I don't think the Spurs should do anything drastic to rock the boat right now. Especially since the consensus is SA would have to give up Harper or Castle to make a Giannis trade work. But could they make it work without them?

This is obvious from SA's perspective. You get Giannis while not giving up Harper or castle. Ellis is an underutilized asset who has shown to be a great 3 and D guard. While vassell has been great this year, he's hurt too often to be reliable and he's now overpaid for what he brings as a third guard. This allows the spurs a middle path, trying to replace his production while more easily being able to gradually open up minutes for Harper. The Giannis part is obvious.

The Bucks, like any organization, seem hesitant to go full rebuild. So what if they do a soft one? Sabonis has shown to be an all-star big who Sac built around horribly. The current bucks roster is already built to be shooters around a playmaking big which is perfect for sabonis. Sabonis would slot right in and probably bring a more fun style of play to the team. They also get a pretty good two guard who has some Middleton in him in vassell. Sochan gets to help bolster the defense and fit in as a bruiser/defensive 4 when they want to play sabonis at the 5 instead of with turner. They also get some high 2nd rounders and an ATL pick that may be very enticing (the protections could be dropped to make this work better for MIL)

For SAC this is the first in a line of moves to tear the team down. It's obviously not working so they need anything. This move gets rid of a large sabonis contract and doesn't require giving up any picks. They get Barnes expiring and by the summer kuzmas becomes a one year expiring. Honestly it's just a stepping stone to getting off as much money as possible. They get a second for throwing in ellis who they weren't trying to play reliably anyway