The NBA season finally kicked off on Tuesday. The Bucks make their first appearance of the very young season today October 21, 2026, on the road against the Washington Wizards.
You can expect to see two very different teams from last season. The Wizard’s who appear to have completed their rebuild behind another great draft and adding veteran all stars in Trae Young and Anthony Davis.
The Bucks for a very different reason with the exit of Giannis Antetokounmpo to Miami. The pillar of the Milwaukee community for 13 seasons fetched a haul of players and draft picks. Today we are going to project what the upcoming season will look like for those rookies.
Brayden Burries | 6’4” | 205lbs | Guard | 10th pick
The dynamic guard out of Arizona will look to carry a strong preseason into his NBA debut. He was the second leading scorer for the Bucks during the tune up games. He averaged 14 points per game but on very low efficiency which is to be expected from a rookie. He shot only 41.3% from the field and 11.8% from the deeper NBA three-point line.
The thing that stood out was his fearlessness. He played decisively, hard and moved with a purpose. He also should that he is a terrific defender. This was evident from his college tape and looks likely to be translated into the NBA.
He does a little of everything. He chipped in with 4.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals per game.
Projection
Burries will be a focal point of this team by mid-season. His ability to be a two-way player and impact the game will be too loud to ignore.
He already has an NBA ability most rookies fail to possess and that is to get to the foul line. He only played 22.9 minutes per game in preseason but averaged 4.8 free throw attempts per game shooting 84.2% at the charity stripe.
The Bucks have 10 guards on their roster even after letting go of Kevin Porter Jr, and Brayden is the best prospect of them all. He will excel in turning defense into offense and finishing in transition. He is a willing passer and isn’t backing down from anyone.
His biggest challenge will be keeping his turnovers low in the faster paced NBA compared to college. It is very important that he picks his spots from deep. He doesn’t want to take shots that hamper the flow of the offense, but he will need to be able to knock down the open ones.
Nate Ament | 6’10” | 207lbs | wing | 13th pick
He was acquired in the Giannis trade with Miami. He wore the Miami Heat cap on stage and never wore it again. He was a Buck practically from the start and everyone knew it.
He was one of the strangest evaluations I have had in college basketball. In theory he should be a lock to be successful in the NBA. He is a smooth jump shooting modern wing with good size and wingspan.
The biggest issue was how slow his feet were and his lack of physicality and explosiveness. That showed up in NBA preseason as well. He only played 11 minutes per game as Milwaukee opted to play more of their guards who are ready to play already.
Nate only averaged 5.5 points per game and shot 27.3% from the field. He did show off the nice shooting touch from deep hitting 1 of his only 2 attempts of the preseason. There will be some people who would say but preseason doesn’t mean anything.
Well, his college stats were not much better shooting 39.9% from the field and 33.3% from deep. He had tons of usage at Tennessee and his ability to create any separate stood out. The same issues are following him to the NBA.
His best NBA skill will be his ability to get to the foul line. He has a knack for drawing fouls. He averaged 7.1 attempts per game in college. He got to the line okay in preseason also at 3.5 attempts per game in his limited minutes. He only shot 57.1% from the line, likely due to the increased pace which causes fatigue and shows up in rookies sometimes.
Projection
He needs to be in the G-league to get reps because I do not see him playing a lot this season. He may play initially just to see what he can do but I expect most of the season he will be playing for the Wisconsin Herd.
He will also need to work on his foot speed, ball handling and defense while down there. I would count this as a developmental year.
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