Bullish Milwaukee Bucks Season Prediction Tier One

Bullishly breaking down the Milwaukee Bucks season prediction in a three-part series

by Aiden Fermaner

18/09/26

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The NBA season is just over a month away, and most NBA fans will be getting excited and bullish about what the season can hold for their favourite team. With that in mind, let's take a bullish look at how the Milwaukee Bucks season can unfold in a three-part series breaking down three tiers of teams ranked by difficulty and how they will be clear benchmarks of what the product of the new-look Milwaukee Bucks team is this season.

Let's start with a kind of power ranking to look at our potential wins and losses against teams around the league. I’ve split this into three tiers, tier one being teams that I think we should be winning upwards of 50% of our games against. Tier two being teams that I think we can notch a win or two against and possibly win a season series against. Finally, we've got tier three, which I think are teams we will struggle to get a win against. 

We are going to kick off with tier one and look at the teams that I believe we can potentially be better than and should win a season series against. Keep in mind there are a lot of question marks around the Bucks right now, with Taylor Jenkins bringing a new system and a whole new roster to evaluate, but this is a bullish look at whether things click this season for the Bucks. 

-Dallas Mavericks

-LA Clippers

-Memphis Grizzlies

-New Orleans Pelicans

-Sacramento Kings

-Brooklyn Nets

-Charlotte Hornets

-Chicago Bulls 

The Hornets, Clippers, Kings and Grizzlies arguably got worse, as did the Bucks (obviously). I think these are teams we can at least win half of the matchups against. I mean, winning one out of two games against the Clippers and Grizzlies doesn’t sound out of the realm of reality, even if you’re sceptical of the Bucks, along with a three-game series against the young Hornets that will have to adjust to a game plan without LaMelo Ball. The Kings said goodbye to some key pieces for them: DeMar DeRozan, Devon Carter and Russell Westbrook. They drafted Darius Acuff, who will be a great piece for them, but after his Summer League efficiency issues and his player archetype (a small-ball-heavy guard), it will take time for him to convert his skills into wins and to have a positive impact on games. I believe the Kings are one of the few teams we should be looking at sweeping in our two-game series against them this season. 

Next, we have two teams that struggled to improve but didn't necessarily decline: the New Orleans Pelicans and the Dallas Mavericks. The Pelicans failed to add any huge names in free agency (Benedict Mathurin could have an impact), and also missed out on a first-round pick this year after acquiring Derik Queen in the 2025 draft. I’m sure they’ll have some player improvement amongst the team, but I don’t see their roster winning both games against us in a season series. The Mavericks were difficult to place in a sub-tier; they lost some veteran experience and replaced it with more youth. I was urging on the side of decline for them, but I believe they’ll have a big second-year jump from Cooper Flagg and invite the return of Kyrie Irving, a face we haven't seen since March of 2025. That being said, I can’t see us losing both games in our season series against them.  

The final sub-tier of tier one is improving teams. We are looking at the Bulls and the Nets. We have a four-game series in a divisional matchup against the Bulls, and they have had some clear improvement this season, signing Norman Powell and drafting Caleb Wilson. Caleb Wilson looked like one of the rare and few rookies who can make an immediate impact on an NBA team, and Norman Powell is a proven veteran who will bring a scoring punch. The Bulls have a new-look roster, and similarly to the Bucks, it will take time before we see exactly what product they are. For that reason, I can see us winning as many as three of the four games we match up against the Bulls this season. I believe the Nets also got better this season (maybe marginally, depending on Julius Randle's season). That being said, I don’t think the addition of Julius Randle and rookie Mikel Brown will translate to them being a threatening team and in a three-game series against them, this is another team that I can potentially see us sweeping them. 

That’s a wrap on part one of our three-part series highlighting my bullish predictions for the Milwaukee Bucks season. We’ve broken down tier one with the team I expect us to be competing with and where a lot of our wins will be generated. In the next part of this series, we will look at tier two, containing teams that will set the tone for our season and challenge us to see where we really sit in the standings.