Milwaukee opens Wednesday in Washington with a roster that did not exist in May, and the front office has already described the year as a transition. The question that will define the season is whether this group is being built up or passed through.
Last season
The 2025-26 Bucks finished 32-50 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016-17. The offense ranked 24th, the defense 26th, and the net rating came in at minus-6.1, 25th of 30. Doc Rivers resigned when it ended. For nearly two decades the club had an identity in Giannis Antetokounmpo. By spring it had a losing record, no coach and no clear way back.
April 30
Taylor Jenkins was hired as head coach. He came up on Mike Budenholzer's Milwaukee staff in 2018-19 before building his reputation in Memphis. What he inherited was not a roster but a decision still being made. Jon Horst had kept the job after a lost year, and the next two months would show the direction was a full teardown rather than a patch.
June 23
Antetokounmpo and Portis went to Miami for Herro, Jaquez Jr., Kel'el Ware and Jakucionis. The same draft brought Brayden Burries with the 10th pick and Ament with the 13th. Myles Turner signed away from Indiana on cap room created by stretching Damian Lillard. Payroll now sits at $191.4 million, over the cap and below the $200.4 million tax threshold. Milwaukee's first-rounders through 2030 are mostly swaps, with a 2030 second owed to Orlando.
October 15
Jake Fischer reported the Bucks, Lakers and Grizzlies were exploring trades, and his follow-up a day later added the Hornets. Neither report named a player. Jim Owczarski at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote that Horst has been up front the team might not extend Jaquez Jr. or Herro, and that the first extension deadline passed quietly. Jaquez Jr. said he is now taking that question hour by hour.
This week
Kevin Porter Jr. was waived, taking $5.4 million off the books two days before the opener, and Pete Nance returned on a two-way deal. Ament was back at practice Monday and, per Owczarski, should be available in Washington if his recovery holds. The case for the plan is real: Herro averaged 20.5 points last season, Rollins 17.3 on 40.6 percent from three, Ware 11.1 and 9.0 rebounds at age 22. The case for the bridge is louder: the front office's own language, two unsigned extensions, swapped picks that leave trades as the only way to add assets, and Fischer's reporting. The honest answer is the bridge, with Rollins, Ware and the two rookies the planks most likely to stay on the far side.
Will the Bucks extend Tyler Herro or Jaime Jaquez Jr. this season?
Jim Owczarski reported that Jon Horst has been up front the team might not extend either player, and the first deadline came and went without a deal. Nothing is signed.
Are the Bucks trading again before the season starts?
Jake Fischer reported on October 15 and 16 that Milwaukee is among several teams exploring trades, but no player or partner has been named. As of the opener, the roster is set.
