ATLANTA — Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers was upset following Friday’s 115-110 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
After hitting 11 3s and scoring 47 points in the second quarter, the Bucks built an 18-point halftime lead. Then, they came out of halftime and let the Hawks outscore them, 37-17, in the third and went into the final quarter trailing by two. The Hawks built an eight-point lead, but Gary Trent Jr. ended a streak of 16 consecutive misses from behind the line with a triple with 3:34 remaining to cut the Hawks lead to 106-105. Atlanta then called a timeout.
The Hawks scored on the first possession out of that timeout. When the Bucks ran down to the other end, they got three seconds into the possession before Rivers threw his hands in the air from the opposite end of the floor.
“We came out of a timeout and three guys forgot the play,” Rivers said. “And it’s a play we’ve run 50 times. Three different guys went to the wrong spot. We’re not talking about our rookies here. So, again, that’s all on us.
“I gotta do a better job of getting our focus. To me, you could see it early, I called an early timeout. I gotta do something to shock us into the right spot when we start; we’re too good of a basketball team to act like that. And we’ve won nothing so we deserve nothing. And we have to understand that.”
Out of the timeout following Trent’s 3, the Hawks quickly took control as they went on a 6-0 run and closed out the game to drop the Bucks to 27-23 on the season. With the loss, the Bucks are 1 1/2 games behind the Indiana Pacers for fourth in the Eastern Conference and two games ahead of the Detroit Pistons for fifth.
Friday’s game was the team’s first since the NBA trade deadline, which meant it was the Bucks’ first regular-season game without Khris Middleton on the active roster since Apr. 17, 2013. Before the deadline, Bucks general manager Jon Horst was able to execute two trades.
The first deal was a four-team trade:
- Bucks receive: Kyle Kuzma, Jericho Sims, a 2025 second-round pick (from Wizards), Utah’s 2026 second-round pick with top-55 protections (from San Antonio Spurs)
- Washington Wizards receive: Khris Middleton, AJ Johnson, rights to 2028 1st round pick swap (from Bucks), cash and draft rights to Mathias Lessort (from Knicks)
- New York Knicks receive: Delon Wright, cash and draft rights to Hugo Besson (from Bucks)
- San Antonio Spurs receive: Patrick Baldwin Jr. and cash
The second deal was finished minutes before the deadline and sent MarJon Beauchamp to the LA Clippers in exchange for Kevin Porter Jr.
Horst has not yet conducted his normal debrief with reporters following the trade deadline, but Rivers did field questions about the Bucks’ moves before Friday’s game in Atlanta. Here are the five biggest takeaways from that 10-minute session.
What was the thinking behind trading Khris Middleton?
Rivers: “Well, I don’t know. Just getting younger and Kyle’s length. And Khris’ health, even though he seemed to be getting healthier. It’s a tough one because Khris, in a lot of ways, is Milwaukee. Won a title and did so many good things. So, we will miss him. We’ll not only just miss his basketball, but we’ll miss his brain and we’ll miss a lot of things that he brought to the table.”
Takeaway: Trading Middleton was a huge organizational decision. When, or perhaps if, Horst speaks about the decision, he will likely be able to shed greater light on the financial incentives of swapping out Middleton’s salary for Kuzma’s smaller one.
From a basketball perspective, it was noteworthy that Rivers mentioned Middleton’s health as one of the driving factors behind the move.
This season, Middleton appeared in 23 of 48 games before the Bucks agreed to a deal to send him to the Wizards on Wednesday. In those 23 games, Middleton averaged 23.2 minutes and only started seven games before the Bucks opted to bring him off the bench.
Multiple times during his session, Rivers clarified that he thought Middleton was getting healthier and added that he believes Middleton “will be healthy” moving forward, but the mere mention of his health suggests there was at least some concern about what Middleton would be able to do the rest of the season. Sending Middleton, and concerns about his health, to another team allows the Bucks to feel more certain about what they are going to get on a nightly basis.
What does Kyle Kuzma bring to the Bucks?
Rivers: “You look at our front line, it’s massive now. You know, whatever Giannis (Antetokounmpo) is, Brook (Lopez) is seven feet, Kuz is 6-9, 6-10, that’s a big lineup for us. Another scorer. He can really score off of the dribble. Great (in transition). His transition numbers are right behind Giannis in transition off the bounce when he rebounds and breaks out. You look at his numbers, they mirror Giannis’ numbers. So we have another breakout big, which is big for us. Also a throw-ahead big where you can throw ahead to him and he can attack. So he does a lot of things that can help us.”
Takeaway: The Bucks plan to start Kuzma at small forward, alongside Antetokounmpo and Lopez. When pressed further on the idea, Rivers confirmed that plan, even though Kuzma has played power forward for much of his NBA career.
“I mean, I don’t think we did this not to (start him),” Rivers said.
All season long, Rivers has talked about the Bucks’ identity. He has made it clear that the Bucks are at their best when they lean into their strengths as a big, strong team that plays physical defense and gets in the painted area on offense. Trading for Kuzma, a 6-foot-9, 221-pound forward, and starting him alongside Antetokounmpo and Lopez allows the Bucks to play with more size, but it will ultimately lead to some interesting decisions with the rest of the starting lineup.
Damian Lillard is obviously the starting point guard, so what does Rivers do at shooting guard? Since the Bucks’ poor start to the season, Andre Jackson Jr. has started 40 games in that spot to help set the tone from a defense and effort perspective. If Jackson were to remain a starter, the Bucks would start four players 6-6 or taller, but that may also cause some problems from a spacing perspective.
While Kuzma believes he is not often guarded as a player who is a career 33.4 percent 3-point shooter, he is still a 33.4 percent 3-point shooter. And although Jackson is a career 37.7 percent 3-point shooter, he is often ignored behind the 3-point line and dared to shoot by opposing defenses that would rather clog the lane for Antetokounmpo. So, if Kuzma is going to take a spot in the starting lineup, what does that mean Rivers is going to do with the fifth starting spot?
Can Kuzma help small-ball lineups with Antetokounmpo thrive?
Rivers: “Our small-ball lineups have been awful. Just keeping it real. Coming into the year we thought they’d be great and we have not found the right group yet. So, that would be fantastic, honestly. I still think it should be good. Every basketball part of me thinks it should be good. And so far I’ve been proven wrong on that. It has really struggled. It’s funny, we’ve gone small with Brook and been better than we have with Giannis at the five so we have to figure that out. With Kyle’s size, that may be able to help us.”
Takeaway: That’s about as blunt as an answer can get. While blunt, it was only somewhat accurate.
According to Cleaning the Glass, the Bucks are outscoring opponents by 1.8 points per 100 possessions in the 230 possessions that Antetokounmpo has been on the floor with Bobby Portis and Lopez off the floor. Those lineups are spectacular offensively, scoring 130 points per 100 possessions, but putrid defensively, giving up 128.2 points per 100 possessions.
Those numbers would suggest, though, that there is some potential for those lineups to be strong if Rivers can find the right combination. Historically, lineups that feature Antetokounmpo at center have scored at an amazing rate, it’s just a matter of finding defensive units that can hold up well enough for the huge offensive numbers to create a positive differential.
Kuzma is not a defensive specialist, but he could provide a different look for the Bucks’ on defense in these small-ball lineups. Maybe this team just isn’t meant to thrive with small-ball looks, but Rivers should at least give lineups with Kuzma and Antetokounmpo as the bigs a look to see if there is something there that they just haven’t been able to uncover yet.
What could Jericho Sims bring to the table? Is he just an emergency big?
Rivers on what Sims brings: “I didn’t know that we needed a stretch big. I’ll take the size and the ability to roll and run the floor. Rollers are invaluable in our league. He’s one of them. He gets behind the defense. He’s as athletic as anyone in the league. I think he’s a fantastic fit.”
Rivers on Sims as an emergency big: “No. Probably at times. Guys, I’m just making a point, they’ve played zero (minutes) and zero practices. So, I would say can we at least get a chance to see everybody play basketball a little bit? And then I’ll give you all your answers. Because that’s usually how it works. You may come in with a plan in a trade that you’re gonna start guys, you’re not, but everything is open to change. What we’re trying (to do)—we’re in the wins business. And that’s what we’re trying to figure out.”
Takeaway: Sims, a 6-foot-10, 245-pound big, is unlike any other player on the Bucks roster at the moment and unlike any big man Milwaukee has had in years. He is uber-athletic and bouncy with quick feet and a great lob catcher. The Bucks haven’t really tried to use that archetype of big man recently.
It will be interesting to see if Rivers finds Sims a spot in the rotation or just uses him as a player that can help out on the nights that one of the three-man rotation of bigs is forced to miss a night. That has been a struggle for the Bucks recently as Antetokounmpo has missed three straight games with left calf tightness and Portis missed six games as he mourned his grandmother’s passing.
Is there any concern with Kevin Porter Jr. entering your locker room?
Rivers: “No, no. That was how many years ago? So, no. He was good with the Clippers. They had no issues with him, but we have to monitor everybody, honestly. He’s still a very young kid. We’re going to give him support. You always say like when these things come up, I’ve never had a problem with investing in the human spirit. And why should any of us? What he did in the past is the past, but hopefully you learn from it. And I think he has and our job now is to try to not only make him a better player, but a better human being.”
Takeaway: Porter Jr. has had issues off the court throughout his NBA career.
The 24-year-old guard spent the entire 2023-24 season away from the NBA following an arrest in Sep. 2023 in which he was charged with assault and strangulation of his former girlfriend and WNBA player Kysre Gondrezick. In Jan. 2024, Porter reached a deal with prosecutors and pled guilty to misdemeantor assault and a harassment violation in the case. In Oct. 2023, the Rockets traded Porter to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who promptly cut Porter.
Porter spent last season playing in Greece before signing a two-year deal with the Clippers in July 2024.
But it has not just been Porter’s problematic off-the-court behavior that has caused issues for teams over the years. He has also been disruptive in each of the NBA locker rooms he has been in before joining the Clippers.
At the start of his second NBA season as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Porter was involved in a one-car accident in Nov. 2020. For that incident, he was arrested and charged with improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle, failure to control the vehicle and misdemeanor possession of marijuana. All of those charges were dismissed and the Cavaliers decided to help him through his personal issues before letting him get back on the court.
In Jan. 2021, the Cavaliers traded him to the Houston Rockets, following an outburst in the team locker room when he realized that the team had moved his locker to the area where the young players typically sit.
Porter put together three good seasons with the Rockets before his domestic assault incident, but even those years with the Rockets were not without incident. In the 2020-21 season, he was fined by the league for violating the league’s health and safety protocols put in place to deal with COVID-19. On Jan. 1, 2022, Porter got into a heated exchange with Rockets assistant coach John Lucas Jr. and left the arena at halftime of a game vs. the Denver Nuggets.
While Rivers suggested that the Bucks were aware of all of these issues, he told reporters that he spoke with Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue, Rivers’ former lead assistant in Los Angeles, about Porter and that put him at ease regarding any potential problems with adding him.
“Yeah,” Rivers said when asked if he talked with Lue about Porter. “That’s probably why we did the deal.”
While Porter showed great potential in his first four NBA seasons, he is currently putting together his worst NBA season, averaging 9.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game while shooting 42.3 percent from the field and 24.5 percent from behind the 3-point line.
Rivers’ belief in the human spirit is endearing, but Horst will need to further address why the Bucks made this move when he speaks to reporters following this year’s trade deadline.
(Photo of Kyle Kuzma and Doc Rivers: Scott Cunningham / NBAE via Getty Images)
