National Basketball Association

Milwaukee Bucks Preseason Preview: October 8 vs Dallas Mavericks

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Milwaukee Bucks get back to preseason game action on Saturday night with a game against the Dallas Mavericks in Madison awaiting.

Milwaukee Bucks basketball is back, and that continues to be an exciting sentence to type after a long summer without the Bucks. Their second preseason game sees Milwaukee playing a home game outside of Milwaukee, as the Bucks head to Madison to take on the Dallas Mavericks.

Former Bucks draft pick (for about four seconds) Dirk Nowitzki will not be playing in the game, but former Marquette Golden Eagle Wesley Matthews and former Wisconsin Badger Devin Harris will suit up against the Bucks.

As will former Milwaukee Buck Andrew Bogut, who the Mavericks acquired this summer when the Golden State Warriors needed cap relief to sign Kevin Durant. Dallas smartly jumped on the chance to grab Bogut for essentially nothing–he’s still a very effective post defender, as he was in his time with the Bucks.

From the Bucks side of things, the most notable difference from the last preseason game will be Thon Maker‘s presence this time around. There’s been tons of buzz surrounding Thon since the Bucks took him tenth overall in the 2016 NBA Draft, and fans are obviously excited to see him play against real NBA competition for the first time (Las Vegas Summer League notwithstanding).

Currently there’s no word on who will start for the Bucks, but according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Charles Gardner there will likely be changes from the last starting five the Bucks trotted out.

That lineup–Malcolm Brogdon, Rashad Vaughn, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jabari Parker and Miles Plumlee–did not look great early against Chicago. In fact, they didn’t even look that good.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Matthew Dellavedova get the start at point guard, considering he’ll likely be the Opening Night starter at that spot. Seeing Thon get a nod at center wouldn’t be shocking either–he won’t be there Opening Night, but the fans want to see him and that’s kind of the point of preseason.

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Still, it’d be nice to get a glimpse of what Milwaukee intends to do once the games start counting. Seeing a lineup of Delly, Giannis, Jabari and Plumlee with either Michael Carter-Williams, Vaughn or Brogdon would be nice.

Seeing potential Khris Middleton replacements in action might be painful, but the Bucks need to sort out their starting five sometime. Middleton, who will miss most of the regular season due to a torn hamstring, will be sorely missed no matter who grabs his starting spot.

The biggest storylines of this game will be seeing who gets starting nods, and how Thon fares in the most competitive game he’ll have played so far.

It’s foolish to take preseason too seriously, but the big picture should get slightly less murky after watching the 2016-17 Milwaukee Bucks play for the second time.

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