MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Bucks will not play on Christmas Day this season, the first time since 2017 the team was not scheduled on, perhaps, the NBA's marquee slate of regular-season games.
Their absence from the schedule was taken note of by coach Doc Rivers during the team's media day Monday to emphasize a feeling shared by some of the leaders in the Bucks locker room -- that they are being disregarded heading into the 2024-25 season.
"I think, somewhat, we've been overlooked," Milwaukee forward Khris Middleton said. "We should have had a Christmas Day game, I believe. But the NBA felt different. I don't need that as extra motivation ... but disappointed a little bit."
"We've always been overlooked," Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo added.
"We all pay attention to it," Rivers said. "We see it, we read it. ... I don't think I'll have to use it, it'll use itself, if you know what I mean."
The New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers made splashy offseason additions for All-Star players to improve their roster this summer. The Boston Celtics just completed a historic run to the NBA championship.
Meanwhile, the Bucks were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs after injuries mired their team during a series against the Indiana Pacers. After upending their roster before training camp last season to acquire Damian Lillard and making a midseason coaching change to hire Rivers, the Bucks had a relatively quiet offseason.
Still, Milwaukee enters the season expecting to compete with the NBA's best.
"We're definitely in that group," Middleton said. "You have Dame and Giannis, for sure. You include myself, Brook [Lopez], the rest of the crew -- we're definitely one of the top contenders in the East, no matter who else they've [added] out there or who else has won in the past. I'm sure those teams feel the same way about themselves too."
A big reason the Bucks expect to have a bounce-back year is because they will enter the season with some stability.
After being traded from Portland on the eve of training camp in 2023, Lillard called his first season in Milwaukee "a blur" and said he felt much more comfortable leaving home to report for camp this year. He reported to camp feeling in much better shape this year after not getting to work out consistently last summer before the trade.
"They gon' get the real version of me this year," Lillard said.
Lillard kept in constant contact but did not get a chance to spend any time with Antetokounmpo this summer. Antetokounmpo spent the summer playing for Greece in the Olympics -- "one of the best experiences I've had as a basketball player," he said -- rehabbing an injury he played through during the games and then getting married to his longtime partner, Mariah, this summer. But Milwaukee's two stars both said they have a foundation to build from last season instead of starting from scratch.
They also have Rivers in place as coach from the start of the year. When he started last season at the end of January, he acknowledged how difficult it would be to lead a team after joining midseason. It's why he wanted to hold training camp at UC Irvine in California this week to help foster connections with the team before the start of the season.
"Last year, we felt like we were all over the place," Antetokounmpo said.
Rivers also named health as one of the biggest challenges the Bucks will have to face this season. Milwaukee has one of the oldest rosters in the NBA, with four projected starters over 30, including Middleton, who had surgeries on both his ankles this summer.
The Bucks were optimistic about Middleton's status Monday going into training camp. Middleton said he feels great and will participate during some activities during training camp even though he has not been cleared to play live-action 5-on-5. Middleton has been limited to 88 regular-season games over the past two seasons.
"I think I'll be missing a little bit of important time with the 5-on-5 action, but everything else I'll be able to be out there," Middleton said. "That's important for us all to be on the court together, going through reads, talking, figuring out where our spacing is at."
Middleton said those training camp reps will be important for the Bucks before the start of the season to continue building off their foundation from last year.
"I just feel like it's great because we're not playing catch-up," he said. "Last year, we were trying to play catch-up as much as we could and then also, we were learning on the fly. During games, we were trying to learn each other out. To have a full year last year where we kind of got a feel, this summer we were able to talk, now have this training camp, I feel like we're in a smooth transition into the season."