The writing could also be on the wall for Giannis Antetokounmpo’s time in Milwaukee.
The 2-time NBA MVP’s future with the Milwaukee Bucks has been a sizzling matter of dialog for the previous few seasons.
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With the season days away, that hypothesis was reignited after ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Antetokounmpo had named the New York Knicks as his solely most well-liked vacation spot of selection ought to he choose to go away Milwaukee.
Giannis signed a three-year extension on his Bucks deal in October 2023, which has paved the way in which for recommendations {that a} commerce or a transfer may be potential, significantly if the Bucks disappoint as they did in 2024-25.
A string of groups had been linked with a transfer for the 2021 NBA Finals MVP, however NBA insider and talkSPORT contributor Marc Stein would not anticipate an in-season blockbuster transfer coming to move.
“I personally do not suppose an in-season commerce is probably going,” Stein completely instructed talkSPORT.
“If there’s a Giannis commerce – and we have been speaking about this now for a half decade – I do not see something occurring till the off season.
“The Bucks don’t wish to commerce Giannis Antetokounmpo, irrespective of how a lot chatter there may be. So an in-season commerce is tough to image.”
It was just one 12 months in the past when – seemingly out of nowhere – the Knicks shocked the NBA after they traded for former No. 1 general NBA Draft decide Karl-Anthony Cities from the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The deal – when finalised – was a three-team alternate with the Charlotte Hornets, nevertheless it was additionally one which was ultimately overshadowed by the late-night blockbuster Luka Doncic commerce between the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks.
5-time All-Star Doncic was delivered to Hollywood whereas defensive juggernaut Anthony Davis headed down south to Texas, and the 2 offers hinted on the potential for a summer season of massive title strikes — not so says Stein.
“I do not know that we will see seismic exercise on that degree in-season this season.”
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Antetokounmpo has ‘cracked the door open’
Antetokounmpo and the Bucks are at the moment in preseason motion earlier than they start the 2025-26 schedule in Canada towards the Toronto Raptors.
Forward of their win over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday evening, Giannis addressed studies suggesting that the Knicks had been his most well-liked vacation spot.
“To start with, I haven’t learn that story. When the season began, I attempted to get off social media, attempt to concentrate on my craft and the crew,” he stated, by way of Eric Nehm of The Athletic.
“However yeah, I’ve stated this many occasions: I wish to be in conditions the place I can win, and proper now I’m right here. I consider on this crew. I consider in my teammates.
“I’m right here to guide this crew wherever we will go, and it’s going to be arduous. We’re going to take it daily, however I’m right here. All the opposite additional stuff doesn’t matter.
“The second I step on this court docket or on this facility and put on this jersey, the remainder doesn’t matter. I’m locked into no matter I’ve in entrance of me. If in six or seven months I modify my thoughts, I believe that’s human too.”
Giannis has maintained the identical stance all offseason – and all through intense hypothesis about his future – however speak of a transfer away from the crew that drafted him as a young person with the fifteenth decide in 2013 refuses to go away.
“There is no such thing as a query that he loves Milwaukee. He is going into 12 months 13 as a Buck,” provides Stein.
“It simply blows me away once you hear that quantity and that he is into his 30s now as a result of he got here right here when he was so younger.”
“However the actuality is there is not any escaping this for Giannis Antetokounmpo. He’s the one who has cracked this door open.
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“On media day, one of many Bucks homeowners, Wes Edens, who can be one of many homeowners at Aston Villa, instructed the media in Milwaukee ‘I had a dialog with Giannis Antetokounmpo in June and he expressed that he is very pleased and dedicated right here.’
“And when Giannis was requested about that dialog, Giannis stated ‘I do not recall that dialog.’ So instantly, a remark like that’s going to ask the hypothesis that’s swirling and it isn’t the primary time.”
Tone of Antetokounmpo’s feedback vastly totally different from these of Jokić’s
Stein was fast to check how the ‘Greek Freak’ has gone about this enterprise to that of three-time league MVP and Denver Nuggets famous person, Nikola Jokić.
“Once you evaluate that to what’s occurring in Denver, the place on media day, Nikola Jokić says ‘my plan is to be Nuggets without end,’ it shuts down this dialogue to a big diploma,” Stein remarks.
“However Giannis has made a remark or two alongside the way in which which… offers groups hope in entrance workplaces across the league. Groups consider that in some unspecified time in the future Giannis goes to be in play they usually wish to be able to pounce as a result of the man is, on his worst day, one of many three or 4 greatest gamers on earth always and he’s an absolute monster.”
Within the 2024-25 marketing campaign, Antetokounmpo led the Bucks in factors, rebounds, and assists, averaging 30.4 factors at a 60.1 p.c taking pictures clip, 11.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists by means of 67 common season outings.
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Underneath the management of veteran head coach Doc Rivers, the Bucks may solely muster 48 wins on the season, a complete that noticed them end fifth within the Japanese Convention.
Struggling a plethora of accidents, the Bucks had been eradicated from the playoffs on the first hurdle by the Indiana Pacers, securing the Bucks’ third consecutive first-round postseason exit.
If Antetokounmpo’s final aim is to elevate extra silverware earlier than his profession involves an finish, then he might must power his approach out of the small-market Bucks franchise.
“The Knicks are already on the market and the Knicks have been on the market… in November of final 12 months I used to be writing concerning the Knicks’ curiosity in Giannis and the way they’d be a reputable suitor for Giannis if he ever turned accessible as a result of his affection for New York is fairly well-known across the league at this level,” Stein continued.
“The Bucks aren’t even entertaining the concept of buying and selling Giannis Antetokounmpo till he involves [them] and says ‘I wish to be moved. I need you guys to commerce me.’ …
“He has not formally requested for a commerce, and till he does, the Bucks do not wanna hear it.”
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While he seems to have made his most well-liked vacation spot identified, the onus to make the ultimate determination lies with the crew, which is able to go away the query of compensation.
Antetokounmpo turns into eligible for a four-year, $275 million max extension in October 2026, however he would even be eligible to signal the identical cope with one other crew six months after a commerce, if that had been to occur.
“If we get to that time, and that day arrives the place Giannis says, ‘I wish to go elsewhere,’ the primary query shall be, are the Bucks going to work with him to commerce him to a vacation spot of his selecting like New York?” considers Stein.
“Or, are the Bucks going to say, ‘we’re opening this as much as 29 groups and we’re going to commerce him the place we get the most effective supply?’
“One other variable right here is that Giannis is extension eligible subsequent summer season, and so how dangerous can groups that is not on his checklist be in placing belongings on the desk to commerce for him if they do not have a long-term dedication from him?…
“So it will likely be fascinating to see how a lot management over the vacation spot Giannis has.”
Marc Stein has been protecting the NBA for greater than three many years and was honored by the Basketball Corridor of Fame for his reporting with the Curt Gowdy Award in 2019. Join his Substack and observe him on X @TheSteinLine.