3 Milwaukee Bucks who won't be back after latest playoff disappointment

What a weird, tumultuous 2023-24 NBA campaign it was for the Milwaukee Bucks, who saw their season come to a screeching halt on Thursday night following their Game 6 loss to the Indiana Pacers in their first-round playoff series.

After firing first-year head coach Adrian Griffin 43 games into his tenure with a 30-13 record, the Bucks hired Doc Rivers as his replacement, and the team went 17-19 to finish the regular season.

However, it didn't get any better in the postseason for Rivers and Milwaukee. The team got ravaged by injuries, including their two-star players, Giannis Antetokounmpo (who missed the entire series) and Damian Lillard. 

Regardless, the Bucks now enter the offseason with a myriad of questions with an aging and expensive roster. They enter the offseason projected to be a luxury tax team, currently over the second apron, according to Spotrac -- this limits their pathways to upgrading the roster based on the recently implemented CBA restrictions.

Nonetheless, the Bucks will likely aggressively pursue retooling their roster around Antetokounmpo and Lillard as they try to maximize their championship window. So, these three players will be on the move after the team's latest playoff blunder.

3. Jae Crowder

Many expected Jae Crowder to be a vital addition to the Bucks rotation when the team maneuvered to acquire him as part of a three-team swap involving the Brooklyn Nets and Indiana Pacers ahead of the 2023 trade deadline, sending out five future second-round picks for his services. But that has been far from the case during his tenure.

Crowder has averaged 6.4 points and 3.4 rebounds in 22 minutes per game over the past two seasons in Milwaukee. But he has virtually been a non-factor and seen his role significantly diminish in consecutive postseasons. 

In eight playoff games with the Bucks, Crowder scored two points per game while shooting a lowly 7.7 percent from beyond the arc on 1.6 nightly attempts.

Once regarded as an ideal prototypical 3-and-D wing for teams with championship aspirations like Milwaukee, Crowder appears to be losing his luster as he enters the latter stages of his career. Entering unrestricted free agency ahead of his age-34 campaign, the lack of usage in the playoffs suggests he will be out of the picture next season, especially considering he was a healthy scratch the last two games against the Pacers.

2. Malik Beasley

As happy as the Bucks would likely be to welcome back Malik Beasley next season, he played his way out of their price range with an impressive regular-season showing after betting on himself and signing a one-year contract for the veteran's minimum ($2.7 million), showing he can make positive contributions to a contending team as a floor-spacing scoring threat.

Beasley averaged 11.3 points per game while shooting a career-best 41.3 percent from beyond the arc on 6.9 nightly attempts while starting 77 of the 79 games he appeared in leading up to the playoffs, leading the Bucks in made 3s (224). However, like Crowder, he took a backseat once the stakes got raised in Round 1 versus Indiana. His scoring dropped to 8.8 points per contest, playing only 21.8 minutes compared to 29.6 in the regular season.

It is hard to believe that the Los Angeles Lakers declined Beasley's $16.5 million team for 2023-24. They could have desperately used another perimeter shooter in their backcourt. Nonetheless, he will likely have a robust market as a premier 3-point marksman only entering his age-28 campaign.

1. Bobby Portis

Bobby Portis has become a Bucks fan-favorite since initially signing with the team as a free agent in November 2020. However, after finding himself in trade rumors ahead of this year's deadline, it feels safe to say Milwaukee will explore upgrading the roster again this offseason and dangle him in negotiations. 

Portis is the most desirable bargaining chip the Bucks have, especially considering their lack of draft capital and young players on the roster, and he should have plenty of suitors as a player who has finished third in the Sixth Man of the Year voting each of the past two seasons. He averaged 13.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per game in 2023-24, shooting 50.8 percent from the floor and 40.7 percent from long distance. 

An energizer and crowd-pleaser with playoff pedigree as a former NBA champion, Portis is now entering the final guaranteed year of the four-year, $48.58 million extension he signed in 2022 (with a player option for 2025-26). Considering his current price tag is well below market value, he will likely opt out to demand a more lucrative payday if he remains on the roster beyond next season. So, trading him before he asks for a raise seems to be the proper move.