NBA Playoffs: The Bucks, Clippers and other winners/losers of the second round

Loser: The Milwaukee Bucks

Regardless of who you spoke to before the start of the season, the Orlando restart and maybe even before the playoffs, if you asked them who they think is going to win the 2019-20 NBA title, they’re probably saying the Milwaukee Bucks or one of the Los Angeles-based teams.

Even if you thought they’d eventually fall to LeBron James or Kawhi Leonard, you didn’t think they’d lose to the Miami Heat of all teams and especially not like this.

Jimmy Butler and his ragtag of athletes and role players dominated the Bucks and it took overtime and an impressive 36 points from Khris Middleton to force a Game 5.

The Bucks became the topic of almost every conversation in the NBA world and there was a flurry of reports, tweets, hot takes, and think pieces haunting this Milwaukee team for days after their defeat.

Eric Bledsoe is currently being included in trade talks as the team hopes to upgrade their playmaking position according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, that same report also says that Mike Budenholzer’s job as head coach is safe for the time being and The New York Times‘ Marc Stein says the team is looking to pick up Chris Paul in a potential trade.

The title favorites are going to spend an entire offseason with their names in potential trade discussions, critics telling them what they did wrong in the season and playoffs and worse than that: they might even lose their (two time) MVP in Giannis Antetokounmpo.