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Bucks' Trade Asking Price Could Make Giannis Antetokounmpo Stay: Insider

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Malik Brown | Last updated May 17, 2025 2:20 PM ET

The Milwaukee Bucks will have a crucial offseason, as no one knows what direction they will go in. For three straight seasons, they've been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, despite being one of the more talented teams in the Eastern Conference. Giannis Antetokounmpo has played at a high level every year, but when it comes to the postseason, an injury usually pops up, outside of this year.

With not much draft capital and their future having a lot of questions, Antetokounmpo has been rumored to want to explore other options outside of the Bucks, but he has yet to officially request a trade from the team.

If the Bucks do go along with trying to trade Antetokounmpo, there's a good chance that they'll ask for a lot in return. In that instance, Sam Amick of The Athletic thinks that it might be better for Antetokounmpo to stay.

"Like, they want every scenario to gut the other team. And Jon Horst is going to go for blood here, I’m telling you," Amick said on the Ringer NBA podcast. "He just got a new extension. He has the organization’s backing. Jon is not going to just try to be on good terms with Giannis—he’s trying to do right by the Bucks.

"And that means that if every scenario in play leaves the other team so gutted that Giannis might not actually be in that much better of a situation, then maybe that’s where he looks at the room and says, 'All right, let me stay put.'”

If every team knows that the Bucks are going to ask for a lot in return for Antetokounmpo, they may steer away from him as well.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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