The 10th pick has been the best part of Milwaukee's summer, and the rebuild suddenly looks a lot less scary.
The Milwaukee Bucks entered this offseason staring at a future without Giannis Antetokounmpo for the first time in over a decade, and the early returns on the rebuild rest heavily on two lottery picks.
Through two weeks of Summer League, Brayden Burries has made the first of those selections look like one of the smartest moves of the draft.
Milwaukee took the Arizona guard 10th overall after a freshman season in which he averaged 16.1 points while shooting 39 percent from three and helping the Wildcats reach the Final Four.
The scoring has carried straight over to Las Vegas, where Burries put up 18 points against the Heat, 26 against the Spurs on 9 of 16 shooting with four made threes, and then a 23-point, eight-rebound, six-assist night against the Suns that included four steals.
A Complete Game
Those three games worked out to 22.3 points per game before Milwaukee rested him in the win over Charlotte, and the trend line has pointed up since his very first outing.
Burries debuted with 12 points against the Kings in the California Classic, looked more comfortable each night after that, and the scoring is only part of the story.
Burries led the Bucks in scoring every night he played in Vegas while also stuffing the defensive columns, with seven steals and two blocks across the Spurs and Suns games alone.
Against Phoenix, he went right at former Arizona teammate Koa Peat, burying a step-back three over him to open the second half.
The all-around production matters more than the point totals for a franchise starting over after the Giannis trade.
Milwaukee went 32-50 last season and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016, so the front office needs its young pieces to be more than specialists.
Burries has looked like a two-way guard who can run an offense, defend his position, and create his own shot, which is exactly what the Bucks hoped they were getting on draft night.
Where He Fits This Season
The rookie will not walk into a starting job.
Ryan Rollins broke out last season, and Tyler Herro arrived from Miami in the Giannis deal, though Herro played just 33 games in an injury-wrecked year.
That opens a real path for Burries to earn meaningful minutes off the bench early, and his summer has suggested he might force the issue faster than anyone planned.
Summer League numbers always deserve some caution, since plenty of July stars fade once the real games begin.
What separates Burries is that his flashes look sustainable, built on shot-making, feel, and defensive effort rather than one hot shooting week.
Rebuilds live or die on nights like the ones he keeps putting together, and Milwaukee has to feel great about where its lottery bet stands.
