Khris Middleton was the most under-appreciated champion and teammate in at least a generation of Milwaukee sports history.
Can we save the debate for a moment on whether today’s trade was the right move for the Milwaukee Bucks, or the right move for Middleton − shipped off to a team that hasn’t had a winning record since the 2017-18 season?
No, some Bucks fans right now are mourning the loss of the 33-year-old, a loss that feels layered after a litany of nagging injuries over the past three seasons, and then for the cruelty of the business of sports and the fact that Father Time is undefeated. And for those fans and observers, there was even more to like about Khris Middleton behind the scenes.
Here are some thoughts and observations:
Toronto, 2019: Utter exhaustion
The NBA playoffs. Middleton sits slumped in a corner in the visiting locker room. Have you ever been so tired you can’t even lift a water bottle? That’s how Middleton looked.
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Tasked with chasing around red-hot Kawhi Leonard, Middleton was also counted on to be a main scorer. He didn’t complain. He had both the utmost respect for the Raptors and the fierce desire to want to shut them down.
More:Kawhi Leonard is getting the Bucks’ best defense – and he’s still leading the charge for the Raptors
Middleton is always about basketball
Remember, it was Middleton and Jrue Holiday who wrapped up the NBA championship parade in Milwaukee and then somehow immediately jetted off for a 13-hour flight to join Team USA for an Olympics that had been delayed a year due to the pandemic. Forget all that trash when clueless people say for that salary, players should do anything.
Do you know how tired, sore legs tighten up on a plane ride like that? Recovery is impossible. But Middleton helped Milwaukee win its first NBA championship in 50 years and then helped Team USA win the gold medal just days after.
In the middle of all of this, Middleton’s wife gave birth to the couple’s second child, their first son. According to The Athletic: “Middleton’s son was born July 21. He stayed with wife and son − both healthy − all day and night, leaving from the hospital to join the Bucks at their championship parade through downtown the next day. He returned to the hospital after running to the house to pack for Tokyo, and on July 23, he and Holiday flew from Milwaukee to Seattle, where they met the Suns’ Devin Booker, for a joint flight to Tokyo just in time for an Olympics-opening loss to France.”
He ended up with a combined 35 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and 5 steals in the Team USA gold-medal run.
But Holiday got the spotlight. His wife is a soccer baddie and Olympic medalist and that was the feel-good story of the Games.
The truth is, Middleton has always been about hoopin’ and not so much hoopla.
Perfect form through a magical elbow
Damian Lillard has the prettiest shot on the team; just watch his hand and wrist flow. But Middleton’s mid-range jumper was a staple of this offense. Never a dunker, that shot was gold, the one thing about Middleton that sets him apart even in the best basketball league in the world. And that’s his elbow.
It’s like the rest of his body moves around that stationary elbow, a solar system of legs, arms, eyes and shoulders around the axis point, his elbow.
Everything for Middleton was earned
Maybe the best part about Middleton was that he wasn’t a kid who was touted before he got to the NBA. He was a really good player, of course, but didn’t endure crazy expectations. He was a late bloomer, a second-round draft pick who even had his high school career put on pause because his parents raised him right.
“I was at a private school and I had a D in geometry,” he once said. “Learned the hard way that school had to be No. 1.”
He sat out for some of sophomore year, so he didn’t get good until later in high school. Imagine that now in the age of NIL.
More:Before Khris Middleton was a Bucks record-holder, he was … a late bloomer
More:The not-so-secret behind Khris Middleton’s elite scoring ability
Middleton made sacrifices, left everything on the court
Former Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Bucks beat reporter Matt Velazquez will forever remember Game 6 of the playoffs against Toronto, this time in 2017. Middleton was so sick he couldn’t talk, needed fluid after, the whole shebang.
Said Velazquez: “But he gutted it out.”
When Mike Budenholzer took over as coach, Middleton needed to sacrifice a bit more and change his game more than others. After the difficult adjustment, the two found common ground.
Velazquez said Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo helped set the team culture. The 12 Days of Khrismas every year was for the Milwaukee community. Middleton was a pro’s pro. Did what the Bucks needed from him. Didn’t cause drama or issues. Grew into a player who was able to be at his best in the biggest moments during the title run.
“Celtics fans still probably have nightmares about him,” Velazquez said.
The cornerstone of a franchise
The Bucks drafted Giannis Antetokounmpo in June 2013. The Bucks traded with Detroit for Middleton in July of that same year. That means there are really four core guys who have been in Milwaukee since the beginning; those two and Jon Horst, now general manager, and Dave Dean, vice president of basketball operations.
With Middleton out, it is the end of an era.
Middleton was so good for Antetokounmpo
Middleton never needed nor showed that he wanted the alpha role or even the appreciation for what he did for the Bucks. Even when it came time to talk about All-Star voting, he was always humble and graciious, whether he was picked or not.
Yet, on the bench or walking back onto the court after a time out, so many times it was Middleton talking to Antetokounmpo about strategies, developments and observations. The two matched wits when it came to being competitive. The two were equals in their quest to win a championship.
Winter 2018: Quiet leader still has strong voice
Another tiny example of that happened when he was walking out of the locker room, ready to go home, when he is willing to answer a few questions. But the team photographer is there in the hallway, snapping those red-carpet like photos you see all over the social media posts. I try to move away − I don’t like that, I say. Middleton responds immediately, loudly: I don’t either, to be honest with you.
But the truth is, many of his interviews are hard to hear. He’s just quiet. His family and friends nag him about it, and only in the past couple of years does he get better about speaking up.
But he never seemed to have an ego, although he certainly had his pride. When a teammate or two came into the back of the room, celebrating and jubilant and disruptive after Game 6 of the NBA finals, it briefly overshadowed Middleton’s news conference. He just sat, patiently, like the coolest dad there ever was, and waited for the noise to pass.
Lots of other times Middleton was unheralded star
In fact, Middleton was never much for the spotlight. He got into a pattern for a while where he would bring any teammate he could find up to the podium with him during postgame news conferences. The man who could use a little public affirmation after being in Antetokounmpo’s shadow so much never seemed to want or need it.
Those who follow basketball only for the scoring are missing out on the greatest game there is, and the many roles it takes to win, to come back, to persevere, and to endure. Khris Middleton was the guy in the locker room still encouraging his locker mates to shoot the three-pointer. He was the teammate who could tell Antetokounmpo to just walk away from Chris Paul.
He had the un-defendable alley-oop for Antetkpounmpo and the back-breaking bounce or baseball pass to beat the defense.
And he is the Bucks all-time three-point record holder − the one Milwaukee record he does get to have of his own.
For all that he did, that was unnoticed or unheralded, he will be missed.
