MILWAUKEE — The game, series and season slipped away in a mystifying meltdown by the Milwaukee Bucks Tuesday night at Indiana. Was it also the end of an era?

Having been ousted from the NBA playoffs in the first round for the third straight year, the Bucks face a big offseason of decisions.

The torn Achilles suffered by Damian Lillard only complicates the equation.

The Bucks have a unique superstar in Giannis Antetokounmpo. The question is: do they try to surround him with talent (realizing you don’t have cap space or a first-round draft choice until 2031), or do they swallow hard and rebuild?

Antetokounmpo is the only asset you have that would bring a bounty in return. Yet if you trade him, you’re sending away perhaps the greatest player in franchise history. Even if you get a load of first round picks, it sends signals to your loyal fan base. There would be no shortage of suitors for maybe the NBA’s best player. Brooklyn, Miami and Houston just to start.

That 2021 championship seems like a long time ago. Over the last four years, the Bucks have only won one playoff series. Over that span, Bucks’ ownership has spent a lot of money. It’s fair to think they expected a better return on investment.

As distasteful as that finish was for the Bucks, now the real action begins.