Loss in Game 5 could spell end for Milwaukee Bucks core

The Milwaukee Bucks are fighting for their playoff lives trailing 3-1 in their first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat. A loss in Game 5 on Wednesday could result in key departures from the team's core this summer.

Bucks center Brook Lopez, who finished second in the Defensive Player of the Year vote, is a free agent after the Bucks are shelved in the playoffs (whenever that might be). While Lopez led the NBA in total blocks and contested 17.5 shots per-game during the regular season, he also turned 35 years old on April 1. All-Star forward Khris Middleton, meanwhile, has a player option worth $40.4 million for next season and can sign a multi-year extension for as much as four years and $200 million.

But Middleton missed most of the Bucks' 2022 playoff run and played in just 33 games during the current campaign -- and he turns 32 years old in August. Jrue Holiday is another Bucks vet who is getting up there in years, set to turn 33 in June -- and he was just burned on repeat by Jimmy Butler in Game 4.