The Milwaukee Bucks have struggled to start the tenure of Doc Rivers as head coach, but they have picked up a pair of road wins coming out of the All-Star break at the Minnesota Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers.

Jon Horst believed Rivers was the right coach to help the Bucks achieve their ceiling compared to Adrian Griffin. 

"He had to jump on a moving train," a team source told ESPN. "And then help direct it."

"It's funny -- my friends at least, they're like, 'How you doing?'" Rivers said, putting on a concerned voice before breaking into a smile.

"And I'm like, 'I'm great. I'm happy. I love this team. The organization is solid, man, and we got a chance. Could we win a title today? I don't know. But when it's time, I think that answer will be yes."

Giannis Antetokounmpo rattled off a list of things that have caused the Milwaukee Bucks to have a disappointing start to the season. However, Antetokounmpo said he's not about to start feeling bad about himself because of them.

"It’s been hard because so many changes, so many injuries, so, so many things," Antetokounmpo told said. "A lot of things, up and down. Changes, as I said, game plan, structure, all of the BS.

"We can start from f—— ownership, changed. Coach, changed. Coach, changed again. Star players, changed. From Khris (Middleton) being in and out. Like so much f—— s—. It’s just up and down. Up and down. So many things changing, man. But we got to stay together, I don’t like to victimize myself. I don’t like to feel bad about myself. That’s not who I am."

Antetokounmpo said that not feeling bad about themselves is a strategy the Bucks need to take as a whole. And the Milwaukee star said that starts with him.

"Personally, I have to keep on pushing," Antetokounmpo told said. "If I have to talk more in the film sessions like I’ve been doing all year, if I have to f—ing grab the f—ing board and write something down — if I don’t, I don’t know — but you cannot just let opportunities like this go to waste.

"I feel like I don’t want to look back and be like, 'Damn, I had some great teams and I wasn’t able to get over the hump.' We have to stop feeling bad about ourselves. I’m tired of this. We have to stop doing that. Things are not going to be given to us. We have to go and take it. Like I’ve played with guys that never felt bad about themselves. Came in, did their job, went home, did their job, went home, did their job. That’s what we have to do. We’re not doing it right now, but hopefully we can do it."

The Milwaukee Bucks have agreed to sign Ryan Rollins to a Two-Way contract.

Rollins was a second round pick in 2022 out of Toledo.

Rollins appeared in 10 games with the Washington Wizards this season, averaging 4.1 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 6.6 minutes.

For the second consecutive year, Damian Lillard won the 3-Point Contest. Lillard defended his title from the 2023 version of the contest.

Lillard beat Karl-Anthony Towns and Trae Young in the finals of the event. Those three had to go to a shootout round, along with Tyrese Haliburton to decide who would be in the finals.

The Milwaukee Bucks are bidding to host the 2027 or 2028 NBA All-Star Weekend. The Bucks would host the event at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

2025 All-Star Weekend is scheduled to be hosted in San Francisco at the Chase Center. The 2026 event is scheduled for the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. The Intuit Dome is scheduled to become the LA Clippers home at the start of the 2024-25 season.

Milwaukee has hosted the NBA All-Star Game once in franchise history. In 1977 the Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference. Julius Erving of the Philadelphia 76ers was named MVP.

The Milwaukee Bucks loss to the Memphis Grizzlies left Doc Rivers in an unhappy mood postgame. Rivers was mostly upset with the lack of effort his team showed throughout the game.

"We had some guys here. We had some guys in Cabo," Rivers said.

The undermanned Grizzlies, who were missing several key players due to injuries, shot 53% for the game. Rookie forward GG Jackson scored a career-high 27 points off the Memphis bench.

Outside of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis, no Bucks regulars were able to get it going. Milwaukee has Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard headed to the All-Star Game, as well as Rivers and his coaching staff.

Danilo Gallinari has agreed to sign with the Milwaukee Bucks for the remainder of the season.

Gallinari was waived by the Detroit Pistons after the trade deadline. Gallinari also considered the Los Angeles Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls.

Gallinari previously played for Doc Rivers as members of the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Sacramento Kings have agreed to acquire Robin Lopez and cash from the Milwaukee Bucks.

Lopez is expected to be waived to become a free agent. 

The trade opens up a roster spot for the Bucks and also saves $8.6 million toward the luxury tax. 

The Milwaukee Bucks have agreed to acquire Patrick Beverley from the Philadelphia 76ers for Cameron Payne and a second round pick in 2027.

Beverley will give the Bucks an upgrade defensively in the backcourt. 

The Bucks also had interest in Kris Dunn and Naji Marshall.

With the Sixers trading away Beverley, they could like their chances of signing Kyle Lowry if he's bought out by the Charlotte Hornets. 

The Milwaukee Bucks are believed to be aggressive heading into the trade deadline despite limited tradable pieces. Jon Horst has made a trade deadline deal at four out of the past five deadlines. 

"Milwaukee is definitely trying," said Brian Windhorst on the Wednesday episode of his podcast. "I was talking to a team just last night where they have been talking with Milwaukee and they were like 'They must have dozens of trade scenarios they have been pitching. Trying three-way deals, all kinds of stuff.'

"Basically to get anybody in there that can defend a little bit, particularly on the perimeter.

"They have two second round picks they are allowed to trade. No firsts. One of them is Portland's pick this year."

"They can try to repackage some swaps if they really want to try to get creative to manufacture something," added Tim Bontemps. "You're really scraping the bottom of the barrel if you're swapping already swapped picks."