The Bucks’ center spot is turning into a waiting game, and not the kind anyone in Milwaukee wanted. Myles Turner has stumbled badly in his second season with the team, but the answer isn’t sitting neatly behind him either. Kel’el Ware hasn’t played well enough to make a benching feel like a clean fix.
Turner’s November has been rough. In five games this month, he’s putting up 6.5 points and 5.8 rebounds while making just 28.9 percent of his shots.
His passing and rim protection have held up reasonably well, but the rest of the line has been ugly enough to overshadow it. For a player the Bucks went to extreme lengths to bring in, the drop-off has been hard to ignore.
That’s why the bench conversation has started to pick up. Coach Taylor Jenkins has already shown he’s willing to move veterans down the pecking order early in the season.
Ousmane Dieng lost his spot to Nate Ament after a shaky start, and Ryan Rollins was pushed to the bench in favor of the rising Brayden Burries. So the question naturally follows: why not Turner?
The problem is Ware hasn’t made that idea look very appealing. Over the same stretch, he’s averaging only 3.2 points and 4.2 rebounds while shooting 22.2 percent from the field.
He’s also logging the 10th-most minutes on the team during that span, which says plenty about how much Jenkins trusts him right now. The coach even had to reach for third-string big man Jericho Sims against the New York Knicks.
If Ware were producing, Milwaukee could at least justify a shake-up and give a younger player a longer runway. But with both centers struggling, that move doesn’t feel especially realistic at the moment.
A trade would be the cleanest escape hatch, but that path looks shaky too. Turner’s contract runs for several more years, and he simply doesn’t fit the team’s current timeline.
If he had opened the season strongly, maybe the Bucks could have found a market. Right now, even a deal that brought back Kristaps Porzingis from the Warriors would reportedly require Milwaukee to attach a first-round pick to Turner, and he’s been that bad.
So the most likely outcome is patience, whether anyone likes it or not. Milwaukee needs Turner to rebuild some value, and if that happens, the Bucks can move quickly on the first trade that brings back something useful. If Ware steadies himself in the meantime, then maybe he earns a real look as the starter.
For now, though, the Bucks don’t appear close to making a major change at center.
In Other News...
Bucks Just Lost A Frontcourt Option Fans Were Starting To Notice
Johni Broome had barely gotten his feet under him in Milwaukees system before another team made a move. After signing with the Bucks and appearing in two games for the Wisconsin Herd, the frontcourt prospect is headed to Minnesota on a two-way contract, a quick turn that says plenty about how closely teams are watching the G League for ready-made bigs.
Broome had been productive in his short run with the Herd, averaging 17.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game, enough to make him one of the more noticeable names in Milwaukees developmental pipeline. Now the Bucks will keep sorting through other frontcourt options in their G League system, looking for the next player who can push for an NBA promotion before another club gets there first. [Read more 🡒]
Bucks Rotation Decisions Are Raising Questions Milwaukee Cant Ignore
With a 1-10 start and the second-worst net rating in the NBA, the Bucks are already in the kind of early-season hole that forces every decision into the spotlight. New head coach Taylor Jenkins is trying to install new strategies and a new culture at the same time, but the roster built after the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade is looking increasingly like a group with structural issues that go beyond a slow start.
The rotation has become one of the clearest examples. Myles Turner has been getting significant minutes even as his shooting has lagged and questions about his effort have surfaced, while Kel'el Ware has flashed some defensive promise without finding much offensive rhythm or consistent playing time. For Milwaukee, the issue is no longer just about who is playing well on a given night. It is about whether the Bucks can settle on a lineup that actually makes sense before the season slips further away. [Read more 🡒]
Bucks Suddenly Face One Huge Question In Gary Trent Jr. Case
The Bucks offseason business has taken on an unexpected layer of uncertainty as the NBA looks into how the team handled Gary Trent Jr.s contract. What had been a straightforward move from a minimum deal to a four-year, $64 million extension is now under review, putting Milwaukee in the middle of a cap-related investigation that has quickly become one of the leagues more serious side stories.
For the Bucks, the concern is bigger than just a paperwork issue. Media analysts have already raised the possibility of league discipline if Milwaukee is found to have crossed the line on cap circumvention, with potential punishment ranging from a suspension for general manager John Horst to the loss of draft picks. However this plays out, it has the chance to linger well beyond the current roster and shape how the franchise is viewed going forward. [Read more 🡒]