As his teammates finished drills after the Milwaukee Bucks’ shootaround on Nov. 4 at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Giannis Antetokounmpo took a courtside seat.

With a smile on his face, he started a conversation. Given the state of his team at the time, Antetokounmpo did not have the disposition one might have expected.

Two days earlier, at home in Milwaukee, the Bucks had dropped their fifth consecutive game, on a jumper by Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell with 0.1 seconds remaining on a possession that nearly resulted in a Cavaliers turnover on two occasions. The Bucks were 1-5 as they headed to Cleveland to face the Cavaliers again, and Antetokounmpo was dealing with a right adductor strain.

Yet, with the team struggling to find its way and the strain forcing him to miss that night’s game, Antetokounmpo discussed a wide variety of topics. Throughout the conversation, he joked, the smile rarely leaving his face.

As he got up and headed toward the team bus, he answered the question that had yet gone unasked.

“Don’t start worrying yet,” Antetokounmpo said with a knowing smile.

With that reassuring message, Antetokounmpo left the building.

The Bucks lost hours later that night. After beating the Utah Jazz at home Nov. 7 to grab their second win of the season, the Bucks flew east and dropped their next game, to the New York Knicks. They followed that defeat with a 6-point home loss to the Boston Celtics to drop to 2-8.

Since that nadir, however, the Bucks have won 15 of their next 23 games, including the NBA Cup final over the Oklahoma City Thunder (although that game does not count toward their overall record). As of Sunday, they were ranked 16th in offensive rating and 10th in defensive rating. The Top 10 is where, before the season, Bucks coach Doc Rivers said elite teams should be. At 17-16 and fifth in the Eastern Conference, the Bucks are not yet back to title contender status, but they are in a much better place than they were to start the season.

So, back to that unasked question: How was it that, amid the outside panic about the Bucks’ horrendous start, Antetokounmpo managed to stay calm when earlier in his career he might have experienced that same panic about a poor start?

“You still do it. You still kind of buckle up. You still lock in a little bit more, but I believe in myself,” Antetokounmpo said after a Bucks win against the Orlando Magic in December. “I really do believe in myself. I do. I really do believe in my work that I put in. I believe in my mindset. I believe everything about myself. I really do.

“Good or bad. Win or lose, play well, play bad, I don’t care. I really believe in myself, and I believe in my abilities. I know this will not have been a season that we will be down. No, no, no. I knew we would turn it around because I know myself. I really know myself. When things go bad, people fall, I kind of get a little bit more — how can I say it — I have a little bit different edge about me.”Antetokounmpo has been sidelined by injuries in each of the Bucks’ past two postseason appearances. Without him at full strength, the Bucks have been eliminated in the first round each of the past two seasons. He recently missed four games because of illness and back spasms, with the Bucks going 2-2. He has averaged 29.3 points and 12 rebounds in the three games since his return.

To try to stay healthy and remain dominant, Antetokounmpo needed to limit the physical beating he takes nightly. He needed to find a way to protect himself. He found that path by building a new shot profile and putting a greater emphasis on midrange jumpers.

“I have to be a threat, and I kind of want to evolve my game,” Antetokounmpo said. “I want to expand my game. I want to get that different aspect within my game, and it’s been helping me, so I’m just going to continue to do it. This year, I try to focus on a lot of midrange, a lot of floaters, a lot of hooks, a lot of angles, footwork, plays within the elbow. It’s been helping me so far.”

After a hellish start to the season, the Bucks have stabilized and put themselves in the mix for a home playoff series in the East. Antetokounmpo’s brilliance has helped spark that recovery.

Antetokounmpo is averaging a league-leading 32.3 points to go with 11.6 rebounds and 5.9 assists. If he sustains those numbers for a full season, he would be the first player in NBA history to have that level of production in the three major categories.

Antetokounmpo is also shooting a career-best 61.1% from the field. He is adding 1.1 blocks per game.

It is undeniably a season worth recognizing, but sometimes the attention given to Antetokounmpo’s greatness is not as intense as the panic when things are going poorly.

“I think maybe, at times, it gets a little bit frustrating because I compete. I do. I do. I improve,” Antetokounmpo said. “And I don’t get the recognition, I believe, sometimes as much as I should, which sometimes is frustrating.

“I’m like, am I doing my job? And then I look, I’m like, ‘Yeah, you’re doing your job. You’re improving. You’re putting the work in.’ Like, I really believe I’m the most consistent player in the league. From Year 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, every year.

“But OK, you don’t always get the recognition when you want it, but hopefully maybe one day, you get it.”