As Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo ponders his NBA future, he won’t let outside events rush the decision, Shams Charania of ESPN said today in an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show (Twitter video link). There has been speculation for weeks that the two-time MVP might demand a trade to improve his chances of winning another NBA title, but Charania suggests that interested teams may have to wait a lot longer.
“His status will not be tied to the NBA draft, it won’t be tied to free agency,” Charania said. “It’s much more likely that his future plays out into July and into August in terms of him seeing the landscape of not only the Bucks – seeing the landscape of the league, seeing what other teams do.”
Antetokounmpo reportedly met with Bucks officials last month to discuss the direction of the franchise. Nothing was leaked from that meeting, but there has been a sense of growing skepticism around the league that Antetokounmpo will actually be on the trade market this summer, with an NBA executive predicting to Adam Zagoria of NJ.com this week that the 30-year-old “isn’t going anywhere.”
Charania states that Antetokounmpo’s history of being loyal to Milwaukee contributes to that feeling, but cautions that he hasn’t reached a final decision yet.
“When you’re a star of that caliber, the league moves how you want it to move,” Charania added. “The league will move when you’re ready to ask for a trade or if you’re ready to say that I’m staying, I want to be back.”
There’s more on the Bucks:
- Teams interested in trading for Antetokounmpo have begun to move forward with alternate strategies as the draft and free agency draw nearer, Jake Fischer of The Stein Line states in his latest Substack column (subscription required). League sources tell Fischer that the Bucks aren’t considering any of the trade offers they’ve received for their star forward, and they seem to be operating as though they expect him to be on the roster next season.
- Milwaukee may find it challenging to retain free agent center Brook Lopez, Fischer observes in the same piece. Sources tell him that the Lakers, who are known to be in the market for center help, have been interested in Lopez for several years. The Rockets, who were close to signing Lopez two years ago, may try again if they can’t reach a new deal with Steven Adams, their own free agent big man.
- The Bucks are hoping to keep Bobby Portis, but he might have several mid-level offers to choose from if he declines his $13.4MM player option for next season, Fischer adds. He identifies the Warriors as a possible suitor, noting that Steve Kerr has been a fan of Portis since coaching him in the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
- Stein hears that Kevin Porter Jr., who’s expected to decline his $2.55MM player option for next season, and Gary Trent Jr. will also draw plenty of interest on the free agent market.
If the Warriors replace GP2 and Looney with Adams and Lopez they will win the title.
Giannis will be traded draft night ———
Depends how much Bucks like Dylan Harper.
I see Spurs or Rockets trading for Giannis. Bucks can rebuild in ONE year.
link to google.com
Giannis is in MKE the next 2 years, then Brooklyn. Mark it.
Davey stop it lol.
You don’t know ball!
Every… day…
Shams needs to give it up. How clear does Giannis need to be for him to get the message? Dude is posting pics of him wearing a Bucks jersey in Rio and telling the media there that he wants to get back to the Finals with the Bucks.
For what it’s worth, we never saw any video of that quote from Rio, and the outlet that reported it quietly deleted the tweet after it started being widely aggregated.
Doesn’t mean he’s going to request a trade, but I’d be very hesitant about treating that report as the smoking gun proving he won’t.
Fair that there is no video, but that tweet wasn’t deleted: link to x.com
Additionally, Giannis has been liking all kinds of posts about him staying.
The tweet with the quote about going to the Finals with the Bucks was deleted. It was the second tweet in the thread (the one you linked was the first).
If you go to this tweet (which was initially the THIRD tweet in the thread) and scroll up, you can see there’s a “This Post was deleted by the Post author” notice in between it and the first one: link to x.com
The fact that they left the entire thread up except for that one tweet doesn’t give me confidence that they got that quote right.
link to eurohoops.net
I trust Eurohoops to get it right, they have a history of being more plugged in to Giannis’ situation.
The Eurohoops story is just citing Coast to Coast though, not independently confirming it, and they published their story before the tweet was deleted.
It was only after Eurohoops and other outlets started aggregating the quote that Coast to Coast removed that one tweet. I was following it closely at the time to decide whether or not we should publish anything about it here.
Again, this absolutely doesn’t mean that Giannis is going to request a trade. I don’t even necessarily think it means he didn’t say what Coast to Coast initially claimed he did. Just explaining why I view that specific report as very suspect.
Yes but Eurohoops is the one who translated it from Portuguese, and their translation looked good to me. Maybe the Coast to Coast guy copied down something Giannis said incorrectly.
Regardless, there are tons of other things Giannis has been doing to signal he remains committed to Milwaukee in the last week or so.
If warriors were able to get Lopez and Adams, they’d be a play-in and exit in round 1. Then the rest of the team would dominate the nursing home league for a modest 12-6 record vs 80 ye olds.
12-6 exceeds modest ;)
Lopez is a FA. I don’t see him coming unless Giannis is traded. Then Bucks can offer best deal.
Raps or spurs will get Giannis.
OKC can also.
Imagine if OKC entered the conversation
Isiah Hartenstein, Isiah Joe, Nikola Topic, 2025 15th overall pick, Phillys 2026 first round pick, Utahs 2026 first round pick, Denver’s 2027 first round pick, OKC’s 2029 first round pick aswell as 5 random second round picks.
All up 5 first and 5 seconds plus 3 good players.
No team has the draft capital to compete with OKC
Imagine
SGA Dort JDub Giannas Chet
Wallace AC Wiggins KWill JWill
Great defence just gone insane now. 2 of the best scorers on the planet, a centre that can space the floor, really good depth and still loads of future picks
you really think Milwaukee is trading Giannis for a return headlined by a bunch of bum players and some picks? love these absolutely idiotic fake trades
whisper- agreed that the other team will have to give up a motherlode, and Milwaukee will want some young starterswith upside.
Stephon Castle
2nd pick in this year’s draft (Dylan Harper)
Jeremy Sochan (for salary matching)
Harrison Barnes (for salary matching)
2 more first round picks
2 second round picks
Houston can top that package
Steven St Croix- maybe, but we don’t know what Milwaukee wants. I believe they want a franchise PG to replace Dame Lillard.
Other than Amen Thompson and Sengun (who seem untouchable), Houston doesn’t have a young player that Milwaukee values as much as Castle or Harper. Jalen Green, Tari Eason, and Jabari Smith may not move the needle.
I’m speculating, nothing more.
they maybe could but they won’t – and fwiw i don’t think the spurs would offer that either, although i think they should.
You didn’t answer the question :—)
It’s hypothetical. If the Spurs made the offer, would Bucks take it?
Brook Lopez welcome to Chicago.