The writing on the wall was there way before the Milwaukee Bucks ended the Giannis Antetokounmpo era, but making it worse is the fact that they now have to pay Damian Lillard over $90 million in dead money over the next four years while also having to pay Myles Turner (who was terrible) over $54 million over the next three even though they have their center of the future: Kel'El Ware.
And this all could have been avoided if they had just confronted this sooner instead of letting it get as ugly as it now is. If they had, the Utah Jazz wouldn't have have stopped their post-Giannis future from being a little bleak, but at least would have helped with their cap situation.
Last year, the Jazz had three players on expiring deals that they were trying to get rid of: John Collins, Collin Sexton, and Jordan Clarkson. They eventually did, but beforehand, a pretty fair deal was outlined (not a reported or rumored one) that would have sent two of them to Milwaukee (Collins and Sexton) for Lillard (out for the season).
The Bucks would have gotten two players who could play (maybe three if they wanted to expand it) on expiring deals, so whether they worked out or not, they would at least have had more financial flexibility this coming season. It also would have put Lillard back in Utah, something he has previously admitted on the record that he was A-okay with.
Instead, the Bucks waived-and-stretched Lillard to spend the cap space they created on Turner. To the surprise of absolutely no one, this backfired spectacularly on them, so once it was curtains for the Giannis era, the Bucks' situation became one of the NBA's most hapless.
It likely would have cost the Bucks an asset or two though
There was no intel suggesting Utah or Milwaukee had considered a trade like this last year. That may have been because Danny Ainge has a penchant for ripping teams off, and this likely would have been one of them if he planned to demand draft capital from the Bucks.
Therein lies the problem with a deal like this. Even if the Bucks constantly deluded themselves into thinking the Giannis era was salvageable, they knew that if and when they traded him, their options were far from great, so trading Lillard to a team that had everything to gain from their draft assets would work out much better for them than it would for themselves.
The truth is, this was a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation Milwaukee was facing. Utah didn't get involved in it, but they can cheer up knowing that as bad as things went for them this decade, the Bucks are likely about to enter a place that's much worse.
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