The Milwaukee Bucks turned the page in the most painful way possible. With Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis both heading to Miami in the blockbuster trade this week, the team that won the 2021 NBA Finals no longer has a single player on the roster. Shams Charania of ESPN flagged it in his reporting. The era is officially over.
Thanasis Antetokounmpo, who has been a fixture at the end of the bench for years, is a free agent and not expected to be re-signed. He carries a cap hold but no real role. Once free agency opens, that last symbolic connection to the championship roster will be gone too.
It is hard to overstate what the 2021 Bucks meant to Milwaukee. The franchise had not won a title since 1971. That team brought a parade to downtown Milwaukee for the first time in fifty years. Giannis dropped 50 points in Game 6. Khris Middleton hit big shots. Jrue Holiday made winning plays. Brook Lopez anchored the paint. Portis was the energy guy off the bench. The supporting cast had character and continuity.
The unwinding happened slowly and then all at once. Jrue went to Boston in the deal for Damian Lillard. Middleton’s body broke down and the Bucks moved him at last year’s deadline. P.J. Tucker, Pat Connaughton, Bryn Forbes, all gone over the past few years. Lopez signed elsewhere this offseason. Now Giannis and Portis are out the door.
The new Bucks team will not have anyone who lived through that title run. Tyler Herro becomes the face of the new era. Kel’el Ware is the developmental cornerstone. Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kasparas Jakucionis round out the haul. Add in three first round picks, a swap, and a second round pick, and Milwaukee has a complete reboot of the roster.
This is what the Bucks did not want to do for years. They kept trying to compete around Giannis. They mortgaged future picks for Jrue. They traded for Lillard. They took swings at older veterans to surround him. Each move came with the assumption that the title window was always open if they could just get the right complementary pieces. The window closed harder than anyone wanted to admit.
The drama with Giannis dragged on for what felt like an eternity. He made noises about wanting to compete. He made noises about being loyal to Milwaukee. He stopped short of formally requesting a trade. The Bucks eventually got tired of waiting for him to either commit fully or push his way out. They pushed first.
The trade gives Milwaukee closure. The package gives them something to build with. The challenge now is identity. Who are the Bucks without Giannis? What kind of team do they want to be? Do they try to push into the playoffs next year with Lillard and Herro, or do they tank for a top pick and start over with picks they own plus the Miami picks?
The coaching seat is also part of the conversation. Doc Rivers was hired to win with Giannis. His role in a rebuild is unclear. Front office tenure is also up in the air now that Jon Horst pulled the trigger on the biggest trade in franchise history.
For the fans, it is a moment to mourn. Title teams do not come around often, and the 2021 group will always be one of the most beloved in Milwaukee history. The names will come back as broadcasters and special advisors and statue subjects eventually. Today, the locker room belongs to a different team. Move on or stand still. Milwaukee finally chose to move on.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
