Browsing: Giannis

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  Jamal CollierOct 24, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

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  Jamal Collier is an NBA reporter at ESPN. Collier covers the Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls and the Midwest region of the NBA, including stories such as Minnesota’s iconic jersey swap between Anthony Edwards and Justin Jefferson. He has been at ESPN since Sept. 2021 and previously covered the Bulls for the Chicago Tribune. You can reach out to Jamal on Twitter @JamalCollier or via email Jamal.Collier@espn.com.

FROM A DIMLY lit room more than 6,000 miles away across the Atlantic Ocean, Giannis Antetokounmpo appeared on a projector screen in the interview room at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.

It was Sept. 29, Bucks media day, the first day a team could officially gather before the start of training camp for the 2025-26 season.

Most of his teammates shuffled in and out of the same room to answer questions before they headed to the court to pose for new photos for the year.

Antetokounmpo had come down with COVID the week before and had not yet been cleared to travel. It was after 8 p.m. in Greece and Antetokounmpo’s voice was raspy, still recovering, but he dialed in. He sat with his right fist resting on his temple to open the session.

Bucks television analyst and host Lisa Byington asked how he was feeling. “Good,” he said, smiling. “I look good on camera.”

The room laughed, a temporary reprieve from what had been at times an uneasy, tense summer for the franchise.

An hour earlier, in the same interview room, Bucks governor Wes Edens justified the team’s bold summer transaction — stretching the remaining $113 million on Damian Lillard’s contract over the next five years to free up enough cap space to sign free agent Myles Turner — by pointing to Antetokounmpo’s continued commitment to the franchise.

“I had a great conversation with Giannis back in June out here, and he made it clear that he was very committed to Milwaukee,” Edens said. “He likes being here, likes his family being here. … Obviously, we’ve had some kind of bad fortune in these last couple of years in the playoffs, but there’s a lot of positives. If we were really going to make the most of our opportunity with Giannis, we felt that we needed to do something substantial, and that’s what we did.”

Four seasons removed from the 2021 NBA championship that Antetokounmpo helped deliver to Milwaukee, only he and Bobby Portis remained on the current roster.

Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez, the rest of that championship core, are elsewhere. Lillard saw his two-year tenure in Milwaukee cut short after he tore an Achilles in the first round of the playoffs last season and was waived, an unceremonious end to what was supposed to be a long-term, dominant partnership. The Bucks lost in the first round of the playoffs both years he was there.

Antetokounmpo is now the only player on the roster who has made an All-Star team.

Back in the interview room, he was asked about the meeting with Edens. He paused.

“A meeting? Say that again? I had a meeting with Wes?”

“I … I really, I cannot recall that meeting.”

The uncomfortable disconnect quickly went viral.

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The awkwardness of that media day misstep served as an inauspicious start to the season.

A week later, ESPN would report that the Bucks and Knicks had engaged in talks surrounding Antetokounmpo. Those talks never progressed, sources told ESPN, but Antetokounmpo had entertained the idea.

The Bucks have refused to consider a future in which Antetokounmpo is playing elsewhere. Antetokounmpo always had as well. But for the first time, he not only publicly admitted his interest in another franchise but provided an on-the-record timeline for his decision.

“I’ve said this many times: I want to be in a situation that I can win,” Antetokounmpo said. “I’ve communicated with my teammates, communicated with the people I respect and love, that the moment I step on this court or in this facility, I wear this jersey, the rest does not matter. I’m locked into whatever I have in front of me. Now, if in six, seven months I change my mind, I think that’s human, too.”

That door, once locked and closed, had been opened.

“We just got to put our heads down, stay locked in all year long and try to win some games,” Antetokounmpo said. “Hopefully, get in the playoffs and then don’t get eliminated in the first round. That’s pretty much it. And then we go from there.”

Still, as the Bucks enter the season, they insist they are on the same page as their star. “There’s no bigger difference,” one team source told ESPN, “than the perception of the outside compared to what’s going on in-house.”

JON HORST INSISTS the Bucks have been in this position before.

Since he became the team’s general manager in 2017, Horst, who received a contract extension in April, has faced questions about how he plans to keep Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee. The level of inquiry hit a crescendo this offseason.

When asked about it, Horst dispelled the premise.

“It’s no different than any other offseason,” Horst said at media day.

It’s the same message the Bucks sent throughout the summer, waving their hands — there’s not much to see here! — despite Antetokounmpo’s own acknowledged wandering eye.

Precedent might fuel Horst’s confidence.

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Each time Antetokounmpo’s future has been in question, the GM has doubled down more of the team’s future: first by acquiring Jrue Holiday in 2020, then by using Holiday to trade for Lillard in 2023, and then by waiving Lillard to create space to sign Turner this summer.

In response, Antetokounmpo, who will turn 31 in December, signed extensions both summers.

The unprecedented waive-and-stretch for Lillard was widely panned around the league, but it’s viewed much differently internally. Team sources were concerned about whether Lillard, at 36, could return to the player he was — and did not want to waste a year of contention in a conference decimated by injuries.

Perhaps more importantly, they knew they could not waste another year with Antetokounmpo. “The biggest misconception is that this was a panic move,” a team source told ESPN. “It wasn’t. It was a basketball decision. Dame on the other end of it, you’re not sure what that was going to look like. Meanwhile, Myles is a perfect fit. We want to win here.”

But it might be harder to do so now, with this roster, than at any time in Antetokounmpo’s prime.

He’ll be without an All-Star guard or wing for the first time since 2015-16, perhaps not coincidentally the last time the Bucks missed the playoffs. They entered the season with the eighth-best odds to win the Eastern Conference, according to ESPN BET, behind the 76ers and Celtics despite the injury uncertainty surrounding Joel Embiid and Paul George in Philadelphia and Jayson Tatum in Boston.

The burden on Antetokounmpo has never been higher. Despite playing just 27 minutes in Milwaukee’s 133-120 victory over the Washington Wizards on opening night, Antetokounmpo scored 37 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and dished out five assists. But his usage rate, the percentage of Bucks plays that ended with an Antetokounmpo shot attempt, free throw or turnover — was nearly 49%.

For comparison, Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball led the league in usage last season at 35.9% (Antetokounmpo was second at 35.2%).

And the Bucks also lost their starting point guard, Kevin Porter Jr., to an ankle injury in Wednesday’s opener that coach Doc Rivers acknowledged “didn’t look good.”

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Washington Wizards vs. Milwaukee Bucks: Game Highlights

Washington Wizards vs. Milwaukee Bucks: Game Highlights

YET AS ANTETOKOUMPO also openly considers his legacy within the sport, Milwaukee is approaching another reckoning point: the summer of 2026.

Antetokounmpo has two more years remaining on his contract after this one, but the final season is a player option. He will become eligible next summer to sign an extension. It’s this window that could dictate what his future holds.

“Always got to hold ownership’s feet to the fire,” a source close to Antetokounmpo told ESPN.

Antetokounmpo has proceeded to walk the finest of lines once again. He acknowledged his current dedication to the franchise but also publicly gave himself the opportunity to change his mind by spring.

“Ultimately, I’m going to make a decision,” he said. “And my decision today is that I’m here and I’m committed to this team.”

Such a declaration adds considerable pressure to the 2025-26 Bucks, a team with unproven co-stars who have to give him a reason to stay or at least win enough early to quiet some of the speculation that could surround this squad all season.

Horst, for his part, can make moves to improve the roster. The Bucks aren’t in either apron or in the luxury tax, and they have their 2031 and 2032 first-round picks to offer in a trade.

Whether Horst plays those cards, limited though they might be, remains to be seen.

“This team is built to maximize Giannis, but Giannis can actually maximize this team,” Horst said. “We understand nothing’s been given to us. This is a team that is really hungry to earn whatever we get, and they want to deserve to win. That’s going to be our style of play, playing together, and that’s going to feature the best player in the world, Giannis, and a bunch of guys that fit him really, really well.”

ANTETOKOUNMPO STOOD NEAR center court, his mouth open and head nodding in approval.

It was his first stint of his first preseason game of the season, on the road Oct. 12 against the Chicago Bulls, and the Bucks’ offense was rolling.

Milwaukee had knocked down three straight 3-pointers — a pair from Gary Trent and another from Turner — to turn a 7-7 tie into a 16-7 Milwaukee advantage in less than a minute, forcing Bulls coach Billy Donovan to burn a timeout with 7:49 remaining in the first quarter.

The Bucks went on to shoot 48 3-pointers in the game, taking more shots from beyond the arc than inside it. They made 20 of them in their 127-121 win.

Cynics might see meaningless stats from a random preseason game. Others might see proof of concept.

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“It’s a function of what we can do,” Rivers said after the game. “Last year, even though we led the league in percentage, we just couldn’t create enough. Now we feel like we can create more.”

Indeed, the Bucks were the best 3-point shooting team in the league last year, knocking down 38.7% of their shots from deep, but they ranked 18th in attempts (36.6).

In four preseason games, Milwaukee generated an average of 42.6 3-point attempts per game, which increased to 46.5 in the two exhibition games in which Antetokounmpo played.

By leaning more on Antetokounmpo as a playmaker and surrounding him with 3-point shooting, the Bucks believe they have found a formula they can win with.

Their starting lineup alongside Antetokounmpo will be Turner in the frontcourt along with Trent, Porter and AJ Green, who is fresh off a new four-year, $45 million contract extension.

The Bucks experimented with this five-out offense, allowing Antetokounmpo to be the lead initiator and surrounded by space and shooting, down the stretch last season following Lillard’s deep vein thrombosis diagnosis on March 20, which ended his regular season.

During that 16-game span, Antetokounmpo recorded five triple-doubles, second in the NBA during that span behind Nikola Jokic (8), according to ESPN Research.

It’s a style Antetokounmpo keeps calling “dangerous” and one the Bucks hope serves as a template for success this season, and potentially beyond, as they try to navigate an unknown future with their superstar and his roster.

“We’re not the favorites, but we’re going to be a problem,” Antetokounmpo said. “The team is set up in a way that is very, very dangerous. We have a lot of shooting. We have a lot of playmakers and ball handlers. We have a lot of defenders. We can switch. We have an incredible big that can space the floor and be a problem defensively. We are set up exactly how you need to set up to make a statement.”

The Bucks won their season opener. That, according to Antetokounmpo, was their first goal.

Next? “Stay healthy,” he said. “And after that get to the playoffs. Be in the playoffs and try to win a playoff series.”

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This week, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks had discussions in August regarding a potential trade for superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, though nothing came to fruition.

But that reportedly caught the attention of a number of teams around the NBA.

“When that report came out, the fact that the Knicks and Bucks had some level of negotiation, as you can imagine some teams checked in with the Bucks. Like, ‘Hey, are you open to negotiations with Giannis?’ And the answer has been a resounding ‘no’ from what I’m told,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported Sunday. “So everybody is locked in on this year. And I know Giannis is prepared to try to do the most for the Bucks. No matter what it looks like, how they stack up to the other teams, the Bucks believe with Myles Turner and Giannis and their other returning players that they can be a contender in the East. But there’s no way that this Giannis thing is not gonna come back to the surface.”

It’s hard to imagine the Bucks ever truly entertaining a trade of Antetokounmpo unless he either demands it or it becomes clear that the championship window is closed and a rebuild is in order. Neither scenario has definitively played out to this point.

As Charania reported, the Bucks “insisted to the Knicks that they preferred not to move Antetokounmpo, but those in Milwaukee believe New York did not make a strong enough offer to continue even discussing a trade, league sources said. It’s unclear how the Bucks would have responded to an all-out chase by the Knicks. The multi-week process was described by one source with direct knowledge of the talks as an exclusive negotiating window. New York, for its part, believes the Bucks never were serious about entertaining an Antetokounmpo trade, sources said.”

According to Charania, the Knicks have long hoped to pry Antetokounmpo away from Milwaukee, with league sources believing that if the superstar is to ever leave the Bucks, he would choose the Knicks. For now, that speculated marriage isn’t happening, but if the Bucks start poorly this season, you can bet rumors about a potential Antetokounmpo departure will rev up yet again.

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Perhaps if the Los Angeles Lakers had a more realistic chance of landing a transformational superstar like Giannis Antetokounmpo down the line they would be more hesitant to make short-term additions.

However, the Milwaukee Bucks star has been primarily connected to the New York Knicks, and Lakers insider Jovan Buha (54-minute mark, h/t Hoops Hype) reported Los Angeles might be “more open to a short-term move” as a result:Â

“Giannis Antetokounmpo has left the door cracked open, but we’ve since had the reporting that Giannis’ preferred destination was the Knicks, not the Lakers, and that it was really one team he was considering, and that was specifically the Knicks. I wonder if the Lakers recent shift toward being more of a kind of short-term or like win-now mode is maybe in part due to DonÄić’s success at Eurobasket, but I think more so maybe gaining some intel that some of the big fish that they were hoping to catch are not going to be available or as available as they thought.Â

“I think the Lakers got to be careful with how they position themselves for the future because if it’s tough to find a Knicks-Giannis trade. So if that for whatever reason just can’t happen and Milwaukee refuses to play ball with New York because they just they don’t want to trade him in conference, they don’t like what New York’s offering, then the Lakers can swoop in and potentially offer a competitive package. … You got to be careful with the cap space, but it does seem like the Lakers are a little bit more open to a short-term move.”

On Tuesday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported the Knicks were “the only place Antetokounmpo wanted to play outside of Milwaukee,” which led to trade discussions between the two teams.

Yet those discussions “never got traction” as “those in Milwaukee believe New York did not make a strong enough offer” while the Knicks did not think the Bucks “were serious about entertaining an Antetokounmpo trade.”

From the Lakers’ perspective, a short-term move could help them capitalize on the upcoming season with DonÄić and LeBron James still paired together. The King is 40 years old and entering the final season of his deal, so the organization’s focus will likely eventually turn to building a winner around DonÄić.

Los Angeles’ front office will surely evaluate how things are unfolding in the loaded Western Conference ahead of the February trade deadline and re-assess accordingly, but a quick start could make it more likely to focus on win-now moves with one of the league’s best one-two punches in DonÄić and James leading the way.

That is especially true if the front office wouldn’t be sacrificing a realistic chance of landing a two-time MVP like Antetokounmpo with such a move.

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Talks in August between the Knicks and Bucks about a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade never gained real traction. That shouldnâ€t be a real surprise. If the Bucks are forced to trade one of the five best players walking the face of the earth — and they would only do so if Antetokounmpo demands it — they will want back a massive haul of first-round draft picks and promising young players, two things the Knicks do not have.

One other thing that shouldnâ€t be a surprise out of those talks: Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson was “untouchable in these talks,†something Sam Amick reported at The Athletic. Not only is Brunson an All-NBA player on a favorable contract, but he is also a fan favorite and hero in New York. Trading him would anger the fan base, even if it was for Antetokounmpo.

One of the financially cleanest trade options between the Knicks and Bucks is Brunson and Josh Hart for Antetokounmpo, those salaries come within about $300,000 of each other and work under the salary cap restrictions. Itâ€s also a non-starter for both sides — the Knicks arenâ€t giving up Brunson, while the Bucks want picks and young players to jump-start a rebuild, not veterans. Any eventual Knicks offer likely involves Karl-Anthony Towns and a player such as OG Anunoby or Mikal Bridges (who canâ€t be traded until Feb. 1 and has a massive new contract kicking in).

A mid-season trade of Antetokounmpo and his $54.1 million salary — to the Knicks or any team — is highly unlikely. Things get interesting if Antetokounmpo says he does not intend to sign the four-year, $260 million extension the Bucks can offer next offseason. If that happens, there would be a massive line of teams that would want in on an Antetokounmpo deal and many of them — Houston, San Antonio, Chicago and others — have the young players and picks Milwaukee would be seeking in a deal. Likely the only way Antetokounmpo ends up in New York is if he forces his way there, telling teams he will only sign an extension with the Knicks, and if these other teams trade for him, he will be a rental. Even then, like Toronto did with Kawhi Leonard in 2018, those teams still may be willing to take the gamble.

For now, everyone wants to see how this season plays out. The Knicks rightfully see themselves as a team that can come out of the East. The Bucks want to see what Antetokounmpo and Myles Turner look like together. Houston with Kevin Durant, San Antonio with its young backcourt, and just about every other team wants to see how things look before making a massive move like trading for Antetokounmpo. Which is why itâ€s likely there is no action until next offseason.

Thatâ€s not going to stop the chatter and rumors.

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  Jamal CollierOct 8, 2025, 05:29 PM ET

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  Jamal Collier is an NBA reporter at ESPN. Collier covers the Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls and the Midwest region of the NBA, including stories such as Minnesota’s iconic jersey swap between Anthony Edwards and Justin Jefferson. He has been at ESPN since Sept. 2021 and previously covered the Bulls for the Chicago Tribune. You can reach out to Jamal on Twitter @JamalCollier or via email Jamal.Collier@espn.com.

On Wednesday, Giannis Antetokounmpo reiterated his commitment to the Milwaukee Bucks as they prepare for the start of the regular season, but also said it would be “human to change his mind” down the line.

Antetokounmpo’s comments came in the wake of a report by ESPN’s Shams Charania earlier this week that the Bucks engaged in trade discussions with the New York Knicks this offseason about a potential deal for the two-time MVP.

Although Antetokounmpo acknowledged that he had not read the report, he again doubled down on his desire to compete for championships — be it in Milwaukee or elsewhere.

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“I’ve said this many times: I want to be in a situation that I can win,” Antetokounmpo said. “I believe in this team. I believe in my teammates. I’m here to lead this team to wherever we can go. It’s definitely going to be hard. We’re going to take it day by day, but I’m here. So all the extra stuff does not matter.

“I’ve communicated with my teammates, communicated with the people I respect and love, that the moment I step on this court or in this facility, I wear this jersey, the rest does not matter. I’m locked into whatever I have in front of me. Now, if in six, seven months I change my mind, I think that’s human, too.”

After missing the beginning of training camp in Milwaukee with an illness, Antetokounmpo rejoined the team this past weekend in Miami before its first preseason game Sunday, although he did not play. The Bucks next host the Pistons on Thursday in Milwaukee.

“I’m locked in,” Antetokounmpo said. “I’m locked in to this team. I’m locked in to these guys, to this group and to this coaching staff and to myself.”

He went on to compare the offseason to a “temptation” period, but now that training camp has started, he’s been off social media and focused on his craft.

“It’s temptation. That starts when the season ends until the season begins,” Antetokounmpo said. “There’s going to be a lot of people that are going to approach me or approach my agent and they’re going to say this is a possibility, that’s a possibility … but at the end of the day, ultimately, I’m going to make a decision. And my decision today is that I’m here and I’m committed to this team.”

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Weâ€ve all seen the movie that played out with Giannis Antetokounmpo on Wednesday before. A new report lights a fire under rumors that Antetokounmpo is eyeing another team — right now the Knicks — but then he comes out and throws cold water on it, calming things down. For now.

Here is what Antetokounmpo said on Wednesday, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic.

“Iâ€ve said this many times, I want to be in a situation that I can win and now Iâ€m here. I believe in this team. I believe in my teammates. Iâ€m here to lead this team to wherever we can go and itâ€s definitely going to be hard. Weâ€re going to take it day-by-day, but Iâ€m here. So, all the other extra stuff does not matter. I think Iâ€ve communicated with my teammates, communicated with the people I respect and love that the moment I step on this court or in this facility I wear this jersey, the rest does not matter. Iâ€m locked into whatever I have in front of me.

“Now, if in six, seven months, I change my mind, I think thatâ€s human too, youâ€re allowed to make any decision you want, but Iâ€m locked in. Iâ€m locked in to this team. Iâ€m locked in to these guys, to this group and to this coaching staff and to myself.â€

Unsurprisingly, coach Doc Rivers was trying to play things down as well.

“If you read [Antetokounmpoâ€s] comments this summer, every comment heâ€s made is about being in Milwaukee, loving the city, but for some reason. And itâ€s funny, whatâ€s the old saying, you create the story and then you report on the story you created. And thatâ€s what it feels like. And it gets old for us. But at the end of the day, thereâ€s nothing we can do about it, but I can tell you Jon has never called a team about Giannis. That has never happened. And until that happens, you really donâ€t have a story.â€

Notice Antetokounmpo said, “if in six, seven months I change my mind,†which would be next offseason, not him pushing for a trade at the February deadline. Antetokounmpo realizes that trading his $54.1 million salary in-season to a place he wants to be is incredibly difficult and unlikely to happen.

The real inflection point in this relationship between the Bucks and Antetokounmpo comes next offseason, when Antetokounmpo is extension eligible and the Bucks can offer a max deal of four years, around $260 million (or more, depending upon the salary cap). In the past, every time he was extension eligible, Antetokounmpo has used that as leverage to get the Bucks to do more to build a contending team, but he ultimately signed the deal and stayed in Wisconsin. He may well do that again, or he might refuse to sign it and then the trade talks are on.

Until then, Antetokounmpo says he is all in with the Bucks for this season.

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Giannis Antetokounmpo wants to stay in Milwaukee, for now.

The two-time MVP reiterated his commitment to the Bucks on Wednesday, while reports on Tuesday made waves that the Knicks discussed a potential trade for the superstar in August after he singled out New York as “the only place” he wanted to play outside of Milwaukee.

SNY NBA Insider Ian Begley confirmed that the Knicks and Bucks had cursory talks about an Antetokounmpo deal at the time, but they didn’t reach an advanced level. Begley noted that Antetokounmpo sees the idea of winning a title in New York appealing.

Antetokounmpo made it clear he believes in the Bucks and his main goal is to win another championship. Although he left the door open to a potential trade down the road, saying it’s “human” to change your mind.

“I’ve said this many times: I want to be in a situation that I can win,” Antetokounmpo said. “I believe in this team. I believe in my teammates. I’m here to lead this team to wherever we can go. It’s definitely going to be hard. We’re going to take it day by day, but I’m here. So all the extra stuff does not matter.

“I’ve communicated with my teammates, communicated with the people I respect and love, that the moment I step on this court or in this facility, I wear this jersey, the rest does not matter. I’m locked into whatever I have in front of me. Now, if in six, seven months I change my mind, I think that’s human, too.”

When asked about rumors that circulated during the offseason that he wanted to leave Milwaukee, Antetokounmpo called it “temptation,” but that’s now in the past and he’s ready for the start of the season with his current team.

“It’s temptation. That starts when the season ends until the season begins,” Antetokounmpo said. “There’s going to be a lot of people that are going to approach me or approach my agent and they’re going to say this is a possibility, that’s a possibility … but at the end of the day, ultimately, I’m going to make a decision. And my decision today is that I’m here and I’m committed to this team.”

Antetokounmpo, who’ll turn 31 on Dec. 6, signed a three-year, $175 million contract extension with the Bucks in October 2023. He’s set to make $54.12 million this season, $58.45 million next season, and holds a player option for the 2027-28 season with a cap hit of $62.78 million before hitting unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2028.

The Bucks went 48-34 last season and lost to the Indiana Pacers in the first round (4-1). They made major changes to the roster during the offseason following Damian Lillard‘s Achilles injury in the playoffs, waiving and extending him in a rare move, and then signing former Pacers big man Myles Turner. If Milwaukee gets off to another slow start or appears to be on the outside of the postseason looking in by the time of the trade deadline (Feb. 5, 2026, at 3:00 p.m.), it’s possible Antetokounmpo’s mind will have changed about Milwaukee and he’s ready for a new team.

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At least for right now, Giannis Antetokounmpo is focused on the Milwaukee Bucks.

Antetokounmpo was asked on Wednesday about a report from ESPNâ€s Shams Charania this week that the Bucks and the New York Knicks engaged in trade talks about him this summer. The Knicks were reportedly the only other team in the league that Antetokounmpo wanted to join.

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Antetokounmpo said Wednesday that he didnâ€t read Charaniaâ€s story, and he didnâ€t deny the Knicks connection explicitly. But Antetokounmpo said repeatedly that he is “locked in†with the Bucks in the weeks leading up to the 2025-26 campaign.

“Iâ€ve said this many times, I want to be in a situation that I can win and now Iâ€m here. I believe in this team,†he said, via The Athletic’s Eric Nehm. “I believe in my teammates. Iâ€m here to lead this team to wherever we can go and itâ€s definitely going to be hard. Weâ€re going to take it day-by-day, but Iâ€m here. … Iâ€m locked into whatever I have in front of me.

“Now, if in six, seven months, I change my mind I think thatâ€s human too. Youâ€re allowed to make any decision you want, but I’m locked in. Iâ€m locked into this team. Iâ€m locked into these guys, to this group and to this coaching staff and to myself.â€

Notably, Antetokounmpo left the door open there for an exit in the future.

The two-time league MVP has spent his entire career with the Bucks, who selected him with the No. 15 overall pick in 2013 out of Greece. He averaged 30.4 points, 11.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists last season while making a league-high 11.8 field goals per game.

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The Bucks, though, are in a weird spot. The franchise, which went 48-34 last season, was knocked out of the playoffs in the first round for a third straight campaign. They lost Damian Lillard, Brook Lopez and Pat Connaughton in the offseason, too, while picking up Myles Turner. Itâ€s easy to understand why Antetokounmpo may want to be traded to a championship contender, especially as he enters his 13th season in the league and will turn 31 in December. He’s in the back half of his career, after all.

But the Bucks, at least according to head coach Doc Rivers, have never made a legitimate move to trade Antetokounmpo away.

“At the end of the day, thereâ€s nothing we can do about it,†Rivers said about the report, which he called “unbelievable.â€

“I can tell you [general manager Jon Horst] has never called a team about Giannis. That has never happened. And until that happens, you really donâ€t have a story.â€

So for the moment, Antetokounmpo and the Bucks are content with the state of their relationship. But if things get off to a rocky start and the team struggles, Antetokounmpo’s future in Milwaukee is sure to be called into question again in the coming months. And with the way he’s been playing, it’d be hard to find a team that wouldn’t be at least a little interested in trading for him.

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With more reports surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo and a possible trade to the New York Knicks coming to light in recent days, the Milwaukee Bucks star reassured his commitment to his current team.

He said that he could change his mind eventually, but for now, he’s “locked in” with the Bucks.

“First of all, I haven’t read that story. When the season starts, I try to get off social media and I try to focus on my craft and the team, but yeah, I’ve said this many times, I want to be in a situation that I can win and now I’m here,” Antetokounmpo said, per The Athletic’s Eric Nehm. “I believe in this team. 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. I think I’ve communicated with my teammates, communicated with the people I respect and love that the moment I step on this court or in this facility, I wear this jersey, the rest does not matter. I’m locked into whatever I have in front of me. Now, if in six, seven months, I change my mind I think that’s human too, you’re allowed to make any decision you want, but I’m locked in. I’m locked in to this team. I’m locked in to these guys, to this group and to this coaching staff and to myself.”

Antetokounmpo leaving Milwaukee seemed like a realistic possibility heading into the offseason, but the trade talks quieted down in recent months. However, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Tuesday that the Bucks and Knicks had engaged in trade talks in August, and New York was the only team Antetokounmpo would entertain being traded to this offseason.

Charania added that the two sides “never got traction on a deal” and the Bucks “insisted to the Knicks that they preferred not to move Antetokounmpo.” Charania also noted that “those in Milwaukee believe New York did not make a strong enough offer to continue even discussing a trade.”

In May, Charania reported that Antetokounmpo was “open-minded about exploring whether his best long-term fit is remaining in Milwaukee or playing elsewhere.” At this point, it seems Antetokounmpo is willing to start the season with the Bucks, but eventually asking out is not inconceivable.

Milwaukee has exited the playoffs in the first round in three consecutive seasons, and its roster heading into the year doesn’t exactly look like a championship-caliber group.

Antetokounmpo has made it clear he wants to compete for a championship, and if at any point he feels that Milwaukee isn’t the place to do that, he could officially ask for a trade.

He also has a player option after the 2026-27 season, so his potential exit could come then, if not before.

For now, he appears committed to working with the Bucks roster to try and compete in what should be a relatively weak Eastern Conference. While Milwaukee no longer has star point guard Damian Lillard, it added center Myles Turner over the offseason, which will give Antetokounmpo some support in the paint.

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Of all the storylines lingering over the 2025-26 season, perhaps none carries more intrigue than what lies in front of the Milwaukee Bucks: Do they trade Giannis Antetokounmpo or not?

By almost all accounts, Antetokounmpo represents one of the three-best players in the NBA. He ranks third best in the Estimated Plus-Minus prediction metric, behind only reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and three-time MVP Nikola Jokić.

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SGA plays for the defending champion and title favorite Thunder. Jokićâ€s Nuggets are close behind them. Antetokounmpoâ€s team, on the other hand, is … closer to the bottom. His supporting cast is among the worst in the sport. According to BetMGM, the Bucks†win total sits at 42.5 for the 2025-26 season, a pitiful mark for an Eastern Conference team with an MVP candidate in his prime. Itâ€s the least-confident betting forecast for a Giannis-manned squad since 2016-17, when the Bucks, coached by Jason Kidd, were expected to win just 36.5 games.

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The Bucks are understandably reluctant to part with the all-time great whom they drafted in 2013. According to ESPN reports on Tuesday, the Knicks werenâ€t able to get traction in Giannis talks this summer. But itâ€s time for Milwaukee to pull the plug and seek a trade package in which a team throws the kitchen sink at it: multiple first-round picks and players who can step in right away.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, kitchen-sink deals work out more often for the seller than the buyer. The past three NBA champions (OKC, Boston and Denver) were built in large part due to unloading superstars at the right time.

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In order to get back to title contention, itâ€s time for the Bucks to trade Giannis to the highest bidder.

(Stefan Milic/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

OKC is the model

In the summer of 2019, Thunder president of basketball operations Sam Presti faced a similar situation as the one in front of Bucks general manager Jon Horst. Then, when the Los Angeles Clippers came calling about Paul George, Presti took a pragmatic look at the franchise. Like Antetokounmpo, George finished third in the MVP race that season. But Presti saw an opportunity to build through the draft and traded him for a kingâ€s ransom, the package including a boatload of picks and Gilgeous-Alexander, the future MVP and Finals MVP.

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And Presti didnâ€t stop there. Less than a week later, he traded the teamâ€s other version of Antetokounmpo, OKCâ€s face of the franchise, Russell Westbrook, whom it also drafted and developed into an MVP. It would be easy to think the Thunder could have tried to convince Westbrook they could still contend for a title, but the franchise did right by Westbrook, emotional ties and all. The Thunder moved him to Houston for Chris Paul, two first-round picks and two first-round swaps.

“We recently had conversations with Russell about the team, his career, and how he sees the future,†Presti said in a statement after the trade. “Through those conversations we came to the understanding that looking at some alternative situations would be something that made sense for him. As a result, and due to his history with the Thunder, we worked together to accommodate this.â€

Six years later, itâ€s the Thunder who are the reigning champs — not Georgeâ€s Clippers or Westbrookâ€s Rockets. In fact, neither George nor Westbrook — the stars in the OKC trades — is still with his respective team. Meanwhile, OKC is the envy of the league, landing at No. 1 in ESPNâ€s Future Power Rankings and the heavy favorite to win the 2025-26 championship.

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The team currently with the next-rosiest future, the Rockets, finds itself there because it followed Prestiâ€s playbook and also decided to pivot and sell its superstars to the highest bidders. Westbrook lasted just one season in Houston before he was traded to Washington for John Wall and a protected first-round pick. A few months later, the Rockets unloaded their franchise cornerstone, James Harden, and sent him to Brooklyn for another kitchen-sink deal. Now, with a young core of Amen Thompson, Alperen Åžengün and Jabari Smith Jr., theyâ€ve built a growing powerhouse in the Western Conference.

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Not every superstar seller can climb to title contention so quickly. Utah and Brooklyn are still pulling themselves out of the league cellar after each hit the reset button in 2022 and 2023, respectively. But the team with the darkest timeline of them all, the Suns, is the cautionary tale of being on the other side of a kitchen-sink deal.

The Gut Tax

It was a little over two years ago when then-new Suns owner Mat Ishbia traded for Kevin Durant in February 2023. The KD trade wasnâ€t a cannonball leap into a pool; this was a meteor hitting an ocean.

Ishbia and his front office decided to go all-in for Durant, giving up not one but four unprotected first-round picks, Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder and a 2028 first-round pick swap in order to add the 34-year-old who was sidelined with a knee injury at the time.

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How risky was the deal? In the wake of the trade, Ishbia told Sports Illustrated, “I think there is no risk. I donâ€t look at it as a risk at all.â€

Gulp. In ESPNâ€s annual Future Power Rankings, the Suns now rank dead-last among all 30 teams. After paying a league-high $152 million in luxury tax payments and missing the playoffs in Durantâ€s third season with the club, the Suns pulled the plug and traded Durant to Houston in July. The Suns now have a middling, mishmash roster and still almost no draft assets. They have the worst of both worlds, with little hope now or down the line.

Thereâ€s no such thing as a risk-free trade no matter what your exuberant new owner might claim. Kitchen-sink deals have the potential to doom the star-chasing franchise for a cocktail of reasons, but primarily because of a very obvious, yet overlooked reason:

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You have to give up a lot to get said star. Call it the Gut Tax.

The nice thing about free agency is that teams donâ€t have to pay the Gut Tax to get their star. The Warriors didnâ€t have to trade Klay Thompson and Draymond Green in order to land Durant in the summer of 2016. They took advantage of a cap spike that summer and added him to an existing championship core.

What would the Knicks have looked like if they had waited for Carmelo Anthony in free agency instead of trading the farm for him? In 2011, the Knicks gutted their team by sending Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton and Timofey Mozgov to Denver along with two first-round picks. As luck would have it, Denver posted a better record than the Knicks during their Melo era. Making matters worse, in 2016, Denver used one of those Knicks first-round picks to select Jamal Murray, the teamâ€s second-best player on the 2023 title team. With Anthony, the Knicks never got past the second round.

Looking at recent champions is a study in how teams benefited by selling their stars at the right time. OKC moved off Westbrook and George in 2019 and won a title in six years. The Boston Celtics drafted their championship-winning duo, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, thanks to the infamous 2013 Nets trade that netted the Celtics four future first-round picks for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.

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Another big reason why the blockbuster deal doesnâ€t always pan out for the higher-profile star: star veterans are injury-riddled more than ever. In win-now situations, Durantâ€s recent superteams struggled to stay healthy. It was the same for the Antetokounmpo/Damian Lillard/Khris Middleton Bucks.

Khris Middleton, Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t win a playoff series together. (Photo by Cole Burston/Getty Images)

(Cole Burston via Getty Images)

This is not to say that teams havenâ€t won it all after trading for a big fish. The Los Angeles Lakers won the 2020 championship in the first season following the Anthony Davis trade with New Orleans. Other teams seemed to follow their lead, with mixed results.

In a span beginning with the summer of 2019, when Davis and George were traded from their small-market clubs, to 2023, weâ€ve seen 11 kitchen-sink deals, which Iâ€m defining as trades involving multiple first-round picks and at least one player.

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The 11 Superstar “Kitchen Sink†Trades, 2019-23

• 2023 POR trades Damian Lillard to MIL

• 2023 BRK trades Kevin Durant to PHX

• 2022 BRK trades James Harden to PHI

• 2022 UTA trades Donovan Mitchell to CLE

• 2022 UTA trades Rudy Gobert to MIN

• 2022 SAS trades Dejounte Murray to ATL

• 2021 HOU trades James Harden to BRK

• 2020 NOP trades Jrue Holiday to MIL

• 2019 OKC trades Russell Westbrook to HOU

• 2019 OKC trades Paul George to LAC

• 2019 NOP trades Anthony Davis to LAL

While the superstar-acquiring teams have had dynastic dreams, none of those 11 blockbuster deals has resulted in more than one championship. Only two — Milwaukee trading for Jrue Holiday and the Lakers getting Davis — resulted in even one title banner. The nine other deals havenâ€t even resulted in a Finals appearance at any point for the teams that acquired new superstars. Cleveland with Donovan Mitchell and Minnesota with Rudy Gobert would like to change that.

Perhaps even more troubling is that many of these star acquisitions have ended up being little more than a rental. The Durant era in Phoenix didnâ€t even last three full seasons. Was there even a Harden era in Brooklyn? Or Philly? Youâ€d be forgiven if you didnâ€t remember Dejounte Murray making the playoffs in Atlanta during any of his two seasons. All in all, six of the 11 star tenures lasted fewer than three seasons with the acquiring team. The majority of them had little staying power.

On the other side of the ledger, the rebuilding teams may have to wait longer to win their titles, but itâ€s hard to say theyâ€re definitively worse off. Both of Prestiâ€s kitchen-sink deals in moving off of Westbrook and George helped them build the 2025 Finals team; Gilgeous-Alexander, 2025 All-NBA member Jalen Williams and Aaron Wiggins were directly or indirectly acquired in those trades.

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Houston learned the hard way that superteams arenâ€t all theyâ€re cracked up to be, and its homegrown talent was essential to demonstrate leverage in this summerâ€s Durant trade talks with Phoenix. The Rockets gave up just one first-round pick, locked at No. 10 in a down draft, to get KD. Sure, Houston may end up trading for Giannis this season, but thereâ€s no indication the Rockets have chased him at all up to this point. As is, they project to be title contenders for years to come.

What will Milwaukee do? First, it has to look in the mirror.

Where Milwaukee goes from here

The Bucks should heed the lesson of the Suns and how doubling down can doom their franchise. But one thing Phoenix did manage to do was trade Durant while he was still healthy. Antetokounmpo, who is turning 31 in December, has missed 14 games on average over the last five seasons and battled injuries in postseasons†past. Moving a healthy Antetokounmpo sooner than later could help them extract maximum value.

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Injuries are a variable that Milwaukee has struggled to control. Part of the overall cynicism around the Bucks is a result of the blockbuster trade for Lillard that went awry. In the summer of 2023, the Bucks traded Holiday, a 2029 unprotected first-round pick and two swaps (2028 and 2030) to the Trail Blazers only to waive him less than two years later following a devastating Achilles tear.

The irony of the Blazers-Bucks deal is that a player of Lillardâ€s offensively tilted skill set would be perfectly paired with a defensive-minded guard like Holiday. As it happens, Holiday and Lillard are now on Portlandâ€s roster, not Milwaukeeâ€s, this upcoming season.

Not only did the Bucks give up a key player from their 2021 championship squad, they also gave up their opportunity to pivot. By giving up tons of draft capital, the Bucks pushed themselves into a corner with almost nowhere to go.

Like Durant and the Suns, the Bucks never reached the heights they envisioned when they gave up the farm for the superstar. Lillard was supposed to be the missing piece, but the Bucks failed to get out of the first round in each of Lillardâ€s two seasons due to injuries to both Lillard and Antetokounmpo (and Middleton).

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Unlike Durant and the Suns, the Bucks had little recourse but to waive-and-stretch Lillardâ€s deal once he suffered a career-altering injury and eat the dead money left on his contract for the next five seasons. If Lillard were healthy, they could have pivoted more easily if Antetokounmpo asked out. Instructively, the Suns traded Durant for much less than they got him for, but they did net Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks and the No. 10 pick (Khaman Maluach) in this yearâ€s draft.

The Bucks donâ€t have a proper co-pilot for Antetokounmpo. The team wants Myles Turner to be that guy after he played in the NBA Finals, but the former Pacers center averaged a measly 13.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in the teamâ€s Cinderella run to the Finals. Without Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakamâ€s heroics in late-game situations, would we think of Turner the same way?

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Because of the weak supporting cast, Antetokounmpo may have been wise to wait for any sort of trade demand. If the Bucks do sputter out of the gate, heâ€ll have more justification for asking out. In addition, as ESPN reported Tuesday, his monster $200-million-plus extension can be signed up until October 1, 2026, only if his team has employed him for at least six months. Teams will be motivated to acquire him ahead of the trade deadline rather than wait for this summer.

Though the Knicks undoubtedly would love to have a player like Antetokounmpo, they donâ€t have an unprotected first-round pick to offer until this summer when their 2033 pick is unlocked. Like the Anthony deal in 2011, the Knicks would have to cannibalize their own team in order to meet Milwaukeeâ€s asking price. Barring the Knicks trading Karl-Anthony Towns or OG Anunoby for longer-term assets, itâ€s hard to see how the Knicks and Bucks check off each otherâ€s boxes.

The Warriors could get in the mix with three unprotected first-round picks (2026, 2028 and 2032) at their disposal, but a third team would likely have to be involved in order to make the money work. After Phoenix chased Jimmy Butler last season, could a three-way deal involving Giannis to Golden State and Butler finally going to Phoenix work? In this scenario, Phoenix would reroute the bulk of the KD haul — Green and Brooks — to Milwaukee along with Golden Stateâ€s picks.

The Cavaliers may be another team to watch. After another disappointing finish to the season, would Cleveland put Evan Mobley in a deal for Antetokounmpo if it got off to a slow start? The Bucks undoubtedly would covet the 24-year-old Defensive Player of the Year as the future of their franchise. The Cavs would also have two unprotected first-round picks in 2030 and 2032 at the ready if the Bucks were at all uneasy about Mobleyâ€s five-year, $224 million contract.

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If suitors are willing to commit multiple unprotected first-round picks and a young player, the Bucks have to listen. Milwaukee might think itâ€s unthinkable for a small-market team to trade the face of its franchise in his prime. But the other side can bring a much brighter horizon. Just ask Sam Presti.

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