Charlotte Hornets vs Milwaukee Bucks Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 01/02/26

Charlotte looks to bounce back from consecutive defeats to Milwaukee and Golden State, as they head to Fiserv Forum for another date with the Bucks. This match-up concludes a 4-game regular season series with Milwaukee leading 2-1 before Friday’s game. How exactly do the Hornets get a win here? For starters, they’ll need to improve defensively after allowing 123 and 132 points in their last 2 games. But is it realistic to expect from them to slow down Giannis here? Charlotte is among the worst teams in the league when it comes to opponent points in the paint. They allow 53.5 points per game in that area, with Ryan Kalkbrenner and Mason Plumlee both being out they’ll be at Giannis’s mercy in the paint.

Antetokounmpo’s return sparked the Bucks to back-to-back wins at Chicago and at Charlotte, but they fumbled the ball in their last game which they lost by a point to the lowly Wizards. Even 33 points and 15 rebounds by the Greek Freak weren’t enough to beat a team that’s not even close to the play-in tournament. I’m hoping the loss is a wake up call of sorts as the Bucks cannot afford to lose those type of games if they want to make up ground in the Eastern Conference. Winning the next two games is a must for Doc Rivers and his men, because the schedule gets a lot tougher towards the middle of January.

Just 4 days ago we saw the Bucks win by 10 points in this match-up, being ahead for 60% of that game. As Giannis gets back into rhythm following his injury, the minutes played will only go up and so will his productivity. His Bucks are 8-2 SU in 10 meetings and a perfect 5-0 SU in 5 games at home against this team. I’ll roll with Milwaukee here.

Charlotte Hornets vs Milwaukee Bucks Predictions: Bucks -6 is available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.