The Playoff Chase is Over for Bucks, Leaving Only Red Flags

Expand

Photo via Milwaukee Bucks - X/Twitter

Myles Turner - Milwaukee Bucks (2026)

Milwaukee Bucks center Myles Turner makes a lay up against the San Antonio Spurs at Fiserv Forum (March 28, 2026)

It’s all over for the Bucks and the NBA Championship playoffs this season, yet the shouting isn’t. The San Antonio Spurs slammed the door for Milwaukee’s hopes on Saturday night, with a resounding 127-95 win. The team was last left out of the chase in the 2015-2016 season.

Against the Los Angeles Clippers in Sunday’s home matinee game, it looked a little different early in the game. Jericho Sims scored the first 4 points, and Gary Trent Jr. (36 points) nailed 3 of 4 three-pointers. Then, things collapsed, after Taurean Prince sank an off-balance shot from outside the arc.

Milwaukee dropped a 127-113 game, leaving them 29-45 for the season, mired at 11th place in the NBA Eastern conference standings, and 3rd place in the NBA Central Division.

Injured List

What hurt Sunday’s cause was Bobby Portis Jr. Ryan Rollins, Myles Turner, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Gary Harris, Kyle Kuzma, Kevin Porter Jr. and Thanasis Antetokounmpo, all being injured. Some like Porter Jr. are not expected to return this season. If the ownership gets their way, Giannis will not be back to play either.

The case of Giannis has been interesting. He has not played since March 15 and missed more than half of the slated 82-game schedule because of various injuries. “The Big Guy” wants to play, over the objections of ownership. They want a healthy trade asset for higher draft picks and players, should they swap him in the off-season.

He has one year left on his contract, and can sign an extension of $275 million, come October 1. This has caused the NBA Players Association to stick their nose into the fray. If he’s healthy enough to play and being held out, the team is “tanking.”

Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer presented a fine template for losing, with the Chicago Cubs. It got them higher picks in the draft lottery for younger players and establishing a good team, and promptly, dismantling it. As the Bucks slowly sink into the sunset, their NBA Draft Lottery position increases. There are now only eight games left in their season, and a chance to really go down in flames.

10 of 12

They have lost four of their last five games, and 10 of their last 12. It has given players that were picked up an opportunity to shine and be released, such as Cam Newton. He did better in two months with the Bucks than with the Brooklyn Nets. He was waived to convert Pete Nance from a two-way contract to a standard NBA contract.

Head coach Doc Rivers explained that sometimes decisions are made for the good of the team. Consequently, Rivers has not been given the best tools available in the box during his tenure. He also doused out the fires at Saturday’s press conference, citing the team’s overall poor health, following the Spurs’ game.

“Since I’ve been here, I haven’t had a healthy stretch and it’s your key guys,” Rivers said. “It’s been (Giannis Antetokounmpo), and Damian Lillard. You hope you can play through that, but we just don’t have the ability. We needed health. We were thin. We knew that before the season started, and it just didn’t go our way.

“All the talk and all the stuff probably didn’t help either,” he said. Rivers was referring to Antetokounmpo trade rumors. Despite the two having Milwaukee icon status, they are expendable too.

The underlying subtext is that ownership knew the train was going to derail and used bubble gum to hold the track together in places. The ill-fated trades, not paying attention to injuries and their root cause … or, maybe, they did. They did not take the cue from 15,000 people booing in unison at a few games. It said something.

The Bucks return to the Fiserv Forum on Tuesday, playing the Dallas Mavericks, the Boston Celtics on Friday and the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.