Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo May Not Be Done With Milwaukee

Nine-time All-Star Milwaukee Bucks power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo has gotten close to demanding a trade out of town before. He has at least flirted with ditching the club prior to its franchise-altering deals to acquire Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard, both of which ultimately convinced him to stick around.

This summer, though, Antetokounmpo might have real cause for a grievance.

Lillard tore his Achilles tendon in Game 4 of an eventual five-game first round playoff series defeat to the Indiana Pacers, who are now bound for the Eastern Conference Finals.

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The Weber State alum will, at the very least, miss the first half of the 2025-26 season, but questions remain about whether the soon-to-be-35-year-old will be able to recapture his pre-injury form. As a 6-foot-2 guard in his relative NBA dotage, that seems unlikely.

Because the Bucks have offloaded a lot of their future draft picks in their deals to acquire initially Jrue Holiday and more recently Lillard, the team doesn't really have any true path to improve.

In a new piece, Sam Amick of The Athletic writes that Antetokounmpo has yet to officially demand to be dealt away.

"For the sake of fairness to Giannis, let’s reiterate one key detail here: He hasn’t asked out yet," Amick writes. "League sources say he has been in fact-finding mode, discussing his situation with trusted confidantes while making it clear that he’s reading the room here. This is not a one-foot-out-the-door situation. Not yet, anyway."

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This past season, while powering the Bucks to a 48-34 record and the Eastern Conference's No. 5 seed, Antetokounmpo put up stellar numbers.

In 67 healthy games for the Bucks, the 30-year-old averaged 30.4 points on 60.1 percent field goal shooting and 61.7 percent free throw shooting, 11.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists. He seems likely to make yet another All-NBA First Team once those are officially announced.

Antetokounmpo is certainly good enough to lead another team to his second championship. But it is feeling increasingly less likely he'll be able to do that in Milwaukee.

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