The NBA has always been a copycat league, and if the Milwaukee Bucks ever get to the point where trading Giannis Antetokounmpo becomes unavoidable, they won’t have to look far for a roadmap. That's because the Oklahoma City Thunder already showed what a modern teardown should look like — and how quickly it can turn into something terrifying.
Just a few short years ago, the Oklahoma City Thunder made the decisive move to part ways with Paul George and Russell Westbrook. The end of an era was quickly closing in as the league was changing around them, and they embraced fate with open arms.
Now they’ve got an MVP in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, one of the league’s best defenses, and arguably the most sustainable young core in the NBA — all in just five years. And now they're headed for the NBA Finals.
The Thunder didn’t just tank. They executed a high-precision asset accumulation strategy. They flipped veterans for picks. Took swings on athletic, high-upside prospects. Weaponized their cap space by absorbing bad contracts in exchange for more picks. Empowered a young core to grow together with zero pressure.
If worse comes to worst, there's no better team for the Milwaukee Bucks to emulate when it's time to move on from the Giannis Antetokounmpo era.
If the Milwaukee Bucks ever pull the trigger, this is the model rebuild
Oklahoma wrote the playbook in rebuilding the right way, and it's really quite simple.
First, you start by identifying a young player with elite upside who just needs reps — perhaps the likes of Stephon Castle or Amen Thompson, who are both on stacked rosters in Texas but very clearly have the tools (size and switchability, elite burst, advanced playmaking) to explode with a longer leash. Either of the two could be Milwaukee’s version of SGA: not a finished product, but the kind of talent that blooms in a rebuild.
Then, you go hunting for picks. Not just your own — grab every unprotected first you can from desperate teams trying to contend. Use your cap space as a weapon, not a crutch. Take on bad money, demand draft assets in return, and treat every roster spot as a developmental swing.
This is the pivotal moment: it's where you go for blood in every trade discussion, especially when it comes to your franchise player and the second-best player in the league. It's all about securing returns you deserve in exchange for a generational talent who can vault any team into title contention.
We've said it before and we'll say it again: the haul for a player of Antetokounmpo's caliber would need to be unprecedented, a package that would stock the Bucks' draft cupboards for years and provide young, high-upside pieces. That's going to necessitate a bit of business savvy on the part of Jon Horst and company: if Milwaukee wants teams to overpay, they will need to overcharge. Think of what Oklahoma City needed before it parted ways with Westbrook and George, and multiply those by two.
That's what you need for a player like Giannis who is still in the middle of his prime.
It won’t happen overnight. Because after that, the hard truth is that the Milwaukee Bucks would need to eat some lean years before the process actually bears fruit. But the Thunder proved it doesn’t have to take a decade — not if you commit fully and don’t half-step. Because once you trust the process, it tends to reward you for doing things the right way.
If Giannis ever says he’s out, Milwaukee’s options shrink fast. But the Thunder already showed: you don’t have to panic — you just have to plan.