Khris Middleton rises to #3 on the Bucks all time scoring list.

Always unheralded, always underappreciated, always smooth, always money in clutch moments. Last night, against the franchise he spent one season with before getting traded to the Bucks, K-Midd got past Big Dog Robinson to become the 3rd leading scorer in Bucks franchise history. Incredible!

And I did a little rough math when I saw how close he is to Kareem, if he averages 15-17ppg and plays 70-ish games over the next two seasons, he’s probably going to end up #2 on the last.

Which is absolutely crazy when you remember that Middleton was a THROW IN in the trade that sent Brandon Jennings to Detroit and Brandon Knight to Milwaukee. Just a guy to balance out the salaries. But I do remember seeing him get playing time on that awful 2013-14 team, and feeling pretty quickly that they stole a pretty good shooter. I never would have guessed we’d be talking about All Star appearances, clutch shots during a title run, or rising this high on the franchise scoring list, but it was pretty clear during his first season in Milwaukee that he was a consistent shot-maker. And that’s not something the Bucks had had in a long time. Brandon Jennings was streaky, Monta Ellis was streaky, but Middleton’s mid-range shots always seemed like they were going in. Well, after 11 seasons in Milwaukee, enough of those shots went in to make him the 3rd leading scorer in franchise history.

I had a texter on the morning show today as if I thought #22 would be retired once he hangs ’em up. My answer: Stone cold mortal lock. Even if he achieves nothing else in his career after yesterday, his number will be in the rafters at Fiserv Forum. If he does ascend top #2 on the scoring list, and adds another ring (or two)(or three, why not let me live), it will only be icing on the cake. I also think Jrue’s #21 probably goes up at some point and it’s possible Brook’s #11 does as well.

PS: The more I think about it, how improbable is the Giannis/Middleton tandom? A kid playing in the Greece B League in 2013, and a 2nd round pick late in the 2nd round in 2012. They end up together on a 15-win team and eventually rank near the top of every franchise record and deliver a title to that city for the first time in half a century. You couldn’t sell that as a movie script.

Double PS: There were a TON of big moments for Khris during the 2021 championship run. I’ll never forget him going NBA-Jam ‘HE’S ON FIRE!’ performances in both Game 3 and Game 6 in Atlanta in the ECF. But this might be my favorite Middleton Moment. Probably because the call from Paschke and Johnny Mac is legendary: