Fifty years. That’s how long Milwaukee waited. People forget how much pressure was on the 2021 Milwaukee Bucks roster to actually get it done. Honestly, if they hadn’t won it all that year, the narrative around Giannis Antetokounmpo would be totally different right now. He might’ve even been wearing a different jersey by 2026.
But they did it. And they didn't just win; they clawed back from a 2-0 deficit in the Finals against a Phoenix Suns team that looked absolutely unstoppable early on. It was gritty. It was kind of ugly at times. It was perfect.
Looking back, that roster was a masterclass in "fit" over "flash." You didn't have three superstars in their prime. You had one generational freak of nature and a bunch of guys who knew exactly how to make his life easier.
The Big Three That Actually Worked
Everyone talks about Super Teams. This wasn't that. It was a build-around.
Giannis Antetokounmpo was the engine. Obviously. In the Finals, he put up 35.2 points, 13.2 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game. Those are video game numbers. People still talk about the 50-point masterpiece in Game 6, but remember he was playing on a knee that looked like it snapped in half just a week earlier in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Then you had Khris Middleton. He’s the guy who doesn't get enough credit for being the "closer." Giannis got them to the finish line, but Middleton hit the shots that actually crossed it. He averaged 24 points in that Suns series. When the offense bogged down—which it did, a lot—he was the one taking the tough, contested mid-rangers that broke the other team's spirit.
And the missing piece? Jrue Holiday.
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The Bucks gave up a king’s ransom for him. People questioned if it was too much. It wasn't. Jrue’s offense was up and down during the playoffs, sure. But his defense on Chris Paul and Devin Booker was the stuff of nightmares. He averaged 9.3 assists and 2.2 steals in the Finals. That iconic steal and lob to Giannis in Game 5? That’s the 2021 Milwaukee Bucks roster in a nutshell.
The Role Players Who Refused to Blink
If you look at the bench from that year, it wasn't exactly deep. But the guys who played, played.
- Brook Lopez: The "Splash Mountain" era was in full effect. He protected the rim so Giannis could roam, and he hit enough threes to keep the lane open.
- Bobby Portis: The energy. The eyes. The fan favorite. Bobby turned down more money elsewhere to stay in Milwaukee, and his 11.4 points per game off the bench were huge. He was the emotional heartbeat of the Fiserv Forum.
- P.J. Tucker: He didn't score. Basically ever. But he made Kevin Durant work for every single inch in that Brooklyn series. Tucker brought a "dawg" mentality that the Bucks were arguably missing in previous years.
- Pat Connaughton: Maybe the most underrated athlete on the team. He was basically a human pogo stick, grabbing offensive rebounds and hitting timely threes.
What Most People Get Wrong About the 2021 Season
There's this weird myth that the Bucks got "lucky" because of injuries to the Nets. Look, injuries happen every year. That’s basketball. What people miss is that the Bucks had to survive their own disaster—losing Donte DiVincenzo early in the first round.
DiVincenzo was a starter. Losing him forced Mike Budenholzer to shorten the rotation and rely heavily on guys like P.J. Tucker and Bryn Forbes. Forbes, by the way, outscored Jimmy Butler in the first round. Let that sink in.
The 2021 squad finished the regular season 46-26. Not world-beaters. They were the 3-seed. They weren't even the favorites to come out of the East. But they were built for the postseason. They were heavy, physical, and they could switch everything on defense.
The Chemistry Experiment
Unlike the rosters we see today in 2026, where players move every two years, that group felt like a neighborhood.
Giannis, Middleton, and Lopez had been together for years. They’d suffered the playoff heartbreaks against Toronto and Miami. By the time 2021 rolled around, they had scar tissue. They knew how to fail together, which is probably why they didn't panic when they went down 0-2 to Phoenix.
Jeff Teague came in late as a veteran presence. Thanasis Antetokounmpo provided the hype. Even guys like Jordan Nwora and Sam Merrill provided enough depth during the regular season to keep the stars fresh. It was a top-heavy roster, but the top was made of granite.
Why We Still Study This Roster
If you’re a GM today, you’re looking at the 2021 Milwaukee Bucks roster as the blueprint for how to build around a non-shooting superstar.
You need a secondary creator (Middleton).
You need an elite point-of-attack defender (Holiday).
You need a floor-spacing center (Lopez).
And you need "glue guys" who don't care about their box score stats (Tucker and Portis).
It sounds simple. It’s incredibly hard to actually pull off.
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Today, only Giannis and Bobby Portis remain from that championship core. Middleton was traded, Holiday is winning rings in Boston, and Brook Lopez eventually moved on. It’s a reminder of how fast the window closes in the NBA. That 2021 team caught lightning in a bottle, but they had to build the bottle first.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Analysts
If you want to understand why a team wins or loses in the modern NBA, don't just look at the PER of their best player. Look at the defensive versatility of the 4th and 5th starters. The 2021 Bucks won because their 5th starter (usually Tucker or Connaughton) could guard three different positions.
Next time you're evaluating a championship contender, ask yourself:
- Does the roster have a "closer" who can score when the system breaks down?
- Is there a defender who can take the opposing team's best player out of their rhythm for 40 minutes?
- Does the bench provide a specific, high-level skill (like Portis's rebounding or Forbes's shooting) rather than just being "decent" at everything?
The 2021 Bucks answered "yes" to all of those. That's why they're the ones with the rings.
To get a better sense of how the league has shifted since then, you can compare this roster's defensive rating to the current league leaders. You might also look into the specific trade details that brought Jrue Holiday to Milwaukee to see just how much the front office was willing to gamble on a single season.