Diving deeper into Milwaukee’s second-round pick and undrafted free agent signing
What’s up, folks? As the dust settles on draft week, some of us at Brew Hoop wanted to team up and discuss in further detail the games of the two new Milwaukee Bucks, Bogoljub Markovič and Mark Sears. Let your thoughts be known in the comments!
Bogoljub Markovič
Hailing from Užice, Serbia, Bogoljub (BOH-go-lyoob) Markovič has basketball in his blood. In a post-draft interview with an NBA correspondent, he said “since I was nine I have played basketball… in the first grade when the teacher asked ‘what do you want to do in your life?’, I just said ‘NBA’ without any thought in it… so since I was nine I wanted to come here and to be in the NBA”. Now at age 19, his dream has come true, and he’ll have the chance to represent his home country, an up-and-coming basketball powerhouse, on the sport’s biggest stage.
Markovič began his professional career in 2023 at age 18 by signing with Mega Basket, the Serbian professional team he still plays for today. The club has an illustrious history with a long list of successful alumni. Nikola Jokić, Ivica Zubac, Goga Bitadze, Vasilije Micić, Boban Marjanović, and more all suited up for Mega before embarking on their NBA careers. International prospects from unfamiliar leagues are sometimes glossed over, but Markovič needs to be taken more seriously. His team builds great basketball players.
The newest Buck’s game embodies the modern evolution of big men. Markovič stands at 6’11” but has the offensive versatility of a wing. He’s a confident shooter with a quick, clean release that most guys of his size can’t replicate. Per RealGM, the brace-faced baller averaged 13.9 PPG and shot 38.8% from beyond the arc during the 2024–25 season. His willingness to screen and even stronger willingness to shoot make him a terrific pick-and-pop threat.
Markovič is exceptionally skilled with the ball relative to other near-seven-footers. He’ll grab defensive rebounds and take the ball coast-to-coast on his own. He’s comfortable using pump fakes to destabilize defenders and create driving advantages. Perhaps most notably, he’s a very talented passer, a trait shared by many of the great European bigs. His 2.6 APG this past season underscores his remarkable heads-up play. Markovič is always scanning for open teammates when he gets a catch on the short roll or in the paint. “Special” is probably pushing it as a description of our guy’s offensive prowess, but he has the potential to be truly outstanding on that end.
To get the chance to showcase his offensive abilities, however, Markovič will need to refine his physical profile and defensive utility. He’s a big dude, but he’s currently at a strength deficit relative to other centers in his Serbian league. NBA players will only prove to be stronger competition, literally and figuratively. On the defensive end, Markovič isn’t built to be a primary rim protector, and Mega Basket often brought him up to hedge screens on the perimeter rather than drop back. However, his foot speed is sketchy, and he’s often slow to recover to his man after jumping ball handlers. He did average 0.9 BPG in 2024–25, but he’ll need to add muscle to become a competent defensive center in the NBA and reach his high-end outcome.
Overall, considering his offensive toolkit and room for improvement defensively, it’s easy to see why the Bucks are fans of Markovič. And fans they are, as they’ve been keeping tabs on him for years and actually brought him in for a workout last summer. On picking him 47th, Milwaukee’s Assistant GM Milt Newton said, “he was a player that we had ranked higher. Did not think that he was going to be there (at 47), and we were surprised when he was, so we were really ecstatic about that”. Newton spoke extensively about Markovič’s feel, mobility, and potential during his post-draft press conference, and the team’s evident belief in him is encouraging.
Of course, the elephant in the room here is the rumor that Markovič is going to be stashed away in Europe next year. We know he’ll be in Vegas, but nothing else has been confirmed. “He could be with us next year; we’re going to work with his agent, with him,” Newton said. It would be a bummer to see this pick become another stash-who-never-comes-to-the-NBA situation, but all we can do for now is hope the Bucks believe in Bogi as much as we do.
(Note: Markovič has said he goes by Bogi, but we at Brew Hoop have taken to calling him Bogo due to Bogdan “Bogey” Bogdanovic’s negative association with Milwaukee. I will be confirming his nickname with him at Summer League.)
Player comparisons: Chet Holmgren, Kyle Filipowski, Quinten Post, and Chris Boucher
All four of these guys are slim combo bigs with shooting chops and an unclear defensive role. Post and Boucher are realistic floor-to-median outcomes for Markovič, although he’s a better passer than both guys. Becoming a good enough player to rival Chet Holmgren probably isn’t in the cards for our guy. Still, the two play similarly in a vacuum with their ability to put the ball on the deck and their usefulness in multiple defensive coverages.
Welcome to Milwaukee, Bogo!
Mark Sears
After a five-year college career—three at the University of Ohio and two at the University of Alabama—Mark Sears begins his pro career in the Cream City on a two-way after going undrafted. Our Finley Kuehl wrote a great article about a set of guys the Bucks had worked out that captures the essence of Sears’ game and college résumé, but I’ll (Jack) try to add some icing to the cake in this one. Finley mentioned this, but to get the basics out of the way, Mark is a small guard at 5’11” barefoot with a 6’2” wingspan. Today’s game is centred around mismatch-hunting, and that small stature automatically puts him behind the eight-ball. Having said that, it also isn’t unheard of for small guards to have success in the league; Jose Alvarado, Davion Mitchell, Fred VanVleet, and Aaron Holiday are all just an inch taller than Sears. Also, one thing Mark does have is some decent bulk; he weighs in at 86 kilograms (189 pounds), heavier than two of those four players.
As far as his actual game goes, I’m a big fan of Sears and loved watching him play at Alabama. Generally, I don’t like watching full games of college basketball because 1. there is just such a skill deficit, and 2. the game is way slower. However, I had no problem tuning into Crimson Tide games because they played with a very NBA-adjacent game plan based on analytics. That is to say that they deprioritised mid-range shots and prioritised layups/dunks and threes; ‘Bama shot the sixth-most threes in the country. To do this, they deployed a jitterbug pick-and-roll creator in Mark, a rolling big (generally), and three shooters. Although he did turn the ball over a bit too much (1.9 assist-to-turnover ratio in his final college season), Sears was able to handle this responsibility gracefully and serve as the conductor of the ninth-best offence in D1.
Now, Mark is not going to play with that level of usage in the NBA. He’ll need to succeed as a catch-and-shoot player. The good news is that he shot 37.6% from three over his five college seasons. Additionally, his ability to be the focal point of an offence will still come in handy in the NBA; after all, it’s not like having that skill in your toolkit is a bad thing. Obviously, he’ll need to become elite at getting into guys defensively and sliding his feet. It could be a long road, and the odds are relatively small that he sticks as an NBA player. But look, I think there’s value in being “the guy” and having to lead a team. He tantalised on the college level and was among the most fun players to watch. This dude just has some real “it factor” about him that feels risky to bet against. “I have that dawg in me… I’m not going to back down easy,” Sears told our Van Fayaz at the combine when asked about succeeding as a small guard.
At the press availability following the draft, Bucks Assistant General Manager Milt Newton had the following to say about the two-time All-American:
“[Sears] is a hell of a guard; really strong, can defend. You know, there’s been a lot of guys that weren’t drafted that were draftable; he happens to be one of them.”
Newton also agreed with a reporter’s premise that there might be more of a place for smaller guards in the NBA than there has been:
“Oh, definitely [if you can] shoot the ball. Shooting is always in high demand, but I would say for smaller guards, you have to do what you have to do to stand out. So, if you defend 94 feet and make it tough for the opposing point guard to run their offense, that’s something that’s in high demand as well. So, whatever your size is, you have to utilise that to the best of your ability; when you do that, teams will notice.”
Player comparisons: Jalen Brunson, T.J. McConnell, and (current) Mike Conley.
To get it out of the way early, we are not saying Mark Sears is on the trajectory to be Jalen Brunson (or any of these players!). However, there are certain similarities between Brunson’s and Sears’ games. Obviously, they are both small and left-handed, duh. But the main similarity I noticed was the low centre of gravity both play with; their ability to mash defenders into screens, snake pick-and-rolls, and get into the teeth of the defence is similar. As for the T.J. McConnell and Mike Conley comps, Sears ultimately profiles as a lead ball-handler off the bench. But unlike McConnell, at least, Sears can play off the ball due to his shooting ability (meaning he could fit in lineups with Giannis, theoretically). But for the most part, he profiles as a backup point guard who can create in the same type of role Kevin Porter Jr. had last season.
Welcome to the team, Mark!