The future of Giannis Antetokounmpo remains the central question of the NBA’s transactional landscape entering the trade deadline period as it did last offseason beginning at the lottery in May. Neither Antetokounmpo or the Milwaukee Bucks have signaled any interest in initiating either a trade request or trade conversations. The closest movement to date was when the Bucks and New York Knicks held brief trade conversations in August presumably at the request of Antetokounmpo.
“The entire NBA trade season is hinging on what happens with Giannis,” said Brian Windhorst on SportsCenter. “Because if Giannis comes onto the market, not only would be there immense interest in him, but because of the size of his contract and the potential of a multi-player trade, I think you could see this see generate two, three, four different teams involved in trades and many, many players.
“The Bucks, to this point, have yet to cross the rubicon there. And Giannis has yet to cross the red line and ask for the trade. Everybody in the league believes this is eventually going to happen. Everybody in the league can see that the Bucks are not good enough to support Giannis going for title contention and knows this moment is going to happen and they are preparing for it. There doesn’t seem to be a clarity on when it might happen. They will stay on the sidelines and they will wait. And if the bell goes off, you will see a hive of activity.”
Antetokounmpo and the Bucks are believed to be at this stalemate because he’d prefer not to have to request a trade and jeopardizing his fandom in Milwaukee, while the team has remained adamant they will not entertain trading him unless he explicitly asks for it.
Antetokounmpo can become a free agent in 2027 and is eligible for an extension in October, leading to an obvious deadline for when a tangible decision on his future must be made despite the continued reluctance from the parties.