Bucks' Damian Lillard outlines leadership responsibilities with Giannis Antetokounmpo
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Although they’re dealing with a murky Khris Middleton injury situation, Doc Rivers and the Milwaukee Bucks are looking to silence the doubters this season in the second year of the Damian Lillard-Giannis Antetokounmpo partnership. The Bucks’ season ended in the first round last season for the second straight year as Antetokounmpo missed their series vs the Indiana Pacers due to injury, but the hope is that he and Lillard will be able to help the team challenge the Boston Celtics in the east this year.
Recently, Lillard spoke on how he and Antetokounmpo coexist as a star duo, and the responsibility they both feel as the leaders of the team to produce at a high level every night, per Eric Nehm of The Athletic.
"It's different," Lillard said. "I think it is hard. It's harder than people talk about it, especially when you've had the ball as much as he has and I've had the ball as much as I have.
"But I think what it comes down to is, when you are the leader of a team … like the first option of a team or like a star player, you want to make sure that you are doing what you're supposed to do. Like, I'm being productive. I'm dominating. And you don't ever want to feel like you're coming up short of that."
Lillard also spoke on his responsibility as a point guard to put Antetokounmpo in the best position to be successful.
"It's just a matter of him trusting that,” said Lillard. “I'm also going to make sure he's producing and he's doing his 30 and 14 or whatever because like, it's not that he wants stats, he wants to be his dominant self. And the same goes for me."
Can the Bucks break through in 2024-25?
The Bucks have one precisely one playoff series since hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy back in 2021, and untimely Antetokoumpo injuries have been a large part of the reason why, as the former MVP missed the majority of Milwaukee’s first round loss to the Miami Heat in 2023 and then all of it against the Pacers this past year.
While Lillard proved last year that he is still a devastating scoring threat against any defense, it’s worth monitoring whether his athleticism will decline at all this year in his age 34 season.
In any case, the Bucks will open up their season on Thursday vs the Philadelphia 76ers.
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