Superstar Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo is “not pleased” with the team’s decision to waive Damian Lillard, league sources tell NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link).
In a shocking pair of moves, the Bucks will waive Lillard and stretch the $112MM+ remaining on his contract after the star point guard suffered an Achilles tear in April, and will sign standout free agent center Myles Turner to a four-year, $107MM deal using the newly created cap room.
The Bucks’ aggressive approach to the offseason was certainly fueled by a desire to stay in contention in the short term and take advantage of Antetokounmpo’s prime years, with Lillard likely to miss most or all of 2025/26. So if Giannis isn’t happy about any of their moves, that’s problematic.
Still, it’s worth noting that ESPN’s Shams Charania has indicated Antetokounmpo was on board with the acquisition of Turner. Within his story on the Bucks’ moves, Charania writes that Antetokounmpo and Turner “both valued the opportunity to partner on the court.”
During an appearance on NBA TV (Twitter video link), Haynes suggested that Antetokounmpo may simply be reacting to the coldness of waiving Lillard – an accomplished and respected veteran star – shortly after he suffered such a major injury.
“He just didn’t like how it was handled,” Haynes said.
For what it’s worth, Lillard might view the situation as a win-win, Marc J. Spears of Andscape tweets, since adjusting to Milwaukee away from his family after spending the first 11 years of his NBA career in Portland had been a challenge for him. Now, he’ll still be paid in full by the Bucks while getting to become an unrestricted free agent, which will give him the ability to pick his own situation.
Lillard is expected to take some time to decide whether he wants to sit out this season or sign a multiyear contract and spend the season rehabbing with a team, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. The Heat are among the teams expected to have interest, per Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link), though Jackson says the Oakland native will be “open to considering everything presented.”
As for Antetokounmpo, we’ll see whether he comes around on viewing the Lillard release as a necessary evil to land a player like Turner or whether the situation escalates from here. During his NBA TV spot, Haynes referred to it as “one more thing added to the equation” for Giannis as he considers whether he wants his future to be in Milwaukee or elsewhere.
Hey Lillard. Cleveland Clinic is one of the best rehab facilitates in the world and the Cavs just created a big vacancy at back up PG that fit exactly what you can bring. Instant offense and control of the 2nd unit. Who knows, if you do a great job in your rehab and come back as the player you once were, you make Darius Garland somewhat expendable and he can bring back a haul that can round this team out ever further with you at the PG helm!
Ok, even Dame isnt a backup yet after the injury he’s still one of the most talented point guards in the game
Kobe didnt become a backup after his injury, same with KD and Klay
Do you presume to know what Lillard is thinking or what he wants?
He was a basketball player long time ago,now he works in hip hop industry
One of the few athlete musicians that arent just trash… Like try to listen to Aaron Gordons music, or even worse go back and check out some Shaq raps. Dame is actually good at hip hop as opposed to so many athletes that try to cross over.
Klay SHOULD have been a backup after his injury. Its $$$ why these guys start. You can’t bench a guy making 40 million and murder what little trade value thry might have.
I don’t know what to believe anymore. Are you saying there’s still a chance, GA?? Give us a “maybe” and I’ll be happy with that.
The NBA doing everything it can to force Giannis out of Milwaukee in order to market him even more. Enlisting the media. Truly disgusting.
GTFO here no they arent… This is a story whether you like it or not. If he doesnt ask out its worse. This team isnt better than the one that started the playoffs with Dame, and they have no future unless they deal him for a haul until the late 2030s
I wouldn’t say that’s what this is. Chris Haynes is cousins with Giannis’ wife so he’s not going to be publishing a bunch of BS on him like Shams. This report from Haynes is Giannis opportunity to not throw Dame under the bus – he’s voicing his displeasure of the treatment of his fellow all-star teammate so it doesn’t appear that Giannis wouldn’t care about other all-stars he might play with in the future. This is an extremely cold move by the Bucks, but I am sure Giannis is on board with this move in the long run. It was the only way they were going to get Myles Turner.
I just mean this waive and sign is the biggest deal in the NBA today. These people trying to imply some effort by the press to move a player for just doing their jobs and reporting the news is getting a bit tired. Like there is no conspiracy in the media to get Giannis out of MIL on the NBAs behalf…
I believe that GA said something similar when Holiday was traded for Lillard. I’d have to see the question posed to him to know if his reaction suggests anything regarding his desire to stay or leave. In general, though, I think its naive to believe that the MIL FO would completely blindside GA with either of these transactions. More likely he signed off on it, while retaining some plausible deniability on the Lillard piece.
It ain’t a deadline deal. The opposite, there is no hurry because there can’t be. This deal can’t be completed until July 6, so why would they not use a few minutes of those 5 days (prior to announcing it) to run it by him?
If this is true that would be so ironic to make aggressive moves to make sure Giannis has a team to work with just for him to get angry and potentially want out
I doubt he requests a trade though since that would put this bucks team in a weird position
Bucks : we think we can sign turner, but have to waive dame to do it.
Giannis: yes sign turner but don’t waive dame.
Bucks: ???
Come on you know that Giannis just said that to back up Lliard. What did anyone expect him to say I don’t want the team to get better I will ride it out with Lliard.
They might wanna send him some info on Achilles tears their rehab duration, and the names of all the guys that tore it in the NBA and the incredibly short list of guys that were All NBA or even AS level afterwards.
Nobody thought this and that is he has to sign for the minimum salary when he gets healthy. Could he resign. Technically it would be minimum but yet he gets his money. Then you would have Lillard, Gina, Turner for the playoffs?
The Bucks books are going to be a mess for the next 5 years, and still don’t have their picks. This move feels so much about 25-26…ant the expense of the next 4 years. Honestly, I’m more unsure about Giannis than I was before this deal because if I’m Giannis I’m thinking this team still isn’t good enough to get home court in the first round this year and I really don’t see a path to improve this team around Giannis over the next few years.