Giannis Antetokounmpo Is Carrying The Milwaukee Bucks

It took Giannis Antetokounmpo a whopping 59 points for the Bucks to win a dramatic overtime clash against the middling Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night, underlining a consistent problem that has plagued the Bucks through their first 12 games.

Put simply, the Bucks aren't very good this year. They've grown old, slow, and somewhat predictable.

Outside of Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, no one on the team is close to sniffing 15 points per game, and their defense ranks just 16th league-wide, which used to be a stable for them, of which they could lean when their offense stagnated.

Instead, they've had to rely enormously on Antetokounmpo, who currently leading the league in scoring at 33.3 points per game, also marking a career-high.

The former MVP is taking almost 22 shots per game, which doesn't even account for the times he's fouled, which leads to free throws of which he's taking 10.7 per night.

For good measure, he's also grabbing 12.1 rebounds per night, while dishing 5.5 assists, proving without a shadow of a doubt that his workload is the biggest on the team.

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So, what does that mean?

For one, it means Antetokounmpo is playing MVP caliber basketball, only he'll never stand a realistic chance at competing for the award if the Bucks don't drastically improve from their current 4-8 record.

It also means Milwaukee is in dire need of more quality.

Lillard, who is in his second season with the Bucks, is putting up 26 points per game, on solid efficiency (61.4 TS%), and is providing the necessary offensive boost as the secondary star.

However, at 34 years old, Lillard is finding his consistency harder to come by, which is in line with how smaller scoring guys tend to decline.

It seems, at this point, quite obvious that Milwaukee's competitive window is closing at a rapid pace, which makes the advanced ages of most players a notable concern.

Brook Lopez, the team's starting center, is 36 and has lost a step. While he remains a highly valuable 3-&-D center, his overall efficiency has dropped like a rock, and his movement has become noticeably slower.

Khris Middleton, 33, has yet to play this season and his injury pattern makes him almost entirely unreliable. When he does return, he'll not only have to overcome the injury bug, but also the fact that his age is catching up to him, which isn't exactly the type of cocktail anyone wants.

This, of course, is to be expected. No one's blaming anyone for getting older. If anything, it's Milwaukee's front office that needs to take a long look in the mirror and ponder the question of what exactly they were hoping to achieve by not installing more young players.

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They practically fell into Gary Trent Jr this summer, who is just 25, but they haven't committed to building a team around Antetokounmpo that could prolong his window.

Granted, the Bucks have made draft picks, but no one stands out as a future star, at least not yet.

Andre Jackson Jr is a fine defender, but has scored just 158 career points over 68 games and 762 minutes.

MarJon Beauchamp didn't have his fourth-year team option picked up, which means he's headed towards unrestricted free agency next summer.

AJ Johnson and Tyler Smith both have promising games, but aren't likely to play a lot under head coach Doc Rivers, who prefers to play seasoned veterans.

The hiring of Rivers also hasn't been a success on any metric. He's 21-27 while helming the Bucks, and the team is clearly a far cry from when Mike Budenholzer was in charge.

As such, it all comes back to Antetokounmpo, and how much he has to do to overcome the constant odds against him.

It's quite the challenge, and one he might eventually tire of. But for now, he's the heart, soul, and body of the Milwaukee Bucks, and they'll go as far as he can carry them.