Bucks rumors: Brian Windhorst thinks Giannis Antetokounmpo will be shut down for season if he’s not traded

Time is ticking before the upcoming NBA trade deadline, and the biggest name on the market, Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, has not yet been moved. Antetokounmpo is currently out of the lineup due to injury, and as teams around the league prepare their best offers for the disgruntled star, some are wondering whether he might even be moved at all.

Recently, ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst floated a hypothetical on what the Bucks’ plan might be if they don’t trade Antetokounmpo before Thursday’s deadline.

“I want to underscore I’m not putting anything past Andy Ellisburg or Pat Riley and the Miami Heat. Giannis could be on the Heat by 3:00. But if he’s not, I suspect the Bucks will deactivate Giannis and not play him the rest of the season,” said Windhorst on ESPN’s First Take, per Heat Central on X, formerly Twitter.

The Bucks would have plenty to gain from not playing Antetokounmpo for the rest of the year, as the team would have a solid chance of landing a good pick in next year’s draft if their star were to sit out, given the ineptitude of the rest of the team.

The Bucks will get the lesser of their own pick or the New Orleans Pelicans’, which will be on its way to the Atlanta Hawks, but there’s still a good chance that whatever selection that ends up being will be a highly valuable one.

If the Bucks were able to land a blue chip prospect in next year’s draft, that could be enough to convince Antetokounmpo to stick around, or it might motivate Milwaukee to trade him in the offseason and fully embrace a rebuild, when more teams will be able to make better offers.

In any case, the NBA trade deadline is set for Thursday at 3:00 pm ET.

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