Should the Milwaukee Bucks actually have NBA championship expectations?

The Milwaukee Bucks are entering the seventh straight season in which the franchise – and its fan base – has realistic expectations of winning an NBA championship. It's a streak of excellence that's nearly unrivaled in the league, as the organization enters the year with the most regular-season wins (364) and 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). During this time there were six masters.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's Bucks were dominant for five years (1969-74), won a title and reached the NBA Finals again. Head coach Don Nelson led a seven-year stretch (1980-87) that produced a 66.6% regular season winning percentage and three trips to the conference finals.

It's accurate 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 feeling of incompleteness.

It's as if there is an existential struggle between past and present.

Taking a 2-0 lead over Toronto in the 2019 Eastern Conference final. The global coronavirus pandemic ended a historic 2020 season, only to be followed months later by a disjointed, awkward restart in the “bubble.” The crazy injuries the last three postseasons. What if?

The present definitely 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 the age of the team, the injury history and the cohesion? Experts and oddsmakers consider the Bucks to be a mediocre Eastern Conference playoff team doomed to another experience of what they've been of late – an early playoff exit.

There is debate about how good they are.

But the concern shouldn't lie so much with the team itself, but with how the last six seasons have shown how difficult it really is to win NBA championships Now.

It's a league calculus that has changed and is difficult to understand because it is still so new.

Since the NBA began in 1949, it has been a true belief that your team is good enough to win one title, it would likely win at least one more title in the near future. This was true in the 39 seasons from 1979 to 2018, when only 11 teams were able to lift a trophy.

A team competed six times in a row.

Three times a team won three championships in a row.

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

But after the four finals in Golden State and Cleveland from 2015 to 2018, things have evened out in the league due to increasingly restrictive payroll and roster construction rules. As a result, there is a level of parity in the league that has not been seen since the merger in 1976.

It's fair to assume that the Bucks have underperformed in the last three postseasons, but it's also fair to acknowledge that winning multiple titles is harder Now than ever before in the last 50 years.

But while it may seem like history is looking kinder in this nearly decade-long Bucks season, we're living in the moment.

It is certainly expected that this team will fight for a title. The top talent is still just too good to think otherwise.

An expectation of win However, one of them is undeserved. This is the fourth season this championship has been lost and the team has changed significantly.

So how do you approach this season?

Well, the owners believe they 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 an additional $74 million.

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

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

Can Will the Bucks win the 2024-25 NBA title? Yes. They are one of the growing handful of teams in the league that can clearly make this claim at the start of the year. It's a change from previous years.

Are they the favorites for this? Currently no.

Of course, that could change once the games start. Until then, however, the expectation must be somewhere between belief and expectation. They're a willing bunch. You are capable.

Can you? We'll find out.

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