My family and I spent some 17 hours of our Australian summer holidays road-tripping, nothing but the open road and the music blaring through the car speakers to stimulate our senses. It was during this—somewhere in-between my country shuffle and the kids’ umpteenth play of “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters—that the idea spawned: when you think of the Bucks’ season so far, what song(s) come to mind? And so it was born—Brew Hoop’s midseason mixtape.
Finn: “man at the garden” by Kendrick Lamar
Defining lyric: “Tell me why you think you deserve
the greatest of all time, m*****f*****.”
Connection: On “man at the garden,” Kendrick powerfully asserts his merit for, as he repeats time and time again, “it all.” The superstar rapper cites the work he’s put in (“wakin’ up at 6 a.m./six miles a day, conditionin’ my wind”) and the commendable morals and approaches he’s moved through life with (“I see you as a human first/even when you didn’t understand your worth”), delivering his bars in a way that’s borderline cockily braggadocios, but also just unabashedly honest, as the premise of the song is a man explaining why he deserves to enter a biblical paradise. Kendrick’s attitude on this track feels like a strong match for Giannis this season, especially after the events from the Timberwolves blowout. “I don’t think anybody has the right to tell me what or how I should act on the basketball court after I’ve been here 13 years and I’m basically the all-time leader in everything,” Antetokounmpo said when asked about his booing exchange with Milwaukee fans. That’s not the humility we’re used to seeing from the MVP and it’s understandable—frustration has followed the big fella wherever he’s gone this year. He’s in a position where he wants “it all” and he’s earned “it all,” as well as the right to let the world know. Now, it’s up to the Bucks to prove why they deserve their greatest of all time.
Zac: “Heads You Win” by Charley Crockett
Defining lyric: “I should’ve seen it coming/But fools like me never do/Heads, you win/Tails, I lose.”
Connection: I had a long look at Crockett’s “Welcome to Hard Times” before deciding on this one. “Heads You Win” documents a cowboy’s longing for a lost love, one that stays with him like a “living apparition.” Substitute the lost lover for the Bucks of recent years—heck, even the Bucks that have appeared at certain times this season—and the song works just as well. In this reading, we—Bucks fans—are the narrator, coming to the realisation that, despite all the optimism of the off-season, we really “should’ve seen [this season’s struggles] coming”. Yet, just like the cowboy, “fools like [us] never do.” It also reframes the pain of fandom, acknowledging that “if [we] are being honest/It really ain’t [the Bucks’] fault.” And while we’ve been stuck on a “corner/Spilling memories” of recent glory, Jon Horst has kept flipping coins, only for luck to land the wrong way (injuries, perfect fits on paper not materialising etc.). In the end, “you”—other NBA teams, opposing fans, media—invariably win whether it’s heads or tails, as the Bucks just can’t get it together on a consistent basis and we are left with hearts that “can hardly stand it” and minds that are “unglued,” stuck with a team not good enough to contend and without the assets to make a rebuild attractive.
Jack: “Thought It Was” by Iann Dior feat. Machine Gun Kelly and Travis Barker
Defining lyric: “I lost my mind/Chasing a feeling in the hills at night/City of Angels, but it hurts sometimes/ Finally made it, but it don’t feel right/Don’t feel like I thought it would.”
Connection: OK, I cheated a bit since I couldn’t think of a song that accurately conveyed my feelings about this season. However, I did find the above song, whose chorus could apply to the last five seasons since Milwaukee won the title in 2021. Put simply, the Bucks have been “losing their mind” by “chasing the feeling” of winning a title. They “finally made” the trade that they believed would get them back there (Lillard), but it “didn’t feel right.” It “didn’t feel like they thought it would.”
Morgan: “We Beseech Thee” by the New Broadway Cast of Godspell (feat. Nick Blaemire)
Defining lyric: “Father, hear thy children’s call/Humbly at thy feet we fall/Prodigals confessing all/We beseech thee, hear us!”
Connection: I’ve been playing this album on repeat after the sibling gifted it to me this Christmas. What does a Stephen Schwartz (of Wicked fame) musical about the gospels have to do with the 2025-26 Milwaukee Bucks, you ask? This instant ear worm is essentially a repeated chorus ending with, “We beseech thee, hear us!”
Van: “Keep The Customer Satisfied” by Simon & Garfunkel
Defining lyric: “And I’m one step ahead of the shoeshine/Two steps away from the county line/Just trying to keep my customers satisfied/Satisfied!”
Connection: While the title and that lyric might sound a bit on the nose, and not all the lyrics are corollary, this deeper cut by one of my all-time faves immediately popped into my head when thinking about these Bucks. From the iconic duo’s last album, Bridge Over Troubled Water, this was a Paul Simon composition that may allude to his songwriting exhaustion under high expectations and undue criticism. That informed his writing on The Boxer, the album’s lead single, so it probably did here too. Now, this team is certainly facing a lot of just criticism, but the Prohibition-era references feel particularly apt: they’re barely managing to stay above poverty (shining shoes for richer folks/teams) but not quite as close to relative safety (evading mobsters/vultures who want Giannis across the county line/.500 line). They’re in between, trying to keep fans (and Giannis) satisfied. But unlike Simon’s fans, they’re not currently succeeding.
Zac: “Bitin’ List” by Tyler Childers
Defining lyric: “To put it plain, I just don’t like you/Not a thing about the way you is/And if there ever come a time I got rabies/You’re high on my bitin’ list.”
Connection: I’ll preface this by saying that my connection is solely to the season itself and not any of the Bucks players. You might find it particularly fitting for some though—or even coaching or front office staff. I won’t judge. Promise. A good ol’ sing-along, “Bitin’ List” is one for those of us who need to purge after the frustrations of this season: blowouts to bottom feeders, losing streaks, underwhelming play from our preseason second and third ranked players. So, yeah, if I indeed did have rabies—and the first half of the 2025-26 season was something, you know, tangible—you can bet your bottom dollar that I’d be finding a way to bite it. But only after I’d sharpened my teeth.
Matthew: “Waiting in Vain” by Bob Marley
Defining lyric: “I don’t wanna wait in vain for your love.”
Connection: The defining lyric could apply to many things for Giannis this season. Specifically, I thought of it first as Giannis not wanting to wait around for this team to be a contender, because he wants to play meaningful basketball now—not to mention the feeling of waiting to come back from injury and waiting to decide if he will be on the team or not. Other lyrics, like “Don’t treat me like a puppet on a strong/Cuz I know how to do my thing,” also help to reinforce the feeling of how this trade process has been stringing us and him along.
Zac: “Sorrow” by The National
Defining lyric: “Don’t leave my hyper heart alone on the water/Cover me in rag and bone sympathy/‘Cause I don’t wanna get over you/I don’t wanna get over you.”
Connection: One of my favourite songs of all time, “Sorrow” is a portrait of all-consuming lows. Regarding the Bucks’ season, the lyrics stay true but find new meaning, with the opening line—“Sorrow found me when I was young”—a fitting reminder of the losses that found the Bucks following the season’s opening week and a half. And, like the sorrow that finds itself in the speaker’s “honey” and “milk,” sorrow has tainted the pleasures of the Bucks’ season too (see KPJ going down on opening night; the blowout loss to the Nets following what felt like a momentum-building win against the Celtics etc.). But it’s the song’s chorus that’s most poignant: our hearts are still “hyper” and, despite the losses and the injuries and the trade rumours—the season’s sorrows—we “don’t wanna get over” it, and so we keep coming back for more.
Matthew: “Make It Better” by Anderson .Paak
Defining lyric: “Make it better.”
Connection: For a more positive spin, this entire song works as a metaphor for how Giannis and the Bucks have fallen on hard times with their love, but are trying to mend it and make it work. We have to acknowledge the difficulties of the season, but this option is hopeful!
Bonus: Here’s a whole Giannis playlist!
There you have it, from hip hop to country, gospel to reggae, this Bucks season has reverberated across the musical spectrum. It shouldn’t be surprising; after all, basketball is music—the bounce of the ball, the flick of the net, the thumping systole and diastole that comes whether you’re catching a body or watching it happen from the stands. And while the first half of 2025-26 might have mustered mostly melancholy, a key trade or coaching change could easily see the second half turn euphonious.
As always, share your thoughts on our selections in the comments—and don’t forget to queue a track or two of your own!
