The Milwaukee Bucks had some tough decisions to make this past summer, as they had numerous free agents and could only keep so many of them to avoid paying the luxury tax.

Their two most major free agents where Khris Middleton and Malcolm Brogdon, who also happened to be their two best players behind Giannis Antetokounmpo last season.

They re-signed Middleton. However, they allowed Brogdon to walk to the Indiana Pacers.

Now, a couple of weeks into the 2019-20 NBA campaign, Antetokounmpo and the Bucks are feeling Brogdon's loss.

Milwaukee is 8-3, so it's still a very good ballclub and is unquestionably one of the top Eastern Conference contenders, but it does not look quite as dominant as it did early on in its 60-win season a year ago, and it's not hard to understand why.

With the Bucks getting set to meet the Pacers for the first time this season on Saturday, Antetokounmpo said this week that he wished Brogdon was still in Milwaukee (per Eric Nehm of The Athletic), which can't feel too good for Bucks management with Giannis up for free agency in two years.

A legitimate argument can be made that Brogdon, not Middleton, was Milwaukee's second-best player last season, as he put forth a 50-40-90 campaign and was a big-shot maker for the Bucks all year long.

No, he does not come with the defensive chops that Middleton possesses, but as a scorer, he is certainly superior, and with Milwaukee now lacking elite offensive talent behind Antetokounmpo, Giannis is right in thinking that his team could definitely use Brogdon.

The Bucks let Brogdon go because they did not want do dip into the tax. It's that simple.

Of course, that money belongs to Milwaukee's ownership, so for us to sit here and criticize it for being cheap just doesn't seem right, because we are not in that position, but we can analyze how this could negatively affect the Bucks moving forward.

First and foremost, Milwaukee looks like it lacks bullets this year. Depth is imperative to winning championships, and the Bucks simply don't have it. It's basically Antetokounmpo, Middleton, Eric Bledsoe and then a whole bunch of inconsistent role players, of whom some of them (like Brook Lopez) are not playing nearly as well as they did last season.

Not to mention that having Middleton and Bledsoe as your second and third options does not bode well for title contention.

The Bucks do not exactly play in a large market. I understand that. But they are risking losing Antetokounmpo during the summer of 2021 based on how they are currently operating.

While Milwaukee is definitely one of the best teams in the East, I don't think this club is a title contender as currently constructed. The Bucks aren't beating either of the Los Angeles squads with this roster. I'm not sure they'd beat the Utah Jazz or Denver Nuggets, either.

Milwaukee could have just ate the luxury tax and re-signed Brogdon to maintain its Big Three (which still probably wasn't good enough to win a championship, but was a far better option than what the Bucks currently have).

Instead, the Bucks elected to let him walk to a division rival and may have ruffled the feathers of their MVP in the process.