[Stein] The Bucks are routinely described as determined as any team on the NBA map to make at least one move before the trade buzzer sounds to try to enhance the supporting cast around Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.

I continue to hear whispered warnings: Don't forget about the Bucks.

Milwaukee, as you've also surely committed to memory by now, can't combine contracts in any offer for Butler until it first sheds Pat Connaughton's contract or does so as part of a larger Butler trade construction.

If the Bucks find a home for Connaughton, though, packaging Khris Middleton and Bobby Portis would enable them to offer Miami two players who could seemingly boost the Heat's playoff chances compared to playing game after game without Butler. Those two also hold contracts that end after 2025-26 assuming both players pick up their player options ($34 million for Middleton; $13.4 for Portis) for next season.

This much is crystal clear about Milwaukee's intentions, with or without a Butler pursuit, with roughly eight days to go before the deadline:

The Bucks are routinely described as a team quite determined to make at least one move before the trade buzzer sounds to try to enhance the supporting cast around Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.

As determined as any team on the NBA map, as relayed to me, to make a trade before the buzzer sounds.