After winning the NBA title in 2021, Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks have lost in the first-round three years in a row.
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Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks before start of game against the Indiana Pacers during game three of the first round of the 2025 NBA playoffs.
The Milwaukee Bucks have just two players from their 2020-21 championship team on their roster for next season: Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis.
While they had a successful run to theteam’s first title in 50 years, the Bucks have undergonemajor change in the four years since, with drastic roster turnover, losing many of their top stars and impactful players.
Brad Botkin of CBS Sportsnaming the Bucks a ‘loser‘of the 2025 offseason does not bode well forAntetokounmpo’s future with the team, amid trade rumors and reportsof him being ‘open-minded‘about exploring other options outside of Milwaukee.
“Any way you cut it, this is bad,“ Botkin wrote. “The moves have been increasingly desperate after Holiday, but this one goes beyond desperate.It’s delusional, and the Bucks are going to be paying for it for a long time, perhaps while watching Giannis walk anyway.”
Bucks Roster Turnover Since 2021
Milwaukee failed to retain Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, and Donte DiVincenzo, dismantling a roster many expected would contend for years to come, as all are now on new teams, each of whom was a key piece in the 2021 title run.
They also just bought out Damian Lillard after two failed seasons,capped off bya torn Achilles in the 2025 playoffs.
While Antetokounmpo remains one of the best players in the NBA, the Buckshaven’t been successful at building strong teams around him, instead focusing on creating cap space rather than going all-in and taking risks.
“There are desperate moves and there are delusional moves,” Botkin wrote. “The Bucks waiving Lillard and stretching the remaining $113 million of his contract over the next five years so they can pay Myles Turner $107 million over the next four qualifies as the latter.”
Named an offseason “loser,”the franchise faces a turning point, withAntetokounmpo’s potential departure looming.
While they did add Turner from their rival Indiana Pacers, they failed to make any othermajor moves, now missing a true point guard, promising rotational players, or an overall roster that can win multiple, if any, playoff rounds against top teams in the Eastern Conference.
“Turner is a little-bit-better Brook Lopez. For that,you’re going to pay Lillard $22.5 million for each of the next five years to NOT play for you?”Botkin added. “In this apron era of extreme penny pinching all over the league, to call this a crippling move is an understatement.”
Milwaukee has lost in the first round each of the last three years, and though Antetokounmpo has finished top-four in MVP voting in each of thelast seven years, they look closer to rebuilding rather than competing for a title.
Giannis’ Future With The Team
All this leads them to amajor decision: Do they continue to build around Antetokounmpo, or trade him for what would likely be one of the biggest hauls in NBA history?
In May, Shams Charania of ESPN reported Antetokounmpo was ‘open-minded‘about the possibility of exploring options outside of the Bucks, and he reiterated that sentiment in August.
Just as the team has failed to keep players like Holiday, Lopez, Lillard, and Middleton, though the last took a step back in their performance on the court,who’s to say the samewon’t happen with Antetokounmpo? He has said he wants to compete for titles, but at this point, does this Bucks roster look like they have that ability?
Antetokounmpo expects to start the season in Milwaukee, butthere’s no guarantee he finishes the season there. Teams will be going after him, making big-time offers that, at this point, might be the best move for the franchise to accept and go into afull rebuild.
He has a player option at the end of the 2026-27 season, butthere’s no guarantee, or even expectation, thathe’ll sign that deal and stay for the foreseeable future after that. Antetokounmpo brought a championship to Milwaukee, but at this point, winning another with their current roster feels almost impossible.
The Buckswon’t want to lose him for nothing, so their best option might be trading him to a team like the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, or Los Angeles Lakers, that consistently find themselves near the top of title-contending teams lists.