4 Bucks who should be cut loose following disastrous playoff loss to Heat

In the aftermath of the Milwaukee Bucks’ embarrassing loss to the Miami Heat, the Bucks enter an offseason full of questions. While Milwaukee clearly won’t be entering a rebuild, it’s reasonable to expect some pretty big changes to the team entering the 2023-24 season.

For one reason or another, these four players were massively disappointing for the Bucks when it mattered most. Considering their contract situations and status with the team, there is a very good chance they won’t be returning.

Some of these guys played their roles well for the Bucks’ 2020-21 championship run, but with their recent level of play, it may sadly make more sense to just let them go.

Here are four Bucks who should be let go of prior to the 2022-23 season:

4. C Meyers Leonard

While Meyers Leonard certainly didn’t play a massive role for the Bucks this season, he was still a part of a team that lost in five games to the eighth seed. Pairing that, with the fact that he barely played in this series makes it almost impossible to say he will be returning.

It was already a questionable move enough to bring Leonard in considering his history, and while he wasn’t terrible for the Bucks, they can easily find better depth at center through free agency this offseason.

Through nine games with the Bucks, Leonard averaged 4.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per game while shooting 48.3 percent from the field and 38.9 percent from deep on two attempts. While these numbers aren’t bad on paper, it’s worth mentioning that Leonard has a box plus-minus of -5.0 when on the floor.

Leonard isn’t the worst center to have on the floor, but he certainly isn’t great. With players like Mike Muscala and Alex Len likely hitting the market this offseason, it doesn’t make sense to keep Leonard when Milwaukee could scoop a center like these two on a minimum deal.

3. SG Grayson Allen

Following some horrific execution on the final play of Game 5 against the Heat, the Bucks may simply be done with Grayson Allen entering this offseason. While he is quite a solid role player, his occasional dirty play, alongside the way he blew a potential game-tying shot in overtime, may overrule that.

Replacing Allen may not be the easiest thing, but considering the Bucks’ current cap situation, it may be the best move to make financially. Re-signing Allen wouldn’t break the bank by any means, but it certainly wouldn’t help.

In 72 games played this season, Allen averaged 10.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 44.0 percent from the field and 39.9 percent from three on 5.1 attempts. These are very fine numbers for a role player. Again, replacing these numbers won’t be easy, but it is possible.

Allen was having himself a very good playoff series against the Heat as well until his massive mistake on the final play of overtime in Game 5 where he, for some reason, decided to start driving to the basket with less than a second left on the clock, losing the game and series for Milwaukee.

There are simply too many factors going against Allen this offseason for us to justify wanting to have him back. Hopefully, the Bucks can figure out how to replace his output, though.

2. PG Jrue Holiday

There aren’t a ton of point guards who are better than Jrue Holiday in the regular season. However, once it becomes the playoffs, Holiday almost forgets how to play basketball, and it has hurt the Bucks more often than not over the years.

When you add just how dreadful he was against the Heat, alongside his player option for next season, it may be best to trade him for a new player before his contract expires.

Since joining the Bucks, Holiday has averaged 17.9 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 7.9 assists per game while shooting 39.6 percent from the field and 30.4 percent from three on 6.6 attempts in the playoffs. Holiday did play a crucial role on the defensive end for Milwaukee during their 2021 Finals run, but since then, it’s been pretty rough.

Holiday was a big reason for the Bucks’ downfall in this year’s series against the Heat, and it simply might be better for both sides if he was traded. It’s hard to gauge his value, or who could be available this offseason, but at the end of the day, the Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo can’t afford to have Holiday continuously blow it in the playoffs.

1. Head Coach Mike Budenholzer

While it was the players who ended up disappointing down the stretch of Game 5, there are no doubts that Mike Budenholzer made a number of big mistakes as a coach that played a role in this devastating loss. This has really been a common theme from Budenholzer throughout his coaching career, and it simply may be time to go.

For example, refusing to put Antetokounmpo on Jimmy Butler towards the end of the game and playing drop coverage against a Miami Heat team that had one of the best 3-point shooting series ever are both big mistakes that cost the Bucks big time.

Milwaukee could certainly have a much worse coach than Budenholzer, but it also seems as if they could very well improve. Whether they give Charles Lee a chance to step up or hire someone like Nick Nurse, it seems like it wouldn’t hurt to give someone else a shot to coach this team.

We’re thankful to Coach Budenholzer for helping deliver the Bucks a championship, but he’s made far too many mistakes aside from that season to justify keeping him around long-term. This may be unlikely due to the front office’s loyalty to Budenholzer, but one can hope that they finally make the right decision with him.

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