Let's talk about your next favorite city and your next favorite fan base, the Milwaukee Bucks and the city of Milwaukee, which is going to have Giannistontegumpo around for at least a little longer.
Attempts to trade Giannis ultimately fizzled.
I wrote about this on SI.
com this week.
I, I do think the Bucks came into these talks in good faith.
Like, I don't think that they were just going through the motions.
I think if there was a team out there that could have given.
them the kind of package that they said they wanted.
Like they wanted, and they were telling teams this, young players, draft picks.
Golden State had the draft picks, didn't have the young players .
Minnesota had a young player they wanted and Jaden McDaniels didn't have the draft picks.
Miami had a kind of sort of mix of both, but didn't have, it wasn't enough to rise to the level that Minnesota or that Milwaukee was going to do this deal.
And failing that, There's no harm in sitting and punting this decision down the road because Miami, Minnesota, Golden State, they're all gonna be there.
They're all gonna be there in June.
The Knicks might be there, the Lakers might be there.
Unknown Team X might be there.
That, that fizzles out in the first round of the playoffs.
This was a smart move by John Horst and that front office.
I know it's not, there could be some uncomfortable conversations that take place over the next few weeks, especially.
If Giannis really wants to come back, which he says he does, but that is not in the best interest of the Milwaukee Bucks.
Like the most important draft pick for Milwaukee is this one, this 2026 first-round draft pick, which could be top five, top 10, who knows how the, the lottery gods, uh, are gonna look upon you.
But I think this was the right thing to do for Milwaukee.
There wasn't an overwhelming offer out there for him.
And if there's not, you gotta put this in a drawer and try again this summer.
The stakes are too high when it comes to Giannis.
Look, I don't think the Milwaukee Bucks want to trade Giannis Eokopo.
I don't think there's anyone who disagrees with that.
Do, do you think the Milwaukee Bucks are like, Man, let's trade Giannis.
Let's get this guy out of here?
No, I don't.
No.
The only reason.
The only reason the Bucks were talking to other teams about trading Giannis was because pressure came from Giannis's side.
That's it.
That's the only reason.
No one woke up in the Bucks organization.
It was like, man, this exceptional player who's beloved by the fans, who is the best thing that's happened to us since Kareem 50 years ago.
Let's get rid of him.
Nobody said that.
This was because of pressure from Giannis's side, and I understand why that is confusing, because Giannis then goes out and gives all these interviews about, I want to play here for the rest of my career.
I want to stay in Milwaukee.
I want.
To retire as a Milwaukee, but he wants it both ways.
He wants it both ways.
He posted on the internet the minute the trade deadline passed the Jordan Belfort, Leo DiCaprio, didn't do that.
I'm not that Xing staying do that before though.
Didn't do that before.
So I, I think he had two posts ready to go.
Like, what if he got traded like a goodbye to you?
Look, what's hard is my singing voice right there.
That was, by the way, I was gonna let that goichelle Branch.
I just throw out there, I think I did, yeah, I, I don't.
I was gonna let it just pass without comment because nobody needs to hear that.
Um, look, I, I, I have a lot of, you know, as you know, I don't think there's been a bigger advocate for Milwaukee keeping Giannis no matter what than me.
I, I think they should just keep him until his contract's up, basically.
I think if you have to walk away and take a loss on him, you do.
That's how special he is to your city, OK, but I want them to keep him, right?
I have been a huge advocate for that.
There are people on social media, and I'd like to engage on social media with fans.
It's, it's in good discussions who are are so upset that the media is talking about trading Giannis.
The media made all of this up.
The media is talking about trading Giannis.
The media is talking about trading Giannis because the Bucks are talking about trading Giannis, and the only reason the Bucks are trading talking about trading Giannis is because Giannis's side, and it wasn't, didn't have to be Giannis in particular, that's what agents are for, we're pressuring to get him on a team that's a winner.
And if you look at all of his quotes the last couple days, He's saying, I want to stay in Milwaukee.
I'd love to retire as a buck.
I want to win.
If you can tell me we're a competitive team, if you can tell me that we're going to win.
And I think it's hard for Giannis, who's being completely honest.
I think that is actually how he feels.
He doesn't want to leave.
He'd rather stay and win.
But if the two options are stay and don't win or go somewhere else and win.
Guys, he clearly has decided it's go somewhere else and win, at least right now, because again, no one woke up in the Bucks organization and on their own said, I'd love to trade Giannis Antetokopo.
It had to come from somewhere.
It came from his side.
Now, has he reconsidered as it got closer?
Did he feel more uncomfortable?
I have said to you for a long time, I don't think.
Giannis is ever going to be able to quote ask for a trade.
I don't think that's in his nature.
I don't think he wants that on his record.
And so I wonder if as things go forward, that feeling of his of just not being able to pull the trigger and leave is going to come to the fore and maybe they talk him into another extension.
Can I have a CBA question for you.
Can they extend him right now?
I believe they can extend him right now if he was traded once he's traded this, yes, they can extend him right now.
This is, this is the only thing I wanna say.
If you post, and I love Giannis, he's just so fun as a player.
He's so fun as a person.
I love all of it, but if you post, I'm , can we curse?
I don't even know.
I'm fucking staying.
I'm fucking staying, and you throw quotes out there.
If I want to be a Milwaukee Buck for life, sign an extension now.
Let's do it.
Let's go.
Nothing would make me happy.
Literally nothing would make me happier.
I love him on the Bucks.
I love him with that team.
He's already won a title.
I understand the need to want another one, but come on, man.
His relationship there is so special.
He brought it up.
He's like, it's not just the team.
It's Milwaukee.
It's Wisconsin.
His children were born there.
Yes, he.
He said a lot of things, powerful things, and I agree with him, but I do think he wants to have his cake and eat it too.
He wants to have it both ways.
He wants to get his trade, but he doesn't want his fingerprints on it at all, even though, to your point, the Bucks are not engaging in these conversations if the message is not being sent to them that Giannis wants them to engage in these conversations.
So, There is zero reason for them to have any of these talks if it's not coming from Giannis's side.
Now, I would, I would argue, well, I, I agree with you, but I would argue they should be having these talks anyway because I think they're not, you think they should have had them last summer.
I look, to me, if they wind up with a top 3 pick, if the lottery balls fall their way, by the way, the lottery room this year, the drawing room is.
It is going to be electric.
The number of teams represented, the Knicks rooting against the Wizards, the Thunder rooting against the Jazz, uh, we'll talk in a minute about Indiana in that room with the Clippers.
Oh, I always go into that drawing room.
This is the year to go into the drawing room for sure, just to see how that whole, whole thing, uh, all plays out.
I, I just, look, if they get a top 3 pick.
And then you can trade Giannis for a ton of assets.
Like that is the kind of like, to bring in another sport, the Herschel Walker type rebuild package that you're looking for.
Because all of a sudden you can get a Debana, a Peterson, a Cam Boozer, whoever is available at the top of the draft, and then you get 4 first-round picks, a Jaden McDaniels type.
Maybe if you do with the Lakers, Austin Reeves can be part of that mix and all of a sudden, you're a worse team, but you got some direction.
Right now, they're just trying to duct tape this thing together, put enough band-aids on it to make it work.
I don't even know if that's possible.
I, I, look, I think the Bucks, who can trade as many as 3 first-round picks in this draft, I think the Bucks are going to be proactive in trying to bring a piece in to try to get them.
I just don't think there's a piece out there that gets them to that next level.
I don't think Giannis , Miles Turner, and player X that's available for 3 first-round picks gets it done.
And I think they have a chance now to sell on Giannis.
Not at the high point necessarily, but when they should, because these calf injuries would scare the crap out of me if I'm a team acquiring him.
4 calf injuries in 2 years.
These are real.
And I've, I've said and written this before.
Coaches that I've talked to think that Giannis needs to be treated like , like mid-career Shaq, where you have to manage him.
You have to, you know, watch his health, make sure he's not playing.
Playing so many games, so many minutes, he's still an inimitable force.
Like he is a two-way.
He's the best offensive season of his career, two-way giant.
I, I'm, I'm agreeing with you on that.
But if you're the Bucks, I just don't believe you're going to be able to put together a championship team with the assets that you have.
And if you have a chance to Get that kind of rebuilding package for Giannis.
Whether or not he wants out, I would still do it.
Why are you in such a hurry to rebuild so you're not gonna win the title?
I'm not, you're not gonna win the title anyway.
That's my point.
You're not gonna win.
OK, let's, great.
Let, let's, let's do it forward in your scenario, right?
Your worst case scenario is that they keep Giannis.
He has calf injuries.
Maybe he blows an Achilles, something like that, right?
This is your, you're saying that's your worst case scenario.
That would be my worst fear if I was the Bucks, OK.
They keep Giannis.
He does sign an extension there.
The team is never going to compete for a championship during his tenure again.
That's your worst fear, OK.
If I'm a Milwaukee fan, I would rather have, OK, we're not winning a title for the next 5 to 7 years.
You know who else isn't winning the title in the next 5 to 7 years?
Most teams in the NBA.
Most teams in the NBA have direction.
Like you're, you're aiming.
That's what the Clippers just did, gave themselves direction.
Why is direction more valuable than a franchise player that is literally gonna go down as one of the two most, maybe most important players in your history?
That has a relationship with the fans and the team that will fill seats until the day he walks off the court.
Why is a direction more important?
Because you're not winning.
Like, like winning and like the goal of winning a championship should be rebuilding over the next 4 to 5 years.
You're not winning then, right?
But at least you're giving yourself, you're seeing maybe a light at the end of the tunnel.
Why again a light at the end of the tunnel more important than having the Boston Celtics.
Paul Pierce was a Top 5 Celtic maybe of all time.
One of the all-time greats, and they were, I think they were a 2nd-round playoff team when they traded him, and they said, you know what, Paul, thanks for doing, thanks for doing all your course.
Let's get ourselves a package of picks.
Let's get Jalen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and let's get the next championship team.
You cannot compare that situation.
First of all, they also traded Kevin Durant.
I mean, Kevin Garnett, my God, Kevin Durant.
They also traded Kevin Garnett.
They also got a.
Historically bad Brooklyn Nets decision to give them all of that stuff.
The Bucks are not going to walk into that situation.
And also, they had to have historically bad decisions from two other teams trading, making other trades that turned into Jayson Tatum, etc.
etc.
or picking Markelle Fultz at the top of the draft when they knew that Jayson Tatum was the right call.
It is not an equivalent situation.
You cannot keep going back to that.
If you are in the Milwaukee Bucks, if you are a Milwaukee front office person, if you are a fan, if you are another player on that team, I'm looking at my options for the next 4 to 5 years.
That's it.
Let's look at the next 4 to 5 years.
Are they winning a title in the next 4 to 5 years?
No, Chris Mannix, they are not.
I'm sorry.
Whether they're rebuilding in your scenario or keeping Giannis in mind.
So which version would I rather have?
I'd rather have the giant of a player and person and community member of Giannis, and then start rebuilding.
Great, fine.
OK, it's gonna take you 10 years to get back into contention instead of 5 years to 8 years to get back into contention.
You still would have had Giannis for all that time.
I'm taking it.
coming from the Wizards fan that probably thought it was a good idea to let John Wall and Bradley Beal degrade in Washington.
I wouldn't have given John Wall and Bradley Beal necessarily the contracts for the no trade clause that was given.
And by the way, this current front office wouldn't have done it either because they traded, you know, Beal out of town as soon as they could and got a great package for him, um, for what, for what they had, um, look.
There's personnel decisions along the way every time.
But by the way, I think John Wall was wonderful for Washington.
I was just with him.
The reason I was in DC and talking to Trae Young was because I was with, with John Wall for his John Wall appreciation Washington Wizards night.
It was fantastic.
I love seeing John around the city.
He meant a tremendous amount to Washington.
Tremendous.
I agree.
He's not Gianniscentteopo.
He's not.
I'm sorry.
Yes, the goal is to win, but most teams aren't winning.
Most teams haven't gotten close to winning in a very long time.
Sometimes the goal is to have a wonderful experience as a Milwaukee Bucks fan.
Nobody wants.
I don't want a wonderful experience.
Wonderful experiences are overrated.
Forget wonderful experiences.
If you're not on a path to a championship, you're on a path to nowhere, Rachel.
Nowhere.
Ticket sales mean nothing.
Nothing.
Nostalgia means nothing.
Loyalty, if, if it comes, as long as, look, the loyalty an NBA team owes the player is paying out that contract.
You owe every nickel to that player.
That's what's collectively bargained.
But everything else, that's on the table.
So if you're on step 2 of a 100-step path to a championship, you'd rather be there than on step 65 but not moving forward.
You'd rather be there.
I mean, I, I'm gonna even put them further.
Step 75.
They've got Giannisopo.
Who knows what could happen?
You'd rather be on step 2 than step 75, even if step 2 is taking a step forward and 75 isn't.
Step two might, might get me to step 76.
Step 75 up there might be the ceiling for that team, right?
Great.
That's your ceiling for 3 or 4 years, and then go back to step two.
No, no, let's move on.
We got off tractor.
I still think, I still think the most likely scenario is Giannis gets traded in the offseason.
That's probably what's going to happen.
I will say if I'm the, if I'm John Horrest.
And I see Giannis make that post, and I watch him basically a a little bit sell out the front office by being like, I wanna be a buck for life.
It was my whatever like you said, like they're like, yeah, we're gonna trade Giannis.
So if I'm him, my next phone call to Alex Cerrata, his agent, Giannis's agent, is great.
I was so thrilled to see Giannis's comments and his Instagram posts .
This is amazing.
Let's get this extension done.
Something tells me that's OK, not gonna be.
I agree with you, but then you've had that convers.
I, I actually, I'm not joking.
That is what I would do because then you have had that conversation and if he turns down, oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, slow your roll, we're not doing an extension right now.
Great, you get to walk out there and say that, and, and not right now, but eventually you get to walk out there and say, hey, we offered him, we offered him to stay.
He said no.