Of course Giannis Antetokounmpo is frustrated. So is everyone invested in Milwaukee’s basketball team, including its players and fans. At media day back in October, Antetokounmpo was clear — “I’ve said this many times, I want to be in a situation that I can win” — and in the past weeks, Milwaukee got to test itself against some of the best teams in the league in Minnesota, Denver, San Antonio and Oklahoma City. What the Bucks found was a huge gap between them and the elite teams (all four games were losses). The latest was a blowout loss to the Thunder, after which Antetokounmpo said the Bucks played selfishly.
So when ESPN’s Shams Charania went on the Pat McAfee Show Friday and said that Antetokounmpo is frustrated, that is no doubt accurate — Charania is the definition of well-sourced — but the bigger question is, does his frustration actually change anything on the ground? First, here is Charania’s quote.
“The frustration that Giannis Antetokounmpo has is at an all-time high. He’s frustrated with the losing. He’s frustrated with the situation, and I will say this, I’ve spoken to about a dozen sources on-and-off for weeks now, and the tension that’s in the air within that organization, in that locker room, it’s at an all-time high, and there’s this somewhat of a splintering environment that we’re seeing going on there, because when a player of Giannis’ caliber maybe has a wandering eye, or maybe doesn’t know what his future holds there, and having these intense conversations with the organization about what that looks like, there’s going to be such high levels and degrees of uncertainty within that organization.”
This comes after ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said on SportsCenter (hat tip Real GM) that the entire league is watching what is happening with Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee, but he eventually tapped into reality, even if that is not sexy for ratings or clicks.
“The entire NBA trade season is hinging on what happens with Giannis. Because if Giannis comes onto the market, not only would be there immense interest in him, but because of the size of his contract and the potential of a multi-player trade, I think you could see this see generate two, three, four different teams involved in trades and many, many players.
“The Bucks, to this point, have yet to cross the Rubicon there. And Giannis has yet to cross the red line and ask for the trade.”
What league sources have told NBC Sports has not wavered: The Bucks will not trade Antetokounmpo unless he demands it. This is the best player in franchise history, still in his prime, and he’s the guy who drives the team’s economy right now, that’s not a player a smaller-market team trades away. Antetokounmpo has said it’s not in his nature to demand a trade and he would never do that. Unless one side suddenly and unexpectedly flips its position, Antetokounmpo will remain a Buck through the end of the season.
Those same sources say this summer is where the rubber meets the road. The Bucks will offer Antetokounmpo a max contract extension. Every time that has happened before, he has signed the deal (although the last couple of times he used it as leverage to force an upgrade to the roster before putting pen to paper). If he signs it, then the status quo continues. If he’s frustrated enough not to sign the extension, then the Bucks have to seriously consider trading him or risk him leaving in 2027 as a free agent and them getting nothing. But all of that is this summer.
For now, and for all the frustration in Milwaukee, there doesn’t appear to be a trade coming.