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    • Should Milwaukee Bucks actually have NBA championship hopes?
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    Should Milwaukee Bucks actually have NBA championship hopes?

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    The Milwaukee Bucks are entering the seventh straight season in which the franchise – and its fan base – has realistic thoughts about winning an NBA championship. It’s an outstanding streak that’s nearly unparalleled in the league, as the organization starts the year with the most regular season wins (364) and the best regular season winning percentage (67.7%) since 2018-19.

    The capstone so far is, of course, the 2021 NBA Championship.

    Milwaukee also ranks third in playoff wins since 2018-19 with 41, behind Boston (57) and Denver (44). There have been six champions in that time.

    Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Bucks had five years of dominance (1969-74), along with a title and another trip to the NBA Finals. Head coach Don Nelson oversaw a seven-year run (1980-87) that produced a 66.6% regular-season winning rating and three trips to the conference finals.

    It’s right to say that this is the golden age of the 56-year-old franchise, and it should be recognized as such.

    Yet… there is a sense of incompleteness.

    It’s like there’s an existential wrestling match going on between the past and the present.

    The 2-0 lead over Toronto in the 2019 Eastern Conference finals The global coronavirus pandemic ended a historic 2020 season, which was followed months later by a disjointed, awkward restart in the ‘bubble’. The erratic injuries of the past three postseasons. What if?

    The present certainly feels promising.

    Giannis Antetokounmpo remains a force of nature. Damian Lillard is still a dominant scorer. This team was on its way to 50 wins last year, despite all the sudden roster changes, coaching turmoil and injuries. But what about team age, injury history and consistency? Pundits and oddsmakers have the Bucks as a mediocre playoff team in the Eastern Conference, doomed to relive what they’ve been experiencing lately: an early exit from the playoffs.

    There is doubt about how good they are.

    But the concern should be rooted not so much in the team itself, but in how the past six seasons have shown how difficult it is to win NBA championships. now.

    It’s a league calculus that has changed, one that’s difficult to master because it’s still so new.

    From the inception of the NBA in 1949, it was a valid belief that if your team was good enough to win An title it would probably win at least one more shortly after. This was even more true in the 39 seasons from 1979 to 2018, when only eleven teams lifted a trophy.

    Six times a team went back-to-back.

    Three times a team won three championships in a row.

    Yes, under Nelson, the Bucks made those three conference finals — but they had no real hope of dethroning Boston or Philadelphia. The Bucks went 2-12 in those three series.

    But after four consecutive Golden State and Cleveland finals from 2015-2018, the league has leveled out due to increasingly strict payroll and roster rules. As a result, the league is in a period of parity unparalleled since the 1976 merger.

    It’s perfectly reasonable to feel like the Bucks have underperformed over the past three postseasons, but it’s also right to recognize that winning multiple titles is more difficult. now than at any time in the past fifty years.

    But while it feels like history will look kinder after this nearly decade of play for the Bucks, we live in the moment.

    It’s reasonable to expect this team to challenge for a title. The top talent is still too good to think otherwise.

    An expectation of win one, however, is an undeserved one. This is the fourth season removed from that championship and the team has changed significantly.

    So how to approach this season?

    Well, the owner believes it can win a championship. The Bucks have the fourth-highest payroll in the NBA at over $197 million. They face an estimated luxury tax bill of another $74 million.

    Antetokounmpo and Lillard believe the team can win a championship. Antetokounmpo extended his contract again and Lillard bought in to the team and the city.

    Doc Rivers believes he can lead the team to a title, a point he has emphasized again and again since taking over in January.

    Can the Bucks win the 2024-2025 NBA title? Yes. They are one of the growing teams in the league that can say this clearly at the start of the year. It is a change from recent years.

    Are they the favorite to do this? Not currently.

    Of course, that could change once the matches start. Until then, however, expectations must lie somewhere between faith and expectation. They’re a willing bunch. They are capable.

    Are they capable? We’ll find out.

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