Bucks planning to return this season

The Milwaukee Bucks are planning to be back on the court this season. On hold since learning via a team group chat on March 11 that the regular season would be paused indefinitely, the Bucks are hopeful the season didn’t end a month before the playoffs were scheduled to begin.

“We are operating and functioning and just have a mentality that we will play,” Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer said Wednesday during a conference call. “I think it’s important for players and all of us to function that way, to think that way, and it’s out of our hands. Luckily, (NBA commissioner) Adam Silver and the league office, they’ll make the hard decisions and they’ll do what’s best for everybody, but I think it’s certainly important that we kind of operate and have a mentality that we will play again, and we’ll be excited about that if and when it does happen.”

Milwaukee has an NBA-best 5312 record and is the top seed in the Eastern Conference, despite losing three games in a row before the hiatus began.

“A lot of people find it hard to believe, but we actually live and believe it every day,” Bucks general manager Jon Horst said. “We’ve taken a focus to get better every single day and to literally just focus on getting better every day, not thinking about championships or finals or opponents that we’re going to play weeks out or months out, but to really think about how to improve every day.

“That’s been a mantra and something that we believe in and something that’s ingrained and built into kind of the fabric of who we are.”

On the other side of the hiatus in the Western Conference stands Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who reiterated he has “no idea” nor any feel for when or if basketball will back this season.

Reuters