Milwaukee Bucks at Charlotte Hornets

·Sun Oct 11·7:00 PM ET·Charlotte, NC

By JR·2 min read

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Hornets(0-0)

Sunday 10/117:00 PM

TLDR: Milwaukee's first fall without Giannis Antetokounmpo since 2012-13 rolls into Charlotte for a preseason game on Sunday, October 11. The Hornets will be lucky to field half the backcourt they built this summer.

SUN 10/11, SUN OCT 11, 7:00 PM

Bucks

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Hornets

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Milwaukee plays its first preseason road game of the post-Giannis era in Charlotte, with Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware and Jaime Jaquez Jr. leading a rebuilt rotation under Taylor Jenkins. Charlotte is short on guards: Coby White is out for the preseason, Kon Knueppel's opener status is unclear, and Brandon Miller and Christian Anderson are day-to-day. It's an exhibition with no line posted, so the real stakes are rotation reps and health.

Milwaukee Bucks

Herro gets on-ball reps against a depleted backcourt
Ware gives the frontcourt size at the rim
Jaquez and Burries add wing depth
Ament day-to-day with a left ankle sprain
New coach, new core, no shared reps yet

Charlotte Hornets

Home floor at Spectrum Center
Miller and Anderson only day-to-day, could return
Coby White out for the whole preseason
Knueppel's hamstring threatens his opener status
Grant Williams out with a hamstring injury

Start with the obvious: this is an exhibition, and both benches will treat it like one. That's where the interest is. The Bucks are a new team under new head coach Taylor Jenkins. The Giannis trade to Miami brought back Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware and Jaime Jaquez Jr., and the front office added 2 lottery picks, Brayden Burries at No. 10 and Nate Ament at No. 13. Every minute in October is a look at what this team is going to be.

Ament's minutes might have to wait. The rookie left Wednesday's preseason game against the Thunder with a left ankle sprain after a rough 10 minutes: 3 points on 1-of-7 shooting, 4 rebounds. He's listed day-to-day, so whether he plays Sunday is open. If he sits, more of the wing work goes to Jaquez and Burries, which is the kind of reshuffling preseason exists for. There's no line on this one yet, and for a game like this, that's no surprise.

Charlotte has its own rebuild going in the backcourt. LaMelo Ball is in Minnesota now, playing next to Anthony Edwards. The Hornets gave Coby White a 3-year, $74 million deal over the summer to help cover that loss. Then White strained his left calf in training camp, and the team says he won't play at all in the preseason.

White isn't the only one out. Kon Knueppel hurt his hamstring in camp and is expected to miss the rest of the preseason, and GM Jeff Peterson said he "doesn't know" if Knueppel will be ready for the October 21 opener in Brooklyn. Grant Williams is out for the preseason with a right hamstring injury. Brandon Miller (leg) and Christian Anderson (ankle) both missed Tuesday's game against the Nets, and neither has a status for Sunday yet. Add it up and the Hornets' ball-handling and shooting could fall to whoever is left at the end of the depth chart.

For Milwaukee, the questions are about chemistry, not health. How do Herro and Jaquez share the ball now that they don't have a 2-time MVP to play off? Does Ware give Jenkins enough at the rim? And how many minutes are the rookies ready for? Charlotte's thin backcourt is a good place to try Herro as the lead creator and see what happens when he has the ball every trip.

Tipoff at Spectrum Center is 7:00 PM ET. Don't watch for the score. Watch the Bucks figure out who they are without Giannis, and watch the Hornets find out how deep their guard depth really goes, with 10 days left before the games count.

Milwaukee Bucks at Charlotte Hornets

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