After gauging offers for several days for Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks have indicated to teams that they are keeping their two-time MVP through today’s trade deadline. ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported the news today, with several others following up to confirm the story.
This has been the prevailing sentiment over the past couple of days. Jamal Collier of ESPN put out an article today that backs up much of the other reporting, saying the Bucks felt no pressure to deal Giannis at today’s deadline:
“The Bucks don’t feel the pressure to move Giannis Antetokounmpo on Thursday, team sources told ESPN hours ahead of the deadline. Rival executives have grown dubious in the past 24 hours about whether the Bucks would actually move their franchise star after more than 12 seasons together.“
Jake Fischer later spoke to a team executive who said the Bucks were “never serious” about trading Giannis at the deadline.
The Bucks got right to work adding new pieces to the squad after the news, with Shams reporting that the Bucks are sending Cole Anthony and Amir Coffey to the Phoenix Suns for center Nick Richards and wing Nigel Hayes-Davis. This deal fits right in line with what Collier said the Bucks would do from this morning:
“Milwaukee has still scoured the market for a potential upgrade to its roster, sources told ESPN, hoping to benefit from a team looking to offload salary in the future.”
Bucks fans likely no longer have to sit in dread by their phone, waiting for a potential Giannis deal to go down. After months of ESPN’s prognosticators saying the best offer was from Golden State, or that it was 60/40 he would head down to South Beach, the silence will be bliss. This isn’t a full-fledged guarantee that they won’t revisit a potential deal in the offseason, but at least Giannis should be in green and white for the rest of the 2025–26 season.