The Most Important Bucks Move of October Might Be a Training Camp Flyer

Three preseason games into the post-Giannis Antetokounmpo era, the Milwaukee Bucks have already shown you both versions of themselves. They lost their opener 116-97 at home to Minnesota in Taylor Jenkins' first game as head coach, a night the new staff wasn't shy about criticizing afterward. Two days later they erased a 24-point deficit to beat Oklahoma City 128-126 on the road, with Myles Turner scoring 19 and Kel'el Ware adding 18 points and 12 rebounds. Then they went on the road and lost 105-90 to Charlotte.

That's a 38-point swing in scoring output across four days. It's preseason, so nobody should overreact — but for a team that has to rebuild an identity from scratch, the variance is the story.

The Defense Is the Number That Matters

Add it up: the Bucks allowed 347 points across those three exhibition games, an average of 115.7. They gave up 116 to the Timberwolves in Jenkins' debut and got blitzed in transition — a theme the coaching staff flagged immediately, and one Brew Hoop noted was lingering from last season. Milwaukee's 2025-26 profile was ugly: a 32-50 record and a points-based power rating of -10.22, 25th in the league and roughly a 14-point drop from the prior year. The defense isn't a preseason blip; it's the inheritance.

That's why the Johni Broome signing, easy to overlook when it happened, may end up being the most meaningful piece of October business. The 6'9" big man was added to the training camp roster and is competing for one of the final spots on an 18-man roster. What matters more is what Jenkins said about him afterward — the coach has been openly enthusiastic, and that kind of endorsement from a first-year staff usually signals a real path to minutes. With Bobby Portis gone in the Giannis deal and Myles Turner reportedly difficult to move, Milwaukee's frontcourt depth is thinner than it has been in a decade. A productive camp body who can rebound and defend the paint is not a luxury here; it's a structural need.

The Backcourt Is Sorting Itself Out Faster Than Expected

The other storyline of the week is who has actually looked like the team's engine. That's Ryan Rollins, who led Milwaukee with 15 points in the opener before fouling out in just 14 minutes and has climbed to No. 2 in Brew Hoop's roster rankings. Meanwhile Tyler Herro — the centerpiece of the Antetokounmpo return — has had a quiet preseason, and his extension audition has barely registered. Rookie Brayden Burries, the No. 10 pick out of Arizona, has been the opposite: he closed out the Thunder win in clutch fashion and drew a warm postgame review from Jenkins.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Gary Trent Jr., by contrast, have done little to quiet questions about their fit and contracts.

What It Means for the Season

The market already has Milwaukee priced as one of the longest shots in the league — a 25.5 win total and championship odds sitting at the bottom of the board alongside Chicago, the Clippers, New Orleans and Memphis. That's a fair reflection of a roster in transition, but it also sets the bar low enough that a competent defensive structure and internal development would represent real progress.

The regular season opens on the road in Washington on Oct. 21, followed by a quick home date with Chicago. If Jenkins can get this group to stop bleeding points in transition and turn Broome and the young guards into rotation players, the preseason's wild swings become a footnote. If he can't, the 347-point week will look less like an exhibition quirk and more like a preview.