Giannis Thread - 13th Season with the Bucks

[midranger]

I’m not going to claim that Shams has unimpeachable journalistic integrity but if you asked me what is more likely…

1. He’s invented every rumor and innuendo about Giannis on his own from whole cloth.

Or

2. Everything he’s reported is basically what he’s been told from someone in Giannis’s camp (with the standard 2025 15% sensationalism to generate clicks).


… it’s obviously 2.

That said his agent could’ve told shams something like’ “Giannis better be feeling better about the direction of the team by the time Horst visits him in Greece in late July or decisions will need to be made,” and Shams runs with it a “Late summer deadline”. Who knows it there’s ulterior motives on behalf of the agent as well, ie pressure Bucks into doing something (signing Thanasis or making a big swing).

Who knows? The thought that all of it is just a Shams fever dream feels delusional.

[Ron Swanson]

Shams is full of **** and always has been. That also doesn't mean that we can't read the tea leaves and see the writing on the wall if things go badly this season. There've been red flags all around that point to this season being a real inflection point for Giannis that past seasons/summers simply haven't.

He extended shortly after we made the Jrue trade in 2020. He didn't extend in 2023 because we hired "his guy" to coach. He extended the second after we pulled off the Dame trade. Dude's always committed when he sees the team is serious about upgrading the roster, so again, Horst better have his best Kuzma and/or Bobby plus picks/swaps trade lined up at the trade deadline.

[emunney]

Shams is full of **** and always has been. That also doesn't mean that we can't read the tea leaves and see the writing on the wall if things go badly this season. There've been red flags all around that point to this season being a real inflection point for Giannis that past seasons/summers simply haven't.

He extended shortly after we made the Jrue trade in 2020. He didn't extend in 2023 because we hired "his guy" to coach. He extended the second after we pulled off the Dame trade. Dude's always committed when he sees the team is serious about upgrading the roster, so again, Horst better have his best Kuzma and/or Bobby plus picks/swaps trade lined up at the trade deadline.

Yeah, it's easy to understand Giannis' skepticism entering this offseason and if he's leaving the door cracked now, I also get that. This is the first time since he's established himself as a basketball god that his team is full of unestablished players. Also this is not all on Shams and his painfully clumsy language, as a lot of the fuss around this is based on other peoples' interpolations into his reporting (took a surprising amount of willpower to not put "reporting" in quotes) -- see Barkley's recent comments as one small example of this. If anything the fact that he's still here testifies to the fact that he views leaving Milwaukee for another team as a last resort and is happy to find reasons to stay.

[jakecronus8]

Does anyone have a direct quote from Giannis himself refuting the Mariah/family greece stuff? Not something cagey and open ended. A direct "No, my family is in Milwaukee." If not I'm inclined to believe it.

[Dick Tate]

2. Everything he’s reported is basically what he’s been told from someone in Giannis’s camp (with the standard 2025 15% sensationalism to generate clicks).

I think Shams was pushing that 15% mark when Giannis put out the "Does anyone miss Woj?" tweet.