The Milwaukee Bucks shocked the NBA world this offseason, making the major decision to part ways with All-NBA guard Damian Lillard by waiving and stretching his contract. Due to Lillard tearing his Achilles tendon in the playoffs, and him likely to miss the entirety of the 2025-26 season, the organization decided to make the tough decision in order to add more talent.

In doing so, they used to cap space to add long-time Indiana Pacers center Myles Turner, as well as other players such as Cole Anthony and Amir Coffey. For Anthony, his offseason saw him get traded to the Memphis Grizzlies in the Desmond Bane deal, but he was bought out, allowing him to join the Bucks. Recently, his past two games have been underwhelming to say the least.

Recording just four points in each of his past two contests, shooting under 30% from the field, the former 16.3 point-per-game scorer hasn't looked like his old self. After the team's loss to the Charlotte Hornets 111-100, head coach Doc Rivers shared some words of encouragement for what he sees ahead for Anthony.

"He's struggled. Last two or three games, he's not had his best games. We got to get him back, right? We cut it to seven, he took two tough shots in a row. He's gotta know time and place. He's gotta know the way we want to play. He'll get there," Rivers said.

Entering the season, it seemed as though Cole Anthony and Kevin Porter Jr. would be the ones competing for the starting point guard spot on this Bucks team. However, with the emergence of Ryan Rollins as one of the best young guards in the association, both those players will look to bring value as key reserves for this Milwaukee team.

Anthony has been a starter before, such as his career-best season in 2021-22 with the Magic, where he averaged 16.3 points, but that came on just 39.1% shooting from the field.

While Anthony probably isn't going to turn into this high-efficiency scorer, he can still be someone the Bucks look to in order to get points off the bench when players like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Ryan Rollins are sitting. In addition to his scoring, he can also bring value as a playmaker off the bench, as he's averaged 4.8 assists per game this season.

If the Bucks can manage to get the version of Anthony from the 2022-23 season, who was one of the better sixth men in the league, they'll position themselves well to have a team that can survive in those non-Giannis minutes.