While the loss certainly wasn’t what the Thunder wanted to see, it gives the team a chance to reset in mid-December as it did a year ago. Last year, the Thunder’s loss in the cup final against the Milwaukee Bucks was a bit of a wakeup call for the team and clearly helped provide some motivation for the rest of the year.

Which brings us to the latest reports that the Bucks are telling teams they want to be buyers, not sellers, at the trade deadline. The first report came from the well-connected Eric Nehm, who covers the Bucks for The Athletic.

After making the trip to Las Vegas for the NBA Cup semifinals the previous two seasons, the Milwaukee Bucks are one of the 28 teams watching the action in Sin City from home.

“The Athletic confirmed this week, they’ve done due diligence on the Sacramento Kings’ Zach LaVine recently [and have shown interest in him in the past],” Nehm reported.