The Milwaukee Bucks are facing the music. Accepting the fact that Giannis Antetokounmpo may not get his desired chance to compete for a title in a Bucks uniform from here on out, the team is instead doing the greatest player in franchise history a service, shopping him to interested contending teams to give him one last chance at playing for the Larry O'Brien trophy.
Antetokounmpo has been putting pressure on the front office to make the necessary improvements over the past few years to bolster their title hopes. Alas, none of their moves have worked according to plan, and their maneuvering this past offseason reeked of desperation — with not much in the way of results to show for it.
It's gotten to the point where Antetokounmpo feels as though he and the Bucks have a disconnect as far as goals go — leading to what is looking like his eventual exit from the team he's called home since 2013.
“I know what my goal is. I don't know what their goal [is],” Antetokounmpo told Jim Owczarski of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“I have great respect, love and likeness for Jon and the ownership and that will never be different. Won't change. But at the end of the day… you gotta look.”
Bucks' overreaction and draft-night misses end up costing them Giannis
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Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) dribbles up court in front of guard Jrue Holiday (21) during the first quarter against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
The Bucks have to go back to the summer of 2023 to see where things started to go wrong for Milwaukee. They overreacted to a first-round exit at the hands of a scorching-hot Miami Heat team; this led to their decision to trade Jrue Holiday and a smorgasbord of their future first-round picks for Damian Lillard, someone they would end up waiving in 2025 just to bring in Myles Turner.
Their Khris Middleton trade was a disaster as well, as the addition of Kyle Kuzma has not moved the needle one bit for the Bucks. And then there's the matter of Milwaukee whiffing on their draft picks since 2020, with AJ Johnson being dumped in the Kuzma trade.
Now, the Bucks don't have much in the way of future draft assets. They don't have many promising young players. They are eating Lillard's dead cap hit. And now, Antetokounmpo is likelier than ever to change teams — capping a disastrous past four years for Milwaukee.