Owczarski Details Timeline Leading To Giannis/Bucks Split

Having spoken to more than 50 team and league sources about the situation during his time covering the team, Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (subscriber link) has provided a fascinating, in-depth timeline of the events that ultimately led to Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s exit from Milwaukee, outlining in detail how the relationship between the Bucks and their longtime star gradually frayed in recent years.

While the trade isn’t official yet, the Bucks agreed late on Monday night to a blockbuster deal that will send Antetokounmpo to the Heat.

It would be impossible to highlight all of the interesting tidbits that Owczarski shares in his report, but here are several of the most interesting items from the story:

• Antetokounmpo didn’t believe that former Bucks head coach Doc Rivers could push him or the team to the level that he wanted, but after having exercised his influence for past moves, including the trade for Damian Lillard and the hiring of Milwaukee’s previous head coach, Adrian Griffin, Giannis was wary of pushing for Rivers to be let go. Still, Owczarski suggests it’s likely not a coincidence that rumors about Antetokounmpo potentially seeking a change of scenery began leaking last year once it became clear ahead of the 2025/26 season that the organization was still backing Rivers.
• Even if he hadn’t torn his Achilles during the 2025 playoffs, Lillard likely would’ve requested a trade out of Milwaukee last offseason, per Owczarski.
• The Bucks’ leadership grew “weary” of what they viewed as “double talk” from Antetokounpmo and his representatives, according to Owczarski, who points to a December 17 media session as one example. Giannis told reporters that day that he hadn’t spoken to ownership about his future with the team during the season, even though he had done so earlier in the month.
• “I have seen them make every decision with the foundational piece being, ‘What will Giannis think of this?'” one source said of the Bucks’ decision-makers, per Owczarski. Those decisions included signing Giannis’ brothers – Thanasis Antetokounmpo and Alex Antetokounmpo – to contracts, which bothered Rivers and other Bucks coaches, especially since having those players taking up spots that could’ve gone to more productive players seemingly ran counter to Giannis’ desire to contend for titles. “Giannis said so many things,” a former coach told the Journal Sentinel. “It stems from your actions, which is, ‘My brothers have to be on this team.’ Well then, are you about a championship? ‘Cause they’re not only not helping us win a championship, it’s creating dissension.”
• At one point when the Bucks and Giannis’ camp were at odds earlier this year about whether he was healthy enough to return from his knee injury, Antetokounmpo’s agent Alex Saratsis and Bucks co-owner Jimmy Haslam had a verbal confrontation about the situation, says Owczarski.
• Although Rivers insisted at season’s end that it was “100%” his decision to leave his position as Bucks head coach, Owczarski reports that the organization recognized he couldn’t return in that role and Rivers was given the option to either leave the team or work as a special assistant to general manager Jon Horst.
• Antetokounmpo cut off contact with the Bucks after the end of the season, Owczarski says, writing that Giannis didn’t answer calls from the Bucks and didn’t allow any members of their strength and conditioning staff to oversee his workouts in Milwaukee or in Greece, even though he was still under contract with the team.
• In March, a day after Bucks co-owner Wes Edens stated that Antetokounmpo would be traded or extended, Giannis “derisively” referenced Edens’ remarks with a senior team official nearby, stating, “Let’s see if they have the balls to trade me,” per Owczarski. However, after making that comment, he looked down and said, more quietly, “They’re gonna trade me.”