Loss in Game 5 could spell end for Milwaukee Bucks core
The Milwaukee Bucks are fighting for their playoff lives trailing 3-1 in their first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat. A loss in Game 5 on Wednesday could result in key departures from the team's core this summer.
Bucks center Brook Lopez, who finished second in the Defensive Player of the Year vote, is a free agent after the Bucks are shelved in the playoffs (whenever that might be). While Lopez led the NBA in total blocks and contested 17.5 shots per-game during the regular season, he also turned 35 years old on April 1. All-Star forward Khris Middleton, meanwhile, has a player option worth $40.4 million for next season and can sign a multi-year extension for as much as four years and $200 million.
But Middleton missed most of the Bucks' 2022 playoff run and played in just 33 games during the current campaign -- and he turns 32 years old in August. Jrue Holiday is another Bucks vet who is getting up there in years, set to turn 33 in June -- and he was just burned on repeat by Jimmy Butler in Game 4.
The organization may seriously consider changes to the roster -- and even to their head coach, Mike Budenholzer -- if the team is knocked out by an eight seed. It would be the second time in four years that Milwaukee fell to Butler and the Miami Heat.
Or, they could rally, win the series and bring everyone back. Amazingly, the Bucks still have the third-best odds to win the NBA title, even trailing 3-1 in the first round.
While there are only 11 teams who have ever come back from down 3-1 in an NBA playoff series, eight of those who did so had two home games to play with -- as is the case with the Bucks. They also have Giannis Antetokoumpo, who played only 11 minutes before Game 4.
The Bucks desperately want to make sure Wednesday isn't their last game in Milwaukee this season. And for some of the Bucks, not their last ever.
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