Giannis Antetokounmpo may remain a Milwaukee Buck beyond the NBA’s upcoming trade deadline, but it is sounding like a divorce is a matter of when and not if for the two-time MVP.
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Saturday’s injury setback for Antetokounmpo, which is set to sideline the Bucks superstar for between four and six weeks, has added an extra element of intrigue ahead of the league’s February 6 (AEDT) deadline.
It comes after NBA insider Jake Fischer reported in his latest article on ‘The Stein Line’ Substack that “numerous NBA front offices began operating under the belief in recent days — arguably with greater conviction than ever before — that a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade before the league’s trade deadline had become unexpectedly possible”.
That was prior to the calf injury, which while not completely ruling out a trade for Antetokounmpo before the deadline does complicate such a move taking place.
One thing that is now clear is that the Bucks are very unlikely to consider win-now moves before the deadline, with the Antetokounmpo injury only making it harder for Milwaukee to lift itself up the Eastern Conference standings.
For the record, the Bucks sit 11th in the East with a 18-26 record which puts them comfortably behind the 10th-placed Hawks at 22-25 in the race for a spot in the play-in.
The talk in the lead-up to the trade deadline was that the Bucks, who signed Myles Turner in free agency after creatively waiving and stretching Damian Lillard’s contract, would find more ways to put a winning roster around Antetokounmpo.
But with the franchise superstar now out of action for at least a month, there isn’t the same level of urgency for the Bucks to act now given even a considerable upgrade to the supporting cast wouldn’t mean much if Antetokounmpo is not healthy.
For now, the question is whether Antetokounmpo will be traded before the deadline with Fischer reporting there is a “rising leaguewide belief that a divorce is inevitable”.
One league source, who Fischer described as being “particularly well-versed in Bucks matters” said “this is shaping up to be a draft-day kind of thing”.
“It’s happening,” added another.
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The Bucks may be better served waiting until the offseason when there will be more clarity over the value of this year’s draft picks. Alternatively, on draft night Milwaukee will also have more tradeable draft picks at its disposal to make a major move that could convince Antetokounmpo to stay.
As Fischer noted, however, the risk of waiting is that after this season Antetokounmpo only has one more guaranteed season on his contract along with a $62.8 million player option for 2027-28.
“So Antetokounmpo and agent Alex Saratsis would wield the very real threat of leaving town after just one season, likely dissuading certain teams from pursuing a Giannis trade and also potentially limiting the trade return that the Bucks could command,” Fischer wrote.
It makes for an interesting week-and-a-half before the deadline and while there are still many questions to be answered, it is starting to look increasingly likely that Antetokounmpo’s time in Milwaukee is nearing an end.