After a difficult 1-3 start to the season, Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks needed a win — and the basketball gods lined one up for them on Thursday night. A rested Bucks team was about to face a Memphis team on the second night of a back-to-back game that had six players out, including starters Desmond Bane and Marcus Smart.

The result? The Bucks lost 23 points in a game in which they never took a lead after three minutes and were never within 10 points until midway through the second quarter.

Milwaukee has now suffered four straight losses, is 1-4 this season and has the third-worst net rating in the league (-8.2) thanks to a 24th-ranked offense and defense. Antetokounmpo summed it up when he said, “Right now we have no identity.” And Khris Middleton's return from surgery on both ankles isn't going to fix things.

It may be a small sample size, but it's time to reach for the panic button in Milwaukee.

WHAT'S WRONG?

A lot. But this is where it starts:

Missed jump shots and poor transition defense are a losing combination.

Milwaukee is simply missing shots. Against Memphis, the Bucks were 9 of 42 from 3 (21.4%), and overall this season they are shooting 33.3% from distance and 28% from three-pointers beyond the break. It's not just about 3-pointers either, the Bucks are shooting 35.1% on jump shots (on any off-field shot) this season. They only hit 33.9% on shots in the floater area (inside the paint but outside the restricted area). If they don't get to the rim, they don't score, at least not consistently.

Now combine that with a net defensive rating of 154.1 in transition, second-worst in the league, and you have a real problem: The Bucks are missing shots, opponents are grabbing the board, running out and scoring in transition.

“The defensive transition was still terrible tonight and that’s my fault. It’s all on me until we get it right.” Coach Doc Rivers said after the game. “We have to fix this.”

Rivers' bigger problem may be that the book on how to attack Milwaukee's defense is out – bully Damian Lillard and other Bucks guards (as Zach Lowe noted). The defensive rotations behind them weren't sharp, but there are attacking options for Milwaukee now and teams are attacking them.

DAMIAN LILLARD'S INCIDENCE

On opening night, Damian Lillard appeared to be back against an undermanned Philadelphia team, hitting 6 of 12 3-pointers en route to 30 points.

Compare that to Thursday night, when Lillard shot 1 of 12 from 3 and finished with four points against the Grizzlies. If it was just one game we might dismiss it, but since opening night, Lillard has shot 6 of 33 from long range. He's weakening, and the Antetokounmpo/Lillard pick-and-roll that everyone thought was unstoppable isn't connecting the way it needs to.

Milwaukee's problems are broader than just the loss of Lillard or Middleton – they don't share the ball, there's little movement on offense and things are just flat on that side. Milwaukee used to have a defense that carried them through those difficult offensive periods, but despite the best efforts of Brook Lopez – who has some spring in his step early this season – Milwaukee appears to be out of sync on both ends.

It's ugly. This is one of the teams under the most pressure this season And if things don't change quickly, these pressures will only increase, resulting in…

GIANNIS TRADE RUMORS BEGIN

We predicted it before the season that trade rumors about Giannis Antetokounmpo would arise once the Bucks start struggling, league sources told NBC Sports that he is on everyone's “watch list.” We simply didn't expect that there would be any noise disturbances in the second week of the season.

There are already rumors circulating – via the well-connected Bill Reiter of CBS Sports – that “teams are circling – and hopeful” and that the Heat and Nets are at the top of the list. You can be sure that Golden State would also be interested and willing to include Jonathan Kuminga in the deal.

To be fair, Antetokounmpo signed a contract extension with Milwaukee just a season ago – after deciding the Lillard trade was a testament to ownership and the front office was committed to winning – but the extremely competitive Antetokounmpo is not a patient man. After the ugly loss to Memphis, he sounded like a guy trying to figure out where he is and not move on Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“Losing is frustrating, but we are doing the right things. We arrived in Memphis on Wednesday evening, got together as a team and watched a movie. Not like eight, nine people playing. We watched a movie and talked about it: “What can we do better?” What we don’t do so well, we have to hold each other accountable. We're doing the right thing…

“It’s part of the season, it’s not going our way. But two defeats, three defeats, four defeats, five defeats, six defeats in a row; Losing one is always frustrating. But again, my dad always said, ‘Why are you complaining if you don’t want to give up?’ That’s why I won’t give up.”

Milwaukee won't trade Antetokounmpo unless he asks out, and that's not on the table right now. Even if he does, the Bucks have the opportunity to drag things out with this contract extension. Still, the pressure is mounting and the idea that Antetokounmpo might ask out is not ridiculous.

Especially if the Bucks don't turn things around and start winning some games.