What’s new in the Giannis news cycle and how ESPN is getting it wrong

The Athletic and others continue to report that Giannis is happy in Milwaukee despite ESPN’s latest report

How many of you out there know the story of Sisyphus? In Greek mythology, he is punished by the gods of Olympus for cheating death. His sentence in the underworld was to push a boulder up a hill, only to fall back down the mountain over and over for eternity.

That’s how I feel Bucks fans are being punished by ESPN, forced to listen to the talking heads saying that Giannis Antetokounmpo is asking out or that he should ask out. With this latest batch of reporting from Shams Charania, that Giannis is “open-minded” about potentially looking at playing somewhere not named Milwaukee, the whole cycle at the former “worldwide leader” in sports has started anew. Let’s try to look at how ESPN is fitting into the picture.

What’s new (or not) through the grapevine?

Outside of Shams’ development, that Giannis would consider looking at basketball situations outside of Milwaukee for his long-term future, the current state of where Giannis wants to be has not changed. The Athletic posted a story today from Sam Amick, Eric Nehm, and David Aldridge, where Amick states that Giannis hasn’t asked out and isn’t even looking around yet:

Amick also dropped a note on their prior reporting that the idea of trading Dame to reshape the roster pre-injury was something that was going to be discussed. Eric did write an article earlier this week saying that the Bucks’ pitch to Giannis could be the idea of a gap year, akin to when the Warriors were waiting for Klay Thompson to return from injury so they could reload around Steph Curry and Draymond Green. In response to that idea, Amick reported the following:

It sounds like there are real changes that could be made in terms of style of play that would resonate with him. More specifically, there were lessons learned from the latest Pacers series that he’d like to see applied (if he stays, of course). Indiana’s frenetic pace, devastating ball movement and clear delineation of roles up and down the roster caused major problems for the Bucks’ defense. There’s a belief that it could be, in some form, replicated in Milwaukee.

If that is the selling point for Giannis, with a revamped core and playstyle to have clearly defined roles for everyone, with high pace and good ball movement, I could see that being a great idea as the Bucks try to move forward.

Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel published an article detailing that while Giannis had grown frustrated with the Bucks’ level of play over the last two seasons, there has been no indication he wants to ask out and is happy in Milwaukee, either during the season or after the playoff loss to the Pacers. If there is anybody to listen to when it comes to the ins and outs of the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis, it’s Eric and Jim. I’m not saying what Shams is reporting is wrong in the slightest, but those two are with the team every single day. Jim put it best himself in a post on Bluesky:

Don’t believe the insiders? Then why don’t you look to Giannis himself, when he commented on Instagram to a clip from an appearance Bobby Portis gave on the Run It Back Podcast:

Many indications from around the league are that Giannis will remain a Milwaukee Buck for the foreseeable future. While it’s going to be difficult to retool the roster around him, as I’ve said before, nothing great in life comes easy. The greatest prizes come through the hardest work and the toughest circumstances. You just don’t give up on a player like Giannis because it’s going to be hard to do. You do whatever you can to field the best team possible and let the chips fall where they may.

My gripes with ESPN

To address the other part of this piece, as a wise and talented actress said: “let’s start at the beginning, a very good place to start.” Shams dropped the news of Giannis potentially looking elsewhere early yesterday, while in Chicago for the NBA Draft Combine and Draft Lottery. In his tweet, he states that no firm decision has been made yet, but that he is “open-minded” about looking elsewhere for his long-term future in the NBA:

It’s seemingly accurate, especially when you dive into the article itself, discussing where Giannis is at and what the plan is moving forward. Yet, before you even read the article, this is what you see as the headline:

Nowhere does it state in the article that Giannis decided to start looking elsewhere, or is currently looking elsewhere. There are so many other ways to put what was in the report into a headline. We here at Brew Hoop, just some mere “bloggers,” put the following as our headline in reaction to the news:

Listen, I acknowledge that the media landscape has changed vastly in the digital age. It’s more important to get reactions, hot-takes, and clicks to compete in such a saturated media market. Whatever gets you noticed is the most important; whatever gets people interacting and talking about what’s going on. Yet there comes a time when you have to practice actual journalistic ethics and good editorial decisions. Saying in an article headline that he’s going to look at other teams when you state that he hasn’t decided in that regard is just underhanded and a way to get people to click on the article.

It’s been such a weird obsession over the years, with ESPN seemingly pushing some sort of agenda of wanting to push Giannis out of Milwaukee. As our friend Dan Shafter pointed out on Twitter/X, ESPN has, in one way or another, written the same type of story about Giannis potentially thinking about wanting out since he won his first MVP back in the 2018–19 season (remember Malika Andrews’ question after the loss to Toronto?):

While I do acknowledge that this time is different compared to 2020 and 2023, with the limited financial and trade assets this time around, it feels like the same recycled garbage. Part of that does come with the territory when you lose three straight first-round series, but at every turn, Giannis says he wants to stay. Then you have the king of bad takes, Stephen A. Smith, disregarding everything that his colleague said and saying Giannis has already made up his mind and that he’s leaving. It’s one thing to say that you think he should leave because of certain reasons, but to assert he has already decided is insane behavior, and just done in bad faith:

In the end, the people who are seemingly closest to him and his inner circle are still reporting that he has not made up his mind and is happy with the Bucks. While there are things that need to be improved, it hasn’t reached the point of Giannis asking for a trade out of Milwaukee (which he’s said before he would never do). It’s all up to Giannis to decide what he wants to do, and to say you already know which way he’ll go is wrong, considering the mountain of evidence to the contrary. Until that time comes, we’ll all just have to wait to see what the final decision is and go from there.