Marques Johnson expresses more confidence that Giannis will return to the Bucks
In an offseason that has been filled with so much uncertainty around the Milwaukee Bucks and what their plan will be around franchise star Giannis Antetokounmpo, Marques and Kris Johnson provided some valuable insights into what some of those plans could be. In the latest episode of their Hear District podcast, the elder Johnson dropped some important nuggets, including Giannis using his leverage as a star to find a “Gary Trent Jr.” type free agent (most of those bits start at the 34:45 mark of the pod on YouTube).
Johnson said he views many of the rumors and reports coming out about Giannis, saying that he was “potentially” open to looking at new teams as a leverage play to put pressure on the Bucks front office. Johnson continued, saying that between the pressure from Giannis and the constraints of the luxury tax apron rules, the front office will have to get more creative making acquisitions like they did with Trent, who was a minimum signing, and get the most out of them.
As for Giannis staying as a whole, Marques later brought up that Giannis is planning on taking some of the young players (he later clarified on Twitter that he was referring to guys like Stanley Umude) to Greece to work out with him for a week or two. He later brought up Giannis’ philanthropic pursuits in the city of Milwaukee, combined with taking his teammates to work out together:
When I hear a guy thinking like that, Giannis has donated a bunch of money to women’s shelters in Milwaukee, he’s really activaiting himself in that Milwaukee community,” Marques said. “I just don’t see those type of actions of being the actions of a guy who’s uprooting and moving to another city.”
Kris also brought up all of the interactions that Giannis had on social media with the fans, reiterating Giannis’ commitment to Bucks fandom. Both of them even referenced Giannis’ post when he was in Brazil, holding up his Bucks jersey in front of the Christ The Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro as more evidence of his intention to stay in Milwaukee for the long haul.