucks will get interest from every team that poked around Antetokounmpo at the trade deadline, a list that includes the Golden State Warriors, Miami Heat, New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves. Don't be surprised if the Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs or any number of other squads get involved after seeing how their postseasons shake out.

If Milwaukee trades Giannis, it'll net at least four first-round picks of legitimate quality, along with young talent and perhaps a big salary or two. It won't be as good as the package the Bucks could have gotten if they'd bitten the bullet and traded Antetokounmpo in the 2025 offseason, but there's a decent chance the return will beat what was available in February. Or so the Bucks hope.

All parties have resisted trading Giannis, but it feels like things have finally reached a breaking point. When this deal goes down, it'll be the first critical step in a very long rebuilding process.

1. A Giannis Extension?

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Antetokounmpo is eligible to sign a four-year, $275 million extension with the Bucks on Oct. 1.

Milwaukee needs to first decide whether it makes sense to offer the full boat, which would have been a much easier call before the two-time MVP missed half the season with multiple lower-body injuries. Ahead of his age-32 season, Antetokounmpo is entering a decline phase amid troubling health trends. Always among the trickier superstars to build around, Giannis might not be worth an average of $69 million per year through 2030-31.

Wherever the Bucks land on years and dollars, they need to get an answer from Antetokounmpo long before Oct. 1. In fact, Milwaukee should insist on a firm "yes" or "no" the moment this season is over. It's absurd to imagine Antetokounmpo will be surprised by extension talks, and the Bucks can't make a single subsequent decision until they have clarity on their superstar's future.

This issue needs a resolution immediately.

If Antetokounmpo says he'll take the max or nothing, the Bucks will face a difficult decision. If he turns down extension talks or won't commit, Milwaukee has to trade him as quickly as possible. Waiting until the 2027 deadline would simply waste another year.

Stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference and Cleaning the Glass. Salary info via Spotrac.

Grant Hughes covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, where he appears with Bleacher Report's Dan Favale.