The Milwaukee Bucks have been eliminated from the NBA playoffs and may try to make a big move this offseason to make up for it.
The Bucks on Tuesday lost 103-94 to the Miami Heat in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinals to end the series and their season. The Bucks entered the restart in July with the best record in the league, but it was downhill from there. They went 3-5 in their eight games of the restart, lost their first playoff game to Orlando before winning the series, and then got eliminated by Miami in five.
The team even did not seem to be focused on the season.
So where does Milwaukee go from here?
They still have Giannis Antetokounmpo under contract for another season. They lost Malcolm Brogdon last offseason, but re-signed Khris Middleton.
Now, the New York Times’ Marc Stein says teams believe the Bucks will pursue Chris Paul in a trade.
There are rival teams that believe Milwaukee will explore trading for Chris Paul — complicated as that would be financially — if Oklahoma City indeed makes CP3 available via trade. One more thing to track as the Bucks enter perhaps the most crucial offseason in team history …
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) September 9, 2020
Paul is under contract for $41.3 million next season and has a $44 million player option the season after that.
Getting the finances to work would be difficult, but Milwaukee will try anything to seek improvement. Given their reason for getting rid of Billy Donovan, it seems the Thunder would be open to a trade too.
