The Milwaukee Bucks’ 2026-27 schedule is out, and the full 82-game slate comes with a few dates that jump off the page immediately.
For a team heading into its first season without Giannis Antetokounmpo since 2012-13, the calendar is loaded with games that carry more than the usual regular-season weight. Some are about emotion.
Some are about old ties. And some are simply about finding out what this new-look Bucks team really is.
The most obvious spotlight falls on Miami. The Bucks and Heat will meet four times, and every one of those games comes with Antetokounmpo front and center after Miami landed him in the offseason. The Heat sent Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware, Jaime Jaquez jr., Kasparas Jakučionis and multiple draft picks to Milwaukee in the deal.
The first matchup comes on Nov. 18 in Miami on ESPN at 7 p.m., and the return to Milwaukee is set for Jan. 28, when Antetokounmpo will come back to the building he once called home wearing the visitors’ locker room instead of the home side. The second meeting will be on Prime, then the teams play again in Miami on Feb. 4 before wrapping up the season series on March 12 in Milwaukee.
That series has plenty of built-in edge beyond Antetokounmpo. Bobby Portis will also be facing his former team, while the Heat players who landed in Milwaukee will be trying to prove something every time they see Miami.
Herro said he and his teammates are going to have a huge chip on their shoulder, especially with doubt around Milwaukee’s talent after the trade. And there’s another layer too: the physical altercation Herro and Bam Adebayo had in Las Vegas during summer league.
The Bucks also get a pair of games against the Memphis Grizzlies that will mean a little extra for head coach Taylor Jenkins. Milwaukee will play in Memphis on Dec. 12 before the teams meet again in Milwaukee on Feb. 1.
Jenkins spent six seasons with the Grizzlies, won 250 games there and made the playoffs three times. He was fired after Memphis started 44-29 in his final season and was replaced by Tuomas Iisalo. The Grizzlies look different now, with Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., Desmond Bane and Dillon Brooks gone, but the matchup still gives Jenkins a shot at beating his old team.
Then there’s the opener, which might be the cleanest way to get an early read on this Bucks group. Milwaukee starts the season on Oct. 21 against the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena.
Washington’s roster has a lot going on. The Wizards will have Anthony Davis, Trae Young and No. 1 pick AJ Dybantsa, along with Tre Johnson, Alex Sarr, Keyshawn George and Bub Carrington. They went 17-65 last season, but the talent level looks very different now, and that makes the Bucks’ first game anything but routine.
For Milwaukee, it’s the first chance to see how this version of the team looks when the games count.
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The first meeting comes in Miami on November 18, while the more emotional stop is set for a late-January trip to Fiserv Forum on Amazon Prime. For Bucks fans, that home date will carry the real weight, because it will be the first time they get to see Antetokounmpo back in Milwaukee since he was dealt to the Heat in June. [Read more 🡒]