Twenty-nine NBA teams are waiting with bated breath to see whether the Milwaukee Bucks are in the mood for an Giannis Antetokounmpo trade deadline deal. If the latest rumor is a sign of what’s to come, Bucks fans can breathe easy for at least the next few months.
Speaking on a recent episode ofThe Hoop Collectivepodcast, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps indicated that thetwo-time MVP is staying put.
“I would say the Bucks’ messaging is consistent with what it’s been,” Bontemps explained, at around the 35:40 mark. “There’s been no talk about Giannis getting traded. I don’t anticipate him getting traded. I think their expectation is to do what they’ve done the past few years at the deadline, which is to be very aggressive under [general manager] Jon Horst to try to get better, add to the team. We’ll see what aggressive means, we’ll see what that turns into with what gets added to the roster.”
There you have it, folks. If you canfind a Wisconsin sports betting provider posting odds on whether the Bucks will ship out Giannis before the All-Star break, it sounds like you should go ahead and pounce on the “nope” option.
Of course, two overarching questions remain: Could things in Milwaukee change for the deadline? And is holding onto Giannis even what’s best for the franchise at this point?
Jan 23, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) looks on during the second quarter against the Denver Nuggets at Fiserv Forum. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images
Antetokounmpo trade? Doesn’t Sound Like a Request is Coming
The phrase “blow it up” gets thrown around a lot in NBA discourse. It is being reiterated ad nauseam on the Giannis front.
To be fair, Antetokounmpohas clearly equivocated on his future with the team. To be even more fair, the Bucks as currently constructed are not contenders. Their on-court product has devolved into abject disaster whenever their superstar is off the floor, and they’re left battling for a play-in spot at the moment as a result.
Still, Giannis remains a once-in-a-generation talent. No team can just ship this kind of player out willy-nilly (unless you’re the Nico Harrison-run Dallas Mavericks, apparently). This is especially true for a franchise like the Bucks, which will not be a superstar destination in free agency or trade demands without a top-10 player already in place.
Milwaukee will have to change its stance if Giannis requests a trade. As herecently told The Athletic’s Sam Amick, though, he doesn’t ever plan on doing that. Things change. And again, Giannis has clearly thought about it. But if he’s committed to finishing out this season with the Bucks, they have little incentive to move him.
Believe It Or Not, The Bucks Are Handling This Correctly
Plenty of people, including Bucks fans, will argue they should trade him anyway. Capitalize on his value now, and begin a rebuild, they will say. That advice rings hollow when they don’t control the rights to their own first-round pick again until 2031. They have every motivation to win as much as possible this season.
It’s not like keeping Giannis tethers the Bucks to a singular direction, either. If they decide to move him over the summer, offers aren’t going to be much different than they are now. If anything, there will be more suitors, because squads are more flexible during the offseason.
Skeptics will point to Giannis’ proximity to free agency as a reason to ship him out as soon as possible. Suitors who acquire him now will get two playoff runs with him before he gets to the open market. They will only have one if he’s acquired over the summer.
Don’t buy into that alarmism. Whether it happens in five minutes or five months, no squad is acquiring him without the knowledge he’ll sign an extension.
This gives Milwaukee the license to keep holding out hope. That is not to be confused with an agency to go crazy on the trade market. If the Bucks want a future with Giannis, they need to retain the one first-round pick they can trade now, and revisit blockbuster deals over the summer, when they will have three first-round selections to dangle in deals. That is their most likely pathway to convincing Giannis to stay.
It may not work out in the end. We just don’t know. But that’s part of the point. The Bucks are not in a position where they can or should act brashly. Until or unless Giannis is the one who initiates the divorce, they need to work on keeping him for as long as humanly possible and avoid an Antetokounmpo trade all together.
Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images