To be continued.
If three-word columns were a thing in sports media (note to the TLDR crowd: they’re not), that’s the easiest way to explain the current status of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s complicated relationship with the Milwaukee Bucks. We’ve been tracking this situation for half a decade now, with the themes remaining mostly unchanged when it comes to Antetokounmpo and why he might ever think about leaving the only NBA city he has ever known.
Championship aspirations. An insatiable desire for greatness. A looming question about whether he can still achieve such things if he stays put.
Yet while the Bucks went to great lengths to quiet the noise created by a recent ESPN report on Wednesday, when coach Doc Rivers took his favorite nothing-to-see-here approach with the media and Antetokounmpo made it clear that he’s completely locked in (for at least six months), the truth here is that this was not nothing. Not even close.
Sloppy and ill-timed though it might have been, with Antetokounmpo’s interest in joining the New York Knicks revealed after their failed trade talks with the Bucks in August, this was nothing short of an escalation. And it doesn’t really matter who caused it.
What does matter — in terms of the dynamics of this dilemma going forward — is that the NBA world has more intel about this situation now than was known before. For starters, this confirms once and for all that Antetokounmpo — at 30 years old, four years removed from his lone title and with two seasons left on his deal — has a wandering eye.
“Temptation,” as he explained it.
That doesn’t mean he has fallen out of love with the city of Milwaukee or that he has lost total faith in Bucks ownership or management. But just like the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James in late June, when he expressed concern about their ability to contend for a title by way of a statement from his agent, this is a case of a star player reading the room in the offseason only to realize, in the end, that getting to greener pastures isn’t so easy in today’s NBA.
The timing of it all was nothing short of absurd, with the Bucks and Knicks talking at a time when the odds of a deal actually happening were minuscule because of a choice the Knicks had made just weeks before.
“They should have done it in June,” said one league source close to the situation, who was granted anonymity so that he could speak freely.
When the Knicks gave small forward Mikal Bridges a four-year, $150 million extension in late July, that meant he couldn’t be traded for six months. That matters a great deal because any Bucks-Knicks deal for Antetokounmpo, however unlikely, would have to be focused on actual players as opposed to draft assets because the Knicks don’t have much to offer on that front (largely because of the deal they did to land Bridges from Brooklyn in July 2024 and the deal with Minnesota for Karl-Anthony Towns three months later). Bridges could be in a Bucks deal if this gets revisited before the February trade deadline, but his exclusion this time around all but guaranteed this was going nowhere.
Team sources have made it clear that Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson was, as expected, untouchable in these talks. In terms of possible players being involved, the common sense lens turns toward Towns, OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson from there.
But even if the Bucks had interest in a package involving several of those players, the Knicks are known to have concerns about the possible roster imbalance that could result from a deal of this magnitude. That doesn’t mean they don’t have interest — they absolutely do — but we’ve seen plenty of proof these past few years that Antetokounmpo’s impact alone simply isn’t enough. As the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers showed in the finals, depth and diversity of talent is the modern-day way to the mountaintop.
All of which is to say that the Knicks, who were quite perturbed by the tumult caused by this latest report, appear fully focused on making a legitimate title run with this group. Whatever happens next, from their standpoint, will depend greatly on whether they’re able to live up to their own lofty expectations in the season to come.
For Antetokounmpo’s part, it was quite impressive to see him walk the line between admitted angst and appeasement during his session with the media. He didn’t run from the reports about his concerns, saying (accurately) that it’s only human for someone to want what’s best for themselves and their family. But in stark contrast to so many star player sagas that have come before, from Dwight Howard to Jimmy Butler, James Harden and the like, he made it abundantly clear that his professionalism would not wane.
“I believe in this team,” he told reporters. “I believe in my teammates. I’m here to lead this team to wherever we can go, and it’s definitely going to be hard. We’re going to take it day by day, but I’m here. So, all the other extra stuff does not matter.”
It’s fair to wonder if the mixed messaging that took place between Antetokounmpo and Bucks owner Wes Edens on media day might have sparked this latest turn of events. Edens’ choice to tell reporters that Antetokounmpo had expressed his commitment to the Bucks in a recent meeting was dicey, if only because it ran the risk of putting added public pressure on the franchise’s star to stay. Antetokounmpo, in turn, claimed he didn’t recall the meeting at all.
When a superstar of this magnitude is clearly contemplating his future, it’s probably best to let him speak for himself. It should surprise no one that Antetokounmpo focused so heavily on his right to change his mind when he addressed the situation on Wednesday.
But the reality here is that the season to come will (mostly) determine what comes next. Antetokounmpo and the Bucks need to see if this group has any chance of contending in the East, with the mood sure to change depending on the answer to that question. Ditto for the Knicks and their title hopes. The rest of the league, meanwhile, will be ready to pounce if the Giannis sweepstakes ever become a real thing.
For now, it’s “tbd” all around.
