The 2024 offseason officially started the moment the Boston Celtics became the first Eastern Conference team to win an NBA championship since the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021. The New York Knicks opened the offseason with a bang by acquiring Mikal Bridges from the Brooklyn Nets. The Philadelphia 76ers made the biggest move at the start of the free agency window by agreeing to a deal to sign nine-time All-Star Paul George on July 1.
In Milwaukee, the Bucks put together a less flashy offseason.
After surprising much of the league by trading for All-Star point guard Damian Lillard days before the start of the 2023-24 season, the Bucks were eliminated in the first round of the NBA playoffs in a series that saw two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo sidelined with an injury for a second consecutive postseason. While injuries played a major role in the team’s elimination, Antetokounmpo’s and Lillard’s first season together ended up as a disappointment for the Bucks.
This offseason, looking to put the Bucks in a position to contend in the East for a seventh consecutive season, Bucks general manager Jon Horst needed to help the Bucks get stronger while using only minimum contracts. They were the only contracts he could use without making a trade to shave millions off the team’s payroll for next season.
Ultimately, the Bucks filled out their roster with three free-agent signings — Taurean Prince, Gary Trent Jr. and Delon Wright — to complete a relatively straightforward offseason. While Horst made just three moves, the Bucks were still plenty active this offseason as they worked through potential trades and head coach Doc Rivers put together his coaching staff for the first time.
Before heading to Paris to watch Antetokounmpo represent Greece in the Olympics for the first time, Horst sat down for a 30-minute conversation with The Athletic to break down the team’s offseason moves and preview next season.
Highlights include the Bucks GM:
– Reiterating that he would make the trade for Lillard again: “I don’t apologize for it.”
– Detailing how the offseason’s roster moves were done to “help Dame be his best self, help Giannis be his best self.”
– Explaining that the Bucks have zero intention of trading Brook Lopez: “I hope that Brook retires as a Milwaukee Buck.”
– Saying that “there’s no question that our team is one of the top teams in the conference and in the league.”
Horst’s full and wide-ranging conversation about the lessons learned in the tumultuous 2023-24 season, the team’s offseason goals, trade rumors, how their free agent signings help the roster, Rivers’ coaching staff, the team’s place in the Eastern Conference and much more can be found below.
(This interview was lightly edited for clarity.)
While we try to tackle your offseason moves in chronological order, it makes a little more sense here to start at the end. Before the offseason got underway, there was discussion of Gary Trent Jr. receiving far more than the minimum this summer. How much did signing him mean to your offseason and what do you feel like he can bring to this team?
For us, having some of the limitations with the CBA and the second apron — and we’ve always done this — but we’ve just worked really, really hard from the day that the offseason started until now as we continue to work to be super intentional and specific about who we add to this team, how we add to this team, and trying to build a team that best fits Dame, Giannis, Khris (Middleton), Brook, Bobby (Portis), Pat (C0nnaughton) and the group and Doc. So I feel very fortunate that we had an opportunity to have an offseason understanding what our core group of players was going to be, what our coaching staff was going to be, and then trying to build best fits. And I think Gary, in particular, epitomizes some of those targets.
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Gary is a legit starting two-guard option that we’re very fortunate to be able to add to our group in a position of need. He’s a starting two-guard. He’s got starting two-guard size. He’s an almost 40-percent 3-point shooter for his career. A high level catch-and-shoot, 3-point shooter. Makes contested and uncontested 3s. He has a defensive component to his game that I think we can help flourish and grow more in our system. We’ve been able to do that with players, not only grow players offensively, but grow them defensively. And I just think he’s a great fit, not only next to Dame, but next to Khris and Giannis and Brook and Bobby and the group.
So I think it says a lot about our work and our effort to really target guys and stay on them and recruit them through free agency. That’s what free agency is. But also, it says a ton about Gary and his willingness to bet on himself, bet on an opportunity to win and really hopefully enhance his market and his position in the league by contributing to winning in a big way and playing a big part in a really good team’s success.
He didn’t have the market that he probably wanted, but he also wasn’t a minimum player. Gary could have signed for more money elsewhere. He chose us for the opportunity that he thinks that we can give him, but also, he wants to win. So, it says a lot about him that we were able to secure him here in free agency.
Delon Wright was your first free-agent signing this summer. Why was he a player you seemed to target this offseason?
Delon just gave us a ton of flexibility. He was not only an early target, he was a top target for us. Again, credit to Delon, he chose fit and opportunity over everything. He wanted to contribute to winning, wanted to be part of a great culture, wanted to play with people that he’s familiar with, and in a system that he thought he could excel in.
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Delon is a really successful, versatile player. We targeted him because he can start at or back up two positions, maybe even three. He’s a big guard. He’s a defensive-minded guard. He’s playoff proven. He’s able to kind of generate turnovers, which is another thing that Gary does also. Both those guys are guys that generate turnovers on the ball and off the ball in the backcourt, something that we struggled with last year and we think helps in the playoffs. He’s capable of playing on the ball in pick-and-roll. He’s capable of playing off the ball as a catch-and-shoot threat from 3. He can finish around the rim.
So, for us, the versatility of Delon being able to play at either backcourt positions as a starter, as a backup, just with his experiences, was an absolute no-brainer. He was a high, high target for us and we were very fortunate that we were able to get him early.
Taurean Prince started 49 games and played 2,108 minutes for the Lakers last season. He is likely not going to be in line for a role quite that large here in Milwaukee, but what do you see for him this season and how does he fit?
Going back to those other two guys, and I’ll mention this with Taurean too, these are all players that are either entering, or in the middle of their primes, so I think age and size can be viewed as these principal factors for Gary, Delon and Taurean.
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Taurean is a big wing. Versatile offensive player, versatile defensive player. Capable of starting, capable of coming off the bench. Started almost 50 games for the Lakers, played in almost all their games last year. He played 78 games last year. He’s a good 3-point shooter on a good amount of attempts, which is always important for our team. Highly effective in guarding tough matchups, really two through four, he has guarded some of the best players in the league throughout his career and even last year. He’s had really difficult matchups and done a really good job at it, so that’s something that pops for us. And he’s just athletic. So size, athleticism, age (30), really felt like that fit the things that we’re trying to accomplish in our offseason.
He’s another guy who can defend multiple positions and make 3s. There’s a trend, if you look at these guys. Guys that can shoot the ball, that can defend multiple positions, age-appropriate, size-appropriate was really the overall target. And Taurean fits that as well as anybody.
The Bucks believe the Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo partnership will hit its stride in Year 2. (Petre Thomas / USA Today)
Just a few days before last season, you traded for Damian Lillard and put him on a team that, in my opinion, was built to be led by someone like Jrue Holiday at point guard. After watching a season with Lillard and a half season with Doc Rivers at head coach, what were your big takeaways in terms of roster building and what this team needed most this offseason?
We’ve talked about this a little bit in some of the other media sessions that I’ve had, but I agree. And I don’t apologize for it. I think it’s just the nature of our business. We had an offseason. We built a team, and then we had an incredible opportunity to acquire an NBA All-75th Anniversary team, top-75 player and pair him with another NBA All-75th Anniversary team, top-75 player late in the offseason and we did it. And then we try to do the best that we can and put a team together following that.
This year, I think the fact that we have a set coaching staff, a style of play, a core group of guys centered around Dame and Giannis, Brook and Khris, Bobby and Pat and now an offseason to build out the rest of the roster, I think that’s going to be really beneficial for us. Even with that though, we still had a lot of on-court successes last year with the core group that we had. (Our) big three was a plus-18 net rating, second best in the entire league. Our starting group had the best net rating in the entire league, with any kind of real-minute filter. Our different two man combos of Giannis and Dame, Brook and Giannis, Khris and Giannis, Khris and Dame, all had really positive net ratings and efficiencies. The Dame-Giannis pick-and-roll was something that built throughout the year and gained momentum. Near the end, it got really effective. It’s going to be even better.
I think defensively, we’re going to figure out ways to help Dame more with the roster acquisitions that we’ve made. But Dame is going to be better defensively, just with more experience playing with our group and understanding what it’s like to play with Giannis and Brook and play in Doc’s system. So I think there’s a lot of upside to this roster, based on the acquisitions that we’ve made here in free agency, but I’ve always said that there’s a lot of upside to the roster, just based on familiarity with the coaching staff and roster. And don’t forget MarJon (Beauchamp), Andre Jackson Jr., AJ Green and Chris Livingston coming back and their improvements. I think those guys are going to have an impact on our team.
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So I’m really looking forward to this year. I think the guys are too. There’s a motivation here. Obviously we have to be healthy, so we can realize the benefits in the playoffs of some of these really strong regular-season metrics that we had, but I think those things will all be better. And we’re going to figure out how to be healthier and continue to be successful, not only in the regular season, but in the playoffs.
Speaking of Dame, how do you evaluate his first season in Milwaukee? And how do you see him improving in his second season?
How we evaluated his first season, to get in the nuts and bolts of it, is the way we evaluate everything. We dove incredibly deep into all the factors. Into his personal play, to the impact he had on our team with different groups that he played with, different groups that played with him, his health, what his offseason looked like last year coming into the season and how that impacted his health, what it looks like this year and how we think that will impact his health. We got deep down and dirty into every evaluation and assessment that you can, not just on Dame but on our entire team. The result of that really is the things that you’ve seen us do.
We went out and tried to find players and systems that are going to help Dame be his best self, help Giannis be his best self, which ultimately helps the rest of our team grow.
I think the other thing is Dame is an incredible mentor, professional, leader in this league. Well-respected, well-renowned for what he brings to an organization. He led an entire organization for the majority of his career up until last season and so he’s taking active steps this year to continue to grow in that way with us also. That’s not just something that happens overnight. He and Giannis and Khris and Brook and Doc, myself, we all have to figure out what that looks like, what our roles are in leading this organization. And so he’s unquestionably had a significantly positive impact in those areas as a leader as well. And he’ll be even better this year than he was last year, just because he’s going to be more familiar. He’s going to understand what his role is and how he fits in that way as well.
So I just think, we’ve gotta be healthy, you gotta have talent, obviously, and you’ve gotta have luck. That’s always the case. I put our talent up against anybody. We’ve got to get our health up there with everybody and we got to be a little bit lucky, but, I’m very, very positive and bullish on this team with all the factors behind it.
I love where we’re at. I love where we’re positioned going into the season. I love the balance of age and talent on our roster. We talked about it at the draft. We have six returning vets, three possible vet free agents, three returning young vets in MarJon, AJ and Andre that I think are ready to contribute now and three 19- or 20-year-olds in AJ Johnson, Chris Livingston and Tyler Smith. Now we’ve filled that unknown in three vets with a 25-year-old Gary Trent, a 32-year-old Delon Wright and a 30-year-old Taurean Prince.
I think this team makes sense. Will it ultimately win? Who knows. That’s our job to figure out, but we’re really excited about where they’re at.
A lot of the conversation around the league this summer was spent discussing the new collective bargaining agreement, but especially the second apron. Was getting under the second apron something you viewed to be important at all for this upcoming season?
Listen, when you have a team that is as talented as ours — I don’t say this boastfully, I just say this more matter-of-factually — we don’t have a bad contract on our roster. All of our players are good players, good people on good-to-great contracts. So we can get anywhere at any time we want in the CBA, anywhere from a room team to a second-apron team. I think it’s never an issue for us to go where we want in terms of the CBA limits or aprons or thresholds. But the goal is not that.
The goal has been, and will continue to be, to try to figure out how to win, to be the best team and organization in professional sports. Wes Edens and Jimmy Haslam and Dee Haslam and Jamie Dinan, they’ve continued to support that effort and there’s nothing different about it this year. We’re trying to figure out how to win. We’ve got two top-75 players. We’ve got an incredible supporting cast. We have a unique opportunity to be positioned to compete for a championship. And we’ve got a Hall of Fame coach in Doc Rivers, as well as an unbelievable coaching staff that Doc’s put together, which I hope we talk about here in a little bit. I think these are unique opportunities. This is Year 7 or 8 where we have a chance again, and that’s been the sole purpose and effort.
Now, if we can improve our team and improve our financial position or strategic position relative to a cap or an apron or a threshold, of course we’ll do it, but those are super hard things to do. They’re not zero probability, but they’re not much higher than that. So if we can do that, we will, but right now the only goal is to get better and I think we’ve done that so far.
The Bucks expect Brook Lopez to have a big hand in their defensive scheme this coming season. (Benny Sieu / USA Today)
One of the rumors that was most connected to your team this summer was potentially trading Brook Lopez. When you talk about a move that could change the way that the team plays and also potentially bring you under the second apron, that feels like the type of trade you could be talking about. Is that something you considered and what are your thoughts on having Lopez on the roster moving forward?
First of all, rumors and chatter are what makes the league so interesting and so fun, so people are always going to speculate and talk about it. And I typically don’t talk about any of this stuff with the media, but I will say, because Brook is so core to who we are, we have zero intentions of trading Brook. Of course he has value around the league. That’s a credit to him. But we’ve not engaged in any real conversations about trading Brook. There are teams that have a lot of value and interest in him. It’s my job to take calls, receive calls, have conversations, but Brook has been and will continue to be core to who we are.
I hope that Brook retires as a Milwaukee Buck. That’s been the goal since we originally got him. His impact on our team defensively and rebounding is elite. It only gets better. It’s not declining. I mean, he’s an anomaly in how he just continues to get better and better and better. For Doc, who got to spend time with Brook personally last year, Brook holds an incredible value for Doc for what he does defensively and rebounding and offensively, the spacing he gives us, and especially Giannis, is unique.
People are going to always speculate and have conversations and they’ll think they know what they’re talking about, but at the end of the day, we have zero interest or intention of trading Brook Lopez. He’s a core part of our team. We’ve got a starting group now that we think is as good as anybody and we look forward to seeing how this team plays throughout the year.
You mentioned the staff that Doc has assembled. I can’t say I’ve researched this specific fact, but it feels like you may have one of, if not the, most experienced coaching staffs in the NBA. What do you feel like that investment and those people will mean to the team next season?
Obviously, it starts with Doc and his ability. People have a huge respect for him across the league. Coaches do. Coaches want to coach for him and with him and also learn from him. I’ve felt that here in our time together so far, It’s obvious. So I think it starts with that.
I also think the chance to coach Dame, the chance to coach Giannis, Khris, Brook, Bobby, the whole group. I think those guys carry their own weight as well. And then the success of our organization, the reputation of our organization, from ownership to Peter (Feigin) to myself, and just the culture we have, how we resource our professionals to try to win and so, you put all those things together and we were able to build a special group.
You have Doc Rivers as your head coach. Darvin Ham, who led his team in tough circumstances to a conference finals. Dave Joerger, who has led his teams deep in the playoffs and has hundreds of wins as a head coach in the NBA. Greg Buckner, who’s probably one of, if not the, most respected top assistants and defensive minds in the game. That’s the front of our bench. And I think when you get behind that, just the professionals we have and the experience we have with Rex Kalamian, who has done everything you can do in this league, and Joe Prunty and Vin Baker and Pete Dominguez and Jason Love and Spencer Rivers and Jack Herum. I haven’t done the research either, but it has to be the most experienced overall staff in the entire league.
I’ve spent a lot of time with all of them. It’s one of the greatest groups of professionals and people that I’ve ever been around. They’re just really high energy, positive, curious, creative people, so I love the group of adults and professionals that we have from a playing perspective, a coaching perspective, front-office perspective.
And I think we have a chance. We’ve gotta all come together. We gotta work our asses off. And we gotta do everything we can to control our destiny here, but it’s a really, really positive, exciting group of coaches that Doc put together. He allowed me to work with him and have a role in recruiting and executing on these deals, but at the end of the day, it’s him and his relationships and these guys want to work with him. So it’s exciting.
I’m not sure that head start is the right phrase because you have a different team year over year and it’s a different league, but you made the decision to change head coaches in the middle of a season and that gave Doc roughly 40 regular season games and a playoff series with the Bucks. How much do you feel like that can help in his first full season as head coach?
In hindsight, none of us are happy with the results last season, but in terms of how it positions us for this season, I couldn’t imagine a better transition. It’s so much better to have that foundation. He and I have a foundation working together. Him with the players. Just organizational structure, the medical staff, all the things that go into a professional sports operation to have those games under our belt that time under our belt to tip-off this season, I just think we’re in a much better spot than we would have been if we were starting fresh in an offseason, so I think head start is the right term.
One thing that was mentioned a lot last offseason with Adrian Griffin taking over was defensive versatility. That’s something that you brought up already in this conversation as well. At the start of last season, Griff was running a much more aggressive defensive scheme. After a short trial run at the start of the season, the players asked him to dial things back. So, now after that experience and what you’ve said about Brook Lopez being a part of this team moving forward, what do you feel like you’ve learned about being a more versatile defensive team with Brook still being a core part of the roster?
That’s a big question. What have we learned? I think we’ve learned that we’re capable of doing more defensively. We are, as is Brook, willing to do more. This team really did a lot of different things defensively, from the start of the year, but even through the finish of the year. Griff had certain ways of doing it. Doc has certain ways of doing it. Other coaches do as well. But I think this team is willing and this team is capable. I also think that this team has certain ways in which they can be dominant defensively as a foundation. And I think Doc, as well as Darvin and Greg Buckner and Dave Joerger and the whole staff, is uniquely positioned to figure out what that foundation is, what does that look like, and how do we build off of it.
And what I love about Doc is he’s beyond curious, he’s creative and he does have that knack of throwing something out in the middle of a game. Or working on something for a week and then introducing it during the regular season. Doing things differently in the playoffs. Running some zone in the playoffs for a stretch or running the three-quarter-court trap or doubling down on a dominant post player. He is flexible and versatile in his approach, but I also think he’s very much focused on finding our foundation, finding our core strengths, defensively and building from there. So I think your initial question, what have I learned going through last year, this group is willing to try things and do things. And Brook continues to evolve and get better and grow. And I just think we gotta find out what the right things are for the group and then double down, triple down on those and then build from there. And I think that we’ll do that. I think we started that path last year. And I think we’ll continue on that path.
The last thing I learned is — and I shouldn’t say I learned this, we always know this — it’s also about personnel. As a front office, as an operations staff, we have to give the appropriate tools to our coaches to do the things they want to do offensively and defensively. So the time that we’ve spent with Doc and learned how we want to build out our roster, we’ve worked really hard to put those pieces in place. And I couldn’t be more excited about Delon and Taurean and Gary and the growth that MarJon and AJ, Andre and Chris are going to have in really adding to our defensive tool chest. I think these guys really are going to add to the things that we can do defensively as a group.
In addition to leading Greece to the Paris Olympics, Antetokounmpo will also carry the country’s flag in the opening ceremonies. (Nicholas Muller / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty Images)
You and I have spent a lot of time around Giannis Antetokounmpo over the last decade, so it’s not often that we get to see him do something for the first time. But this will be the first time that Giannis will represent Greece in the Olympics. As the high-level decision maker who has signed him to multiple contract extensions for hundreds of millions of dollars, how does it feel to watch him play for the Greek national team knowing that he is probably the most competitive person you or I have ever been around? What is that like for you?
He’s definitely the most competitive person we’ve ever met. There’s no question there. He would kill both of us if we said anything different. (Laughs.) I’m excited. Doc and Peter and I are going to head over (on Thursday). It’s historic, what he’s going to do, leading the country of Greece out in the Olympics Friday evening in Paris. I think that is beyond exciting. And I don’t know, you have some pride, you have some appreciation, watching him do that and just be part of his story and his path. All the things that he’s done to get to this point is pretty incredible. To see where he’s at, what he gets to do in terms of world history in sports, so that part’s beyond cool.
Then we’ll probably flip and have a completely different gut feeling watching him play the next day against Canada. I mean, I love watching Giannis play. Every single time I get to watch him play, you always get to see something that no one else in the world gets to see, unless you’re up close and personal, watching him do it. He just does things that no one else can do and it’s almost every single day. I’m assuming we’ll see that when he plays against Canada on Saturday.
So it’ll be that natural excitement balanced by you’re always worried watching guys, in my position. But that’s not unique to the Olympics. That’s every day in practice. That’s preseason game No. 1 and regular season game 82, I always have a nervousness watching him play. But it’s not just him either. It’s every one of our guys and that’s sport.
But I’m really excited to be in Paris, to watch him play, to watch him represent his country. Proud of him. Very happy for Greece and where they’re at and I wish them the best. They’ve got a really tough pool, but they’re a really good team. They’ve had a heck of a qualifying tournament so far and they’ve got the best player in the world on their team, so they’ve got a chance. So, I’m rooting for them for sure.
The Boston Celtics won the 2024 NBA championship. The Philadelphia 76ers traded for Paul George. The New York Knicks traded for Mikal Bridges. Do you still believe you belong in the conversation among the teams at the top of the Eastern Conference?
Yeah. I mean, honestly, it’s just whether or not those other teams belong in the conversation with us. We’re the winningest team in the league and the conference the last seven or eight years. We still have our place there. We still have the best player in the world. We’ve got two top-75 players as our lead duo. We gotta be healthy. We gotta be lucky. We gotta be good. We’re definitely good enough. The guys are going to put in the right work. Hopefully we’re healthy enough and lucky enough and we’ll see.
I mean, it’s an incredibly tough conference and tough league. You’re just talking about the East, which is great, but the West has gotten a lot better too. And whether it’s they belong with us, we belong with them, we’ll all figure it out together. It’ll shake itself out. But there’s no question that our team is one of the top teams in the conference and in the league.
I don’t normally end up asking a lot of questions about you personally, but at the beginning of free agency, the Detroit Pistons were interested in discussing their general manager position with you. Ultimately, the Bucks did not grant the Pistons permission to discuss that opportunity with you. How did that affect your relationship with the organization?
I never spoke to the Pistons. The Bucks didn’t allow me to, but they also expressed why they made that decision and how much they value me and want me here in Milwaukee, so it was pretty quick on my end. When the Pistons came to the Bucks about their interest in me, I had a brief conversation with our ownership group, they told me how they felt and how they were going to approach it and very quickly, our conversation shifted to the team this offseason.
Wes (Edens) and I actually ended up talking for 45 minutes about how we were going to have a killer offseason and the types of guys we need to get and how we don’t want to be in this position again, and how much it sucks watching someone else play. We just talked about our team and that honestly was about the depth of the entire Detroit thing between me and the ownership group.
I have great respect for Detroit, but I love Milwaukee and what we’ve built and are continuing to build. For as much as it was talked about publicly and written about and all those things, it was really kind of a brief part of my summer. I didn’t have any control over it, so I just wanted to focus on our team and make sure I was focused on the right things and how we were going to get better this offseason.
(Top photo of Jon Horst: Stacy Revere / Getty Images)
