3 players Bucks must trade as Giannis Antetokounmpo situation comes to a head

Amidst the Bucks’ bleak future outlook, Rollins has emerged as one of a few bright spots Milwaukee has on the roster. The 23-year-old guard has to finish in the top-three of Most Improved Player voting, as he grabbed the opportunity he got in the aftermath of Damian Lillard’s injury/departure and ended up being a key piece of Milwaukee’s future — averaging 17.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 5.6 assists in 74 games (67 starts).

Rollins is under contract next season for $4 million with a player option worth the same for the 2027-28 campaign. Suffice to say, the Bucks will be feeling a sense of urgency to lock him up to a new and improved contract.

There’s a reason why the Bucks preferred to keep the cost-controlled and younger Rollins instead of including him in a trade that would have brought Ja Morant in. Rollins is a feel-good story for a franchise that badly needed a win, and fans should expect the 23-year-old to stay with the team for the long haul.

Should Milwaukee keep these players?

Up in the air: Bobby Portis, AJ Green, Pete Nance

Portis has been involved in so many trade rumors over the years, but he remains a respected locker-room presence who might be helpful to keep around even through a rebuild.

It’s not as if the 30-year-old big man has plenty of value on the market, although he is a battle-tested combo big who can provide an extra scoring punch for any contending team in need of frontcourt reinforcements. He did average 14 and six this past season on 49/46/71 shooting splits, so he could be an appealing trade target.

Be that as it may, Portis does not have an onerous contract, which does not make it an urgent order of business for the Bucks to trade him away.

Green has become an important piece for the Bucks over the past few years, as he has emerged as one of the best movement shooters in the NBA. During the 2025-26 season, he made three three-pointers per game on a 41.9 percent clip, and he’s under contract for a total of $45 million for the next four seasons — a fair price for a player of his caliber and skillset.

Him being a knockdown shooter at an affordable rate should make him an appealing trade target for contending teams as well. But those are precisely the reasons as to why the Bucks should fight hard to keep him, unless they get an offer they simply cannot say no to.

Green, much like Rollins, is another win for the Bucks’ developmental team, and if Milwaukee intends to at least be respectable over the next few seasons, keeping him around will be for the best. But this does not mean that they shouldn’t listen to trade offers for him.

Nance’s contract was converted into a standard one late in the season, so the Bucks believe in his ability to contribute moving forward. His contract for next season is non-guaranteed, however, so there is a possibility he could become a trade chip.

It’s time for the Giannis era to end

Trade candidates: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Myles Turner, Kyle Kuzma

A lot has already been written about why the Bucks should or shouldn’t trade Antetokounmpo away. But the answer is simple: the Bucks don’t have the assets to build a winning team around him, and keeping him around would only lead to even greater discontent from both sides.

Antetokounmpo has made it clear many times in the past that he just wants a chance to compete for a championship. He prefers to get it while in Milwaukee, but he has also outright said that his eye has been wandering and that he’s looking at what other opportunities are out there for him.

The Bucks don’t have the future draft assets to swing a blockbuster trade for another star to help Antetokounmpo out, and at this point, it’s best to simply face the music, pull the plug, and start over from scratch.

Turner is the biggest symptom of the Bucks’ shortsighted roster building around Antetokounmpo, which has cost them dearly. As one would recall, Turner signed with the Bucks after Milwaukee cleared the necessary cap space for him by waiving and stretching Damian Lillard’s contract, and he proceeded to bomb in his first year with the team — averaging just 11.9 points and 5.3 rebounds per contest.

Are the Bucks going to admit their mistake with Turner and just trade him away? If they find a taker for him, then they must; paying around $84 million over the next three seasons for that kind of production doesn’t sound very appealing after all.

Kuzma is in the final year of his contract, so the Bucks could end up using his expiring salary as a way for them to absorb a bad contract so they could get compensated with a few draft assets.