Giannis Antetokoumpo will lead the Milwaukee Bucks into the NBA Playoffs yet again. The Bucks are the favorites to win the NBA title. Milwaukee Bucks odds are at to win the NBA Championship in 2023. Milwaukee has been one of the best teams in the East all season long, staying neck-and-neck with the Boston Celtics for the top spot in the conference. The 1-seed could be massively important if these two teams face each other in the Conference Finals after the Bucks lost Game 7 in Boston in the second round of last year’s playoffs.
With Khris Middleton’s improved health and a few sneaky-good pickups around the week of the trade deadline, the Bucks seem poised for a return to the NBA Finals.
Milwaukee Bucks odds
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Bucks NBA Title Odds
The Boston Celtics were slight preseason favorites over the Bucks to make it out of the Eastern Conference and oddsmakers have kept them there ever since. Even after Milwaukee shortened its title odds from +650 to +500 by starting the season 9-0 and in first place in the East, Boston overtook them after 15 games, shortening their own odds to win the championship from +500 to +350 in the process. The Bucks have NBA title odds at the moment.
Whether they finish with the one or the 2-seed, the Bucks will most likely face either the Wizards, Raptors, Hawks, Heat, or Nets in the first round, depending on how the Play-In Tournament shapes out. Milwaukee is a combined 10-6 this season when they’ve faced one of those five squads, respectable when you consider Middleton missed 13 of those 16 games and Giannis and Holiday a combined 7. Much more impressive is the Bucks’ league-best 43-10 record when favored to win by oddsmakers, a good sign considering they’ll likely be favored in every game they play when looking at NBA Playoffs odds.
It’s looking like the four-versus-five matchup in the East will be between the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers, two similarly-bruising teams that rely on tough interior defense and the one-on-one play of their talented backcourts. Milwaukee matches up better with the Knicks, winning all three games against New York this season by an average of seven points per contest. Although they split their series with division-foe, Cavaliers, they were without Giannis for one of their losses and Middleton for both of them.
The Bucks and Celtics have appeared to be on a collision course for the Eastern Conference Finals since the season began and there’s no reason to feel differently as we near its end. Especially after the Brooklyn Nets unloaded Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant at the trade deadline.
The teams split the first two matchups, both times the home team coming out victorious, but we really didn’t learn much in those games to predict how a future Playoff series might turn out. Middleton was absent in the first contest on December 25 and the Celtics pulled away in the early third quarter to ruin Christmas Day for Milwaukee fans. In their second meeting on February 14, Boston sat Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart, and Al Horford and still almost beat the Bucks at full strength.
In the Western Conference, it’s slightly more difficult to project the Conference Finals matchup. LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Luka Doncic are all going to miss time while each of their teams compete for quality playoff seeds; the Memphis Grizzlies have Steven Adams’ injury and Ja Morant’s off-court troubles on their plate; even the Golden State Warriors have a ton of uncertainty, looking like a championship contender at home where they win 80% of the time, and more like the Detroit Pistons on the road where they win 26% of the time.
Seriously, the Warriors have the same winning percentage on the road as the Detroit Pistons this season.
Bucks roster
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Jrue Holiday
- Khris Middleton
- Bobby Portis
- Brook Lopez
- Jevon Carter
- Joe Ingles
- Pat Connaughton
- Grayson Allen
- Jae Crowder
- AJ Green
- Wesley Matthews
- Lindell Wigginton
- Goan Dragic
- Thanasis Antetokounmpo
- MarJon Beauchamp
- Meyers Leonard
Who are the best players on the Bucks?
Giannis Antetokounmpo: When the Bucks drafted the spidery Greek 19-year old out with the 15th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, they weren’t taking him for what he was capable of at that time. They were placing stock in what he could become and he didn’t waste much time in repaying them, increasing his season averages each year over his first 7 years in the league.
As a 6’ 9”,195-pound Rookie, Antetokounmpo averaged 6.8 points per game along with 4.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists. In 2019-20, he averaged 29.5 points, 13.4 rebounds, and 5.6 assists en route to one of the most decorated seasons any player has ever had in the NBA, earning his second-straight MVP award, the Defensive Player of the Year trophy, Milwaukee’s first NBA championship in 50 years, and the NBA Finals MVP. By that point, Giannis stood a healthy 7-feet tall, weighed-in at 242 pounds, and had grown two boulder-sized battering rams where his shoulders had previously resided.
Never satisfied, Antetokounmpo set another career-high in scoring in 2021-22 when he averaged 29.9 points per contest, and he’s going to finish with more than 30 points per game for the first time in his career this season.
Interestingly there are six players almost guaranteed to finish this season averaging more than 30 points and Stephen Curry is just a hair below that at 29.9 per game. If Curry can manage to get to 30 points or more before the season ends, it’ll set a new NBA record for most players averaging 30-plus points in a season, breaking the previous record of six set in 1961-62.
Jrue Holiday: Holiday split his first 11 seasons between the team that drafted him, the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Orleans Pelicans before finding a sturdy home in Milwaukee three seasons ago. In his time with the Bucks he’s averaged 18.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 6.7 assists, adding an All-Star appearance and two All-Defensive team selections.
Most important to the Bucks organization and its fans, Holiday’s arrival was the final addition to their team’s newly-formed “Big 3.” Alongside Khris Middleton and the back-to-back MVP, Giannis Antekounmpo, Holiday led the Bucks to their first championship in 50 years in his first season with the franchise.
This season, Holiday is averaging career-bests in both points per game (19.7) and rebounds per game (5.1), in addition to his second-best season dishing out the ball (7.3 assists). His ability to stay healthy has been a key to the Bucks’ success since his arrival, including this season where he’s managed to play in more than 80% of the team’s games, the same percentage over his entire 3 years with the team. Since Holiday arrived, they are 129-52 in regular season games with him, contrasted to the 16-24 record when he sits, a 40% win percentage.
Khris Middleton: It’s been an inconsistent season for the usually-dependable Khris Middleton as he makes his way back from an untimely knee injury in the first round of last year’s playoffs. He didn’t play his first NBA game until December 2 and remained on a strict minutes limit capped by the Bucks’ coaching staff at 30 minutes. From there, his comeback was slow and steady through the first week of March. He played in 21 of a possible 43 games while averaging just 21 minutes per game when he was in the lineup.
Then, on March 7, the Bucks’ staff lifted his minutes restrictions, playing Middleton for more than 30 minutes for the first time all season. Over the next three games, the Bucks’ All-Star forward looked like his old self again, averaging 18 points and an impressive 8 assists in 31 minutes per game.
Clearly, Middleton has rehabilitated his knee to the point that he can compete at the same level as he was when the Bucks won the championship two seasons ago. If that’s indeed the case, one has to feel good about their odds to return to the Finals at .
Bucks props
The Odds Finder tool on TheLines.com allows you to easily search between Milwaukee Bucks team and player props. To view all of the available props in one chart use the search bar below.
Bucks current season
The Bucks surged to first place in the Eastern Conference thanks to a 9-0 start despite the absence of their injured All-Star-Forward, Khris Middleton until December 2. The Boston Celtics overtook them 15 games into the season, remaining in first in the conference until February 27 when the Bucks reclaimed the top spot on the strength of a 16-game win streak.
Milwaukee’s role players have been massively important this season while Middleton has slowly rounded back into form, no one more so than the ageless Brook Lopez. His 2.5 blocks and 1.8 3-pointers per game are the most for any season of his 15-year career, and he’s putting up more points and rebounds than he has in the last seven.
He’s also credited for much of the team’s improvement on defense since last season. The Bucks have the second best defensive rating this year and Lopez has missed just one of a possible 67 games with a 107.0 individual defensive rating. Last year, Lopez played just 13 games and the team was 14th in defensive rating.
Still, Milwaukee will need its “Big 3” at full strength to claim a second NBA title in 3 seasons. Since Holiday’s arrival, the Bucks are 101-36 with all three in the lineup, including the Playoffs.
Bucks transactions
The Bucks haven’t made a significant move since trading for Holiday three years ago as a part of a four-team swap that jettisoned Eric Bledsoe from Milwaukee to New Orleans. However, don’t sleep on the impact of Jae Crowder coming over from Phoenix in the four-team-Kevin-Durant trade, and even the less-flashy signings of Joe Ingles and Meyers Leonard.
Ingles helped the Bucks survive the earlier part of the season in which they were either missing Middleton or could only play him 20-25 minutes a night. His size combined with incredible floor vision and 3-point shooting supplanted at least a portion of the production missing during Middleton’s absence.
Crowder is back in the state where he played his college ball and will be a nice luxury for the Bucks down the stretch and into the playoffs, adding even more wing defense and three-point shooting for Mike Budenholzer to work with. He also has NBA Finals experience, losing in back-to-back championship series as a member of the Miami Heat and Phoenix Suns.
How to bet on the Bucks
Moneyline
A winning moneyline bet is determined by which team wins the game outright. Let’s use an example with the Milwaukee Bucks and Houston Rockets.
Bucks -140
Rockets +175
The negative number on the Bucks moneyline (-140) indicates oddsmakers have them listed as favored to win. It would take a $140 wager to win $100 profit, plus the $140 originally posted for the bet. A $100 on the Rockets would net $175 in profit if they can pull off the upset.
Point Spread
Point spread betting considers the margin of victory rather than just which team is victorious. Take the below point spreads in a game between the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks:
Bucks +4.5 (-115)
Knicks -4.5 (-115)
The Knicks are favored by 4.5 points, indicated by the “-4.5.” They need to win by at least five points to cover the point spread and win the bet. As underdogs, the Bucks can lose by up to four points or win the game for a bet on them to hit.
The (-115) odds listed next to each team’s point spread show the return on a correct bet in American Odds. Both teams have the same -115 odds so a $115 bet on the winning team pays the bettor $100, plus the $115 wagered. A $100 bet on the would earn the bettor $86.96 plus the initial wager if it hits.
Bucks Point Total (Over/Under)
A bet on the point total is determined by the combined number of points scored by both teams. Sportsbooks will provide a set number to allow bettors to choose whether the final combined scores of each team will be higher or lower than that number.
If the point total in a game between the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers is set at 235 points and ends with a final score of 125-120, bettors who selected the over would win.
Live Betting
Betting on games while they’re in-play is known as live betting, which can be a fruitful strategy for those who prepare ahead of time. Take a game that has the Bucks favored at -250 on the moneyline in their matchup with the Golden State Warriors who are +200 on the moneyline. A $100 bet on the Bucks before the game starts would only make a $40 profit.
You also know that the Bucks often start slowly when they play at home and there’s a good chance the Warriors are able to keep things close early in the game. Using that info, you could hold on to your bet until the game is in motion to see if the odds on the Bucks moneyline shift in your favor.
If the Warriors come out firing and claim an early lead, oddsmakers will move the line to reflect the current score, increasing the value of a bet on the Bucks to win, upping your profits on a correctly (and well-timed) bet.
Live betting is also where “hedging” your bets can come into play, a tactic by bettors where they make one bet before the game starts and then an opposing bet while the game is live as a way to recoup their potential losses. Let’s say you bet on Milwaukee (+180 underdogs) to win a game against the Chicago Bulls (-200 favorites), but at halftime the Bucks are down by 10 points. The live odds for a moneyline bet on the Bulls now only pays you back one-third of your money, or -300. By giving up on the Bucks and betting on the Bulls moneyline at -300 during halftime, you’re hedging your initial bet on the Bucks in an attempt to recover some money from a seemingly lost cause.
Parlays and Teasers
Parlays and Teasers combine multiple different bets together for an increased payout.
For a parlay example, let’s say the Milwaukee Bucks are favored against the Miami Heat (-140 on the moneyline) and the Cleveland Cavaliers are favored over the Minnesota Timberwolves at -200 on the moneyline. If you parlay the moneylines of the Bucks and Cavs together, the odds on your potential return jump up to +157 since you incur more risk trying to correctly predict two teams to win instead of just one.
A teaser allows bettors to move multiple point spreads or totals in their preferred direction. Let’s say you like the Bucks (-4.5) in their matchup with the Sacramento Kings as much as you do the Orlando Magic (-5.5 favorites) to defeat the Utah Jazz. You can tease both lines by four points (most books offer anywhere from four-to-six point teases) to shift the lines to Milwaukee (-0.5) / Orlando (-1.5). Now, both teams need to win by four-fewer points than the original lines for your bet to cash.
Futures
Future bets are placed on props in the longer-term future. Team win totals, award winners, and player performances are common future bets.
Milwaukee Bucks History
The Milwaukee Bucks have been one of the most consistent franchises since it joined the NBA in 1968, reaching the postseason in 34 of its 55 years of existence. It still holds the record for the youngest franchise to win a championship, doing so in just its third year on the backs of two of the greatest players of all time, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (still known as Lew Alcindor that season) and Oscar Robertson.
Three seasons later, the Bucks returned to the Finals with the same core unit that brought them a championship, losing to the Boston Celtics in seven games.
It would take them another 47 years to get back to the Finals, this time taking the Larry O’Brien trophy home after defeating the Phoenix Suns in six games in 2021. Giannis Antetokounmpo took home the Finals MVP thanks in part to his 50-point performance in the series-clinching game to go along with 14 rebounds and five blocks.