Milwaukee Bucks are holding on to potential play-in tournament hopes after finishing with a 23-30 record in the first half of the season.

The Bucks won five of their last six games going into the All-Star break, giving them an opportunity to potentially move up if they have a strong second half. However, Bleacher Report writer Grant Hughes believes the Bucks won’t have a lot of success in the second half of the season, finishing the year with a 32-50 record.

“Giannis Antetokounmpo lasted through the deadline and is again professing his undying loyalty to the Milwaukee Bucks. Stay tuned for the offseason when we’ll undoubtedly re-enter the “will he, won’t he?” cycle of trade agitation that never quite rises to the level of a demand,” Hughes wrote.

“Antetokounmpo’s calf strain is a wild card. Nobody’s sure how long he’ll be out or how the Bucks will react if he says he wants to go full throttle whenever he returns. They need to maximize their draft position, and Giannis has proved this season that he can lift this mess of a team to respectability when healthy. They’re 15-15 with Antetokounmpo in the lineup but perform like one of the two or three worst teams in the league when he isn’t.

“This downgraded record is a bet on Antetokounmpo playing relatively little down the stretch, and on Milwaukee looking completely overmatched for most of the games he misses.”

Bucks Projected to Miss Playoffs

With 32-50 being the final record, Hughes believes the team will only win nine more games this season. That being said, the Bucks still have a shot to make it to the play-in tournament. They only sit one and a half games back of the Atlanta Hawks for the number 10 seed. The Hawks lost their last three games going into the All-Star Break, so there is potential for some shakeups in the standings.

The Bucks have some tough games down the stretch and will have to pull off some upsets in order for them to move up in the standings. They will also need Antetokounmpo to make a return from his calf strain. If Antetokounmpo can get healthy, the Bucks’ chances of making it to the playoffs are much higher; however, there is not a lot of confidence in a possible return.

The Bucks return to the court for the second half of the season against the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday at 7 p.m. CT inside the Smoothie King Center. Fans can watch the game on FanDuel Sports Network or stream it on NBA League Pass.

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