Atlanta would have been a natural trade partner for Milwaukee given the control that the Hawks have over the Bucks’ top selections in the next two drafts, but league sources say that Atlanta has always viewed the notion of trading the 24-year-old Johnson for Antetokounmpo to be a complete non-starter.
The Hawks’ in-house belief, frankly, is that Johnson has MVP potential. So they were very much covering their ears in December when Johnson’s agent, Rich Paul, on his Game Over podcast with Max Kellerman, came out and suggested that the Bucks target Milwaukee native Johnson as the headline return in a deal for The Greek Freak.
”That was probably the first time in my career [hearing] the rumors and stuff like that,” Johnson told
The Stein Line. “But I got reassurance from everyone around here that that’s not the plan. Obviously it means a lot … the trust they have in me and the belief they have in me.”