The offseasons for Milwaukee and Washington were busy, though the directions the two teams are taking appear to be opposite ahead of their season-opening battle, which the Wizards will host on Wednesday night.
The Bucks traded the franchise’s greatest player and still one of the top superstars in the league in Giannis Antetokounmpo, along with Bobby Portis, for former All-Star Tyler Herro and three others from the Miami Heat.
Milwaukee also parted ways with head coach Doc Rivers and brought in Taylor Jenkins to take over.
“The people drew me back here, made this a very easy decision career-wise and life-wise,” said Jenkins, an assistant for one season in Milwaukee (2018-19). “I felt it right away; the welcome-back support has been in waves from so many different people.”
The Wizards, who most recently won a playoff series in 2017, selected AJ Dybantsa with the No. 1 overall pick in a highly touted NBA draft class. The team also signed Trae Young, who was traded to Washington in mid-season but played in just five games, to a lucrative four-year, $212 million extension to pair with fellow star Anthony Davis.
Washington is showing a desire to get out of the bottom of the standings, while Milwaukee is lacking the superstar who kept it in the hunt despite a disappointing final season that resulted in missing the playoffs.
“Can we build something that is consistent and repeatable for ourselves? That’s how we’re going to measure success here,” Wizards head coach Brian Keefe said. “Those are the things that are going to make us sustainable.”
It is possible fans may have to wait for the highly anticipated debut of the rookie Dybantsa, who suffered an ankle sprain in the team’s preseason finale and is listed as day-to-day.
“We’re just going one day at a time,” Keefe said.
The Wizards finished a league-worst 17-65 a year ago while Milwaukee went 32-50 and ended one spot out of the play-in in 11th place, though the Bucks were nine games back of the 10th-seed Heat.
Fans may have expected Washington to finish where they did. The season carried higher expectations for a Bucks team hoping to keep Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee — especially following the move to bring in Myles Turner to pair with Antetokounmpo and send the injured Damian Lillard out after two first-round playoff exits.
Turner remains in Milwaukee with a mostly new team. Also remaining are standouts at times from a season ago in Ryan Rollins and Ousmane Dieng.
Kevin Porter Jr. was waived on Monday, according to ESPN.
Joining the Bucks from Miami along with Wisconsin native Herro are Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kasparas Jakucionis. The Bucks also had two first-round picks in standout point guard Brayden Burries and small forward Nate Ament.
Ament also is a question mark to debut on Wednesday because of an ankle sprain he suffered in preseason action.
There are more new names on both sides: Washington traded for Deandre Ayton to pair with Davis down low while Milwaukee traded for veteran Caris LeVert, adding to a crowded backcourt with Gary Trent Jr., who signed a four-year contract extension.
Milwaukee had won the season series against Washington seven seasons in a row prior to last season, when the Wizards took three of four.
