If and when the next NBA blockbuster trade occurs, you may need to look back to this moment, and point to the Cleveland Cavaliers as the team that kicked off the beginning of the end.
The Milwaukee Bucks hosted the Cavaliers on Saturday night desperate for a win. After entering the season with championship hopes, the Bucks were 1-4, tied for last in the Eastern Conference. Facing a team like the Cavs, who were undefeated but lack the postseason success the championship Bucks have seen in the last half-decade, it was a chance to right the ship and to prove the Bucks were truly a contending team.
Milwaukee got everything they needed to pull off the win, too. Damian Lillard was on fire, shooting 10-for-15 from beyond the arc and scoring 41 points. Giannis Antetokounmpo was unstoppable and racked up 34 points, 16 rebounds and 9 assists. Taurean Prince, starting for the injured Khris Middleton, shot 6-for-7 from the field and 4-for-5 from 3-point range. On the other side, Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland combined to shoot just 42 percent from the field.
And yet, with all the ingredients there for a victory, the Bucks couldn't get it done. The Cavaliers hung around, never losing contact, and were up one with 10 seconds to go when Lillard hit a difficult stepback jumper, summoning everything he had for one last big moment to save the Bucks' season.
And then Donovan Mitchell, a spiritual successor to Lillard, came back and hit a shot of his own with three-tenths of a second remaining to slam the door shut. It was a heart-breaking 114-113 loss for Milwaukee in front of its home crowd. Cleveland moved to 7-0, the Bucks fell to 1-5, and in the process may have broke the camel's back.
Losing to a strong, undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers team is not a disaster on its own. Yet given that the Bucks have already lost games to the Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls, and that they have the 21st-ranked offense despite Giannis and Lillard being available for every game, and that their aged core of players can only summon herculean performances every so often - they needed this win. They brought everything they had and couldn't get the win, at home in front of a crushed crowd.
It might be the beginning of the end for Giannis Antetokounmpo in a Milwaukee Bucks uniform.
Did the Cavaliers seal Giannis's fate in Milwaukee?
The danger signs around the Bucks have been leaking out like water through a colander over the past few weeks. Antetokounmpo is referencing a trade, his camp is telling reporters what teams he would like to be traded to, and the body language around the Bucks is as bad as it gets.
The writing appears to be on the wall, and it may be in permanent ink after the loss to the Cavaliers. Giannis Antetokounmpo is still at the top of his game, but his wingman in Lillard can only bring it every third night, Brook Lopez is a step slower, Khris Middleton can't get healthy and the rest of the roster is not able to rise to the occasion.
There are plenty of teams who would be dying to trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Cavs' old foe the Golden State Warriors would love to extend Stephen Curry's prime with a superstar teammate. The Houston Rockets are gathering assets for a blockbuster trade. The Miami Heat love to go after stars. The Brooklyn Nets could pivot quickly and have plenty of assets. The Oklahoma City Thunder have the ammunition to get in on any trade for any player, and Antetokounmpo would be an amazing fit with their other star pieces.
Wherever he lands, the trading of Giannis Antetokounmpo is sure to change the face of the league. He is a Top-5 player in the league at the very least, still in his prime, a physical force and a two-way wrecking crew who warps defenses to try and stop him. The fact that the Bucks cannot even be decent with him speaks to their aging core and the incapable bench pieces around him.
There are many hits of the hammer that will have led to a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade, if and when it does happen. When it finally breaks, however, and Antetokounmpo is on a new team -- especially if he is competing for a championship -- many will look back to this night, when the Bucks gave everything they had and still came up short.
Who broke up the last gasps of a champion team? It may have been the Cleveland Cavaliers.