The momentum for Giannis Antetokounmpo requesting a trade from the Milwaukee Bucks has significantly stalled since the NBA draft combine in May with the common belief amongst league insiders that he will remain with the only franchise he’s ever played for. On the morning of the lottery, Antetokounmpo was reported to be “open-minded” about leaving the Bucks for the first time. The Bucks have hoped to convince Antetokounmpo to remain with the franchise and be patient with their attempts to retool their roster.
“Honestly, right now I’d say the prevailing sentiment from rival teams that I’m speaking to-around the combine two weeks ago, two and a half weeks ago-there was no shortage of optimism, of hope, of excitement from other teams that they were going to be able to potentially make an offer to get Giannis Antetokounmpo into their franchise, into their building,” said Jake Fischer on Thursday’s Bleacher Report livestream.
“Of late, I’d say that that confidence has been replaced with skepticism. To a man, from talking to agents, team executives, whoever, there is not a lot of belief right now at this juncture. It’s only June 5th-anything could happen-and I’ve been told all along that if there is a decision, a formal decision made to shut or open the door on trade conversations for Giannis this summer, that it would likely happen closer to the end of June and when the offseason really, really begins.
“But I’d say for now, for now, talking to people around the league, the assessment and the expectation is that they’re going to believe it when they see it-that someone who has valued being the franchise face, that the central lynchpin of the Bucks franchise, is going to want to play somewhere else.”