Sam Merrill is in the middle of his best season yet in his NBA career with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but long before he became a Cav, he was just a rookie trying to fit in with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Drafted by the New Orleans Pelicans in the second round of that year’s NBA draft and later traded to Milwaukee, Merrill recently shared a wild story about that one time that Milwaukee superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo nearly posterized him in practice.
“One of the first practices I’m probably guarding [a teammate] or something, and they go and set a screen on whoever’s guarding [teammate], and I’m like sit back in a drop, and he takes two two steps at me,” Merrill said during a recent episode of The Old Man And The Three podcast.
“He probably could have ended my career right there, like just dunked all over me. I think he was just being nice and laid it up. But that was that, like well, like ‘here we are.'”
One can only imagine how helpless Merrill must have felt in that moment, though he’s not the first nor the last one to ever find himself in such a position against the two-time NBA Most Valuable Player.
Ex-Bucks Merrill shining with the Cavs in the 2025-26 NBA season
The former Utah State Aggies star Merrill appeared in only 30 games with the Bucks in the 2020-21 NBA campaign, averaging only 3.0 points, while shooting 44.4 percent from the field and 44.7 percent from deep.
Fast forward to the 2025-26 campaign, Merrill has put up averages of 13.2 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists in his first 38 games with the Cavs, while also being one of the most dangerous snipers in the league today, having made 46.2 percent of this attempst from behind the arc on 7.3 3-point attempts per outing.
Apr 8, 2021; Dallas, Texas, USA; Milwaukee Bucks guard Sam Merrill (15) warms up before the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Milwaukee Bucks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports (NBA News)
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