CHARLOTTE – The Milwaukee Bucks played the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night at the Spectrum Center, but for the members of the team that helped win the 2020-21 NBA Championship, there was a noticeable hole on the team as Khris Middleton was no longer with them. The three-time all-star was traded earlier in the day.
Here is how those championship Bucks reacted on Wednesday:
Brook Lopez: “I stay offline and everything like that, so I wasn’t aware of it until Doc mentioned it at film session so it definitely hit me as a shock. I’ve known Khris for a long time now, got to know him personally, so I had to fight from tearing up a little bit obviously. It was an emotional moment for me, very surreal. I’m just thankful for everything he’s done for us here, for me, I’m thankful that I got to know him, the man that he is, I got to know his whole family, wife and kids. I’ll always love them, always be special to me. Obviously going to miss him. It’s going to be a huge adjustment and I wish him nothing but the best.”
Pat Connaughton: “I mean, look, the relationship with Khris goes far beyond basketball for him and I. Him as a person, as a friend, as a father, as a community member in the City of Milwaukee and what he’s done for this organization, what he’s done for the fan base, what he’s done for – heck, I’d say the game of basketball overall – is incredible. I think for us, it’s something that will take time to set in. It’s something that may never truly set in. But like I said, the relationships that we’ve been fortunate to build; guys like Giannis and Khris have been together 12 years, that’s five years before I got here. I’ve been here for seven years and that’s a long time. Brook and I have been here for seven. Bobby came five years ago. Like, we’ve all built relationships with Khris that extend beyond the jersey we’re wearing, but that doesn’t make it easier when you’re always get reminded and humbled that there is a business side to this game. And the purity of basketball and playing with guys that you’ve grown relationships with on and off the court is part of it, but the unfortunate part is there is also things like this that happen during this time of year, in the offseason, sometimes at the beginning of the season, and yo just gotta trust and hope that the reasons that they’re happening are for the betterment of the club. for the betterment of the organization.
“But this one is a tough one. This one is one that is gonna take a little while to set in and one that I think the entire City of Milwaukee will miss him. But he’s ingrained in Milwaukee Bucks organization for history. He’s ingrained for what he brought here to the organization, what he brought to the city. And all of the “cash money” clutch moments that he’s had over the years, hopefully a lot of people remember those and hopefully that legend lives on for a long, long time.”
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Bobby Portis Jr.: “Obviously ‘K-Midd,’ he’s critical to me. Just being able to watch a pro’s pro everyday. When I first got to the team (in 2020), obviously I was around great players – Pau Gasol, Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler – but I think our time, when I first got to the Bulls, our window was like passing, so I didn’t really get a chance to watch these guys just prepare for June, prepare for May, things like that. When I first got to the Bucks, one eye-opening thing for me was just the preparation that ‘K-Midd’ put into the game, getting shots up before and after practice, taking care of his body, getting in the ice tub each and every day, get in the table work, just the preparation part. He’s always prepared to perform. Obviously injuries are a part of the game you can’t really control when that’s gonna happen, but through and through, a pro’s pro, champion. Just the way that he leads, especially my first couple years on the team, especially in the Final2s. We had a great Finals moment, I’m chirping in the Finals and he’s telling me ‘Be quiet! Shut up!’ Definitely gonna be missed around here.
“One thing that won’t be forgotten is, you know, his game, who he is as a person and I’m pretty sure one day his jersey is gonna be retired by the bucks. Pretty positive that will happen. Just a great overall career for the Bucks and just wish him continued success throughout his career. Always gonna keep in touch with him. My bro. Been with him the last five years. Which is crazy. I can’t really believe I’ve been in Milwaukee for five years, half of my career as well. It’s crazy how fast time flies so you gotta really cherish the time.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo: “For me, it’s a little bit bigger than business, it’s family. With a guy that I’ve won a championship with – it’s not only that I’ve won, I’ve lost a lot of times with him. I’ve been in a dark place a lot of times with him. I’ve been in the bus going to a lot of pressure situations with him. It’s almost like I’ve been to war with him. That’s what I remember. Not only the good times we had, the one good time we had, I remember all the other times that everybody was depending on us. The organization was depending on us. The city was depending on us. Our teammates were depending on us. I remember all those moments. We were able to find a way to make things happen and we find a way to win a championship.”
Charlotte head coach Charles Lee, who was a Bucks assistant coach from 2018-23: “I think that Khris brings so much to the table as a player. You saw his impact that he would have in games, his relationship with Giannis, their connection, his quiet competitiveness. I remember even coming in and he’s not like this outwardly demonstrative competitor, but when you got between the lines, he would take you out. I learned that in individual workouts and we saw it every day in games. That type of drive and competitiveness while also having the humility to understand that Giannis was the focal point, and he was kind of like the guy that was ready to do whatever was necessary to help him be successful as well. And if it meant he had to step up in a game and score, he could do that. If you needed him to pass a little bit more, he’d do that. I thought defensively he grew as a player. But his sacrifice I think became contagious. So when a guy see a really good player be like hey, I’ll do whatever’s necessary, everyone else falls in line. So there’s a lot more role acceptance. And if you’re going to have a championship team everybody’s gotta be a star in their role, and he did that at the highest level. I think he helped that organization tremendously on the court, but also off the court with just his habits and who he was, and the person he was, bringing people together. I know that I’m a better coach now from working with Khris Middleton.”
More:Why the Milwaukee Bucks traded Khris Middleton
Damian Lillard ‘disappointed’ Big Three didn’t get a run
When the Bucks acquired Damian Lillard days before the start of the 2023-24 season, the dream was to have a Big Three of Antetokounmpo, Lillard and Middleton lead the Bucks back to a championship level.
Unfortunately, the trio never got much time together after Doc Rivers was hired on Jan. 29, 2024.
Due to injuries and illness to all three players, they appeared in just 18 games together this season and just five games after the all-star break last season.
“Yeah, I mean, I would say it’s disappointing. Obviously when I came to Milwaukee I came here and I’m like man, I get to play with Giannis obviously, Khris Middleton. Me and ‘K-Midd’ was camp teammates in 2010 and I remember coming back from camp to school (at Weber St.) and they were like ‘who is nice?’ and I’m like, this dude Khris Middleton, Texas A&M, he nice. I remember being on his team. Then like over the course of our careers just playing against him, seeing what he’s been able to do, and coming here like man, now I’m going to be having this type of help, I’m going to be playing with these types of players.
“And for us to never be healthy enough and just get a real run in. Even last year in the playoffs, he had a great playoff series, I had a great playoff series and we just weren’t healthy. Giannis didn’t play at all. I missed two games in that series. And then we come back in this season and he missed a lot of time, then in and out of the lineup, then I missed some time, Giannis missed time and now here we are at the deadline and he gets moved. And you look back and it’s like man, we never really got that real shot and that real stretch to really go do what we had plans to do.
“It’s definitely disappointing and it’s unfortunate. But it’s a part of the game, it’s part of this league sometimes that’s how goes and it doesn’t always go as planned. We’re not the first team or people that it’s happened to and we’re not the last. We just gotta take it for what it is. It’s unfortunate, it’s disappointing because you come into it thinking it could be such a great thing and then to never see that, it was disappointing.”
