Around the league, every team is waiting to see what happens with Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks. Several teams feel that breakup is inevitable. However, NBA insider Marc Stein reports that breakup is unlikely to come unless Antetokounmpo requests a trade.
“I don’t think Giannis himself does not want to go to the Bucks and say ‘Trade me’. But next year there’s no way with Damian Lillard carrying a salary of nearly $60 million they don’t have control of their own first round pick till 2031, they don’t have a pathway to build a contender around him at this point,” Stein said. “But the rumbles that you always hear are that just having Giannis is so important to them financially. They’re not going to trade him unless he pushes it.”
Stein added that he doesn’t believe Milwaukee wants to move Antetokounmpo of their own accord. That could lead to a bit of a dance between the Bucks and Antetokounmpo’s camp ahead of the offseason.
“The whole league is on edge waiting to see will Giannis’ representatives go to the Bucks and say, “It’s time. Move us, hold the auction, and start over.” I don’t think the Bucks want to do that,” Stein said. “You could make the case that they should want to do that, that they should say, ‘Let’s go out and get the largest haul we can get back for Giannis’, but I don’t think the Bucks are there. We’re going to see where Giannis is.”