Giannis Thread - 13th Season with the Bucks

[raferfenix]

Paul George on Giannis Antetokounmpo: I don't see him wanting to leave Milwaukee

Paul George: I think Giannis Antetokounmpo is that older era cut where he wants to stay in Milwaukee his whole career. I don’t see him wanting to leave. And you see that more so, you know, with international guys. They kind of stay where they were drafted for the most part—especially, I mean, they come from a different world. You come to America, you get treated like royalty—king—all of that. Like, this took care of my family. This is home. And I won here. So, it’s a legacy thing, I think, with Giannis in Milwaukee. Yeah, I don’t think he wants to leave there.

https://hoopshype.com/rumor/paul-george-on-giannis-antetokounmpo-i-dont-see-him-wanting-to-leave-milwaukee/

Carmelo Anthony and Paul George aren't convinced that Giannis Antetokounmpo will ask to be traded from the Milwaukee Bucks despite the rumors surrounding his uncertain future with the organization.

"Giannis is that old era cut, I think he wanna stay in Milwaukee his whole career," George said on Podcast P with Paul George.

"He ain't going nowhere," Anthony later added.

Read on Twitter

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25199504-carmelo-anthony-paul-george-dont-think-giannis-will-demand-bucks-trade-amid-rumors

[Iheartfootball]

Echoing RS's take:

For one hopeful second, I thought the headline said Doc Rivers was leaving.

But no — he’s staying. And so is Giannis. And sure, the team will be competitive because of that. But that's all I'm expecting at this point: basic relevance, not real ambition. Until there's a full reset around Giannis — including the coach, front office, and ownership philosophy — we’re just spinning our wheels.

This is shaping up to be Kohl Era 2.0:
- A superstar masking deep dysfunction
- Passive ownership that values optics and stability over innovation
- An overreliance on middling veterans instead of a real developmental pipeline
- Short-term moves that keep us in the national conversation but out of serious contention

The sad part is, this team could have been the model for small-market greatness. We won a title the right way — organically, through patience and smart moves. But since then, it’s felt more like a slow slide into irrelevance, with no one at the top willing to take the uncomfortable steps needed for a second act.

Reset the table - (aren't these guys poker players? They should be able to identify with that). Or expect more of the same.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

It sounds like the bucks don’t want to spend any more money after making another mistake and hopes Giannis will overlook it and stay anyway.

I guess what is driving this? What are they being cheap on?

It seems like I keep seeing these quotes year after year and there doesn't seem to be any real financial basis for this. The team has gone as deep as they could in the tax and has fired multiple coaches under contract and instead of going 'cheap' and letting Prunty do what he does best and hiring a coach in the off-season, they overpaid for Doc.

I think it is 10x more likely that they think Giannis likes Doc and that is our best chance to keep Giannis. If Giannis leaves, I think it is more likely than not Doc is gone as well.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Woelfel gets stuff very few people get in this market but I’d be pretty shocked if no one else has heard of us bringing in early first round guys.

Ehh, I just don't see a lot of reporters going down to the combine to talk to players and agents. You really think Jim O is down in Chicago asking these questions? These things are fluid and a player might even plan to work out for a team (or confuse the team themselves) on who they are working out with. The Bucks should absolutely be bringing in Top 8 picks and it would be gross negligence if they didn't even if they feel good about Giannis coming back. Until they get a solid "this is what I want and I'm in if that is the case" from Giannis, you have to have a backup plan.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

On the whether Giannis requested a trade front:

Truth is, if Giannis did request a trade, the Bucks would likely keep it totally quiet so that all parties wouldn't have to deal with the public noise. Bucks target their preferred packages and negotiate quietly, telling the teams that they'll blow it up if anything is leaked.

Gery reported that the Bucks invited the top 8 players in the draft to Milwaukee to scout them. We don't even have a first round pick as of now. Perhaps that was due diligence, but it could also be a sign that they are indeed shopping him.

“One of those steps is bringing some projected top 8 draft prospects to Milwaukee before the June 25-26 NBA draft. The Bucks, as of now, don’t even have a first-round pick in this year’s draft.”

Just to clarify, it was "some", not all. Again, I don't really think this should be a shock to anyone that they would do due diligence on possible assets that would be key pieces in a Giannis trade. You don't want Giannis to come back mid-June and ask for a trade with zero research on what kind of players you could build around. I would be extremely pissed if the Bucks weren't doing this. Hell, there are a million, albeit unlikely, scenarios we get a top 8 pick even without trading Giannis.....Or we check the guys out for a possible trade next year. An organization should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.

[German Athens]

I’d like to point out that just about every team probably has the ability to get into the mid to late lottery in any draft.

Minnesota traded their 2031 1st, and a lightly protected 2030 swap to get to 8 last year.

[MickeyDavis]

It sounds like the bucks don’t want to spend any more money after making another mistake and hopes Giannis will overlook it and stay anyway.

I guess what is driving this? What are they being cheap on?

It seems like I keep seeing these quotes year after year and there doesn't seem to be any real financial basis for this. The team has gone as deep as they could in the tax and has fired multiple coaches under contract and instead of going 'cheap' and letting Prunty do what he does best and hiring a coach in the off-season, they overpaid for Doc.

I think it is 10x more likely that they think Giannis likes Doc and that is our best chance to keep Giannis. If Giannis leaves, I think it is more likely than not Doc is gone as well.

"The franchise is getting cheap" narrative isn't based on reality. The owners have always spent a lot of money. When Lasry wanted to cut back, Edens said no and Lasry left. Getting under the second apron wasn't about saving money, it was to create flexibility. If we had not done that we wouldn't have the MLE available. We couldn't aggregate salaries in a trade. We could not acquire a player via a sign and trade. You can't use trade exceptions from the prior year. If you are in the 2nd apron 3 of 5 years your 'pick moves to the end of the round. First round pick 7 years out cannot be traded. Lots of reasons to get under the second apron that didn't involve money. Keeping Doc certainly isn't about saving money. We ate years of Bud and Grief contracts. What coaches make is a pittance.

I'm not saying all of the money spent has been spent wisely. But let's not do the "Bucks are getting cheap" thing. It's not true.

[Matches Malone]

Saw this floating on my TL... Didn't Jim O say there were already meetings that took place or am I remembering wrong?

Shams seems to think those haven't happened yet. I still feel like he's being disingenuous with this entire situation because of who his employer is, but I guess we'll see. He seems to think this will be the biggest offseason ever... his words not mine.

Love how that dumbass Pat chimes in saying "Oh they're going to guilt trip him." Oh shut the **** up. I'm so tired of acting like we need to push superstars to the easiest path to a ring so they can add to their accolades. How about you compete for once.

Read on Twitter

[MickeyDavis]

Saw this floating on my TL... Didn't Jim O say there were already meetings that took place or am I remembering wrong?

Shams seems to think those haven't happened yet. I still feel like he's being disingenuous with this entire situation because of who his employer is, but I guess we'll see. He seems to think this will be the biggest offseason ever... his words not mine.

Love how that dumbass Pat chimes in saying "Oh they're going to guilt trip him." Oh shut the **** up. I'm so tired of acting like we need to push superstars to the easiest path to a ring so they can add to their accolades. How about you compete for once.

Read on Twitter

Jim O. They had conversations, maybe not technically a meeting but same thing IMO. Maybe the week of 5/19 meeting didn't take place yet. No big deal.

By the time the NBA Combine ended on May 18, Antetokounmpo had some conversations with organizational leadership about the future of the team and remained happy in Milwaukee with no real intent to leave, and therefore no trade request had been made. In all his years, he has never requested a trade, even though he has regularly applied pressure on the team to keep upgrading to the roster.

Longtime NBA reporter Chris Haynes said Antetokounmpo was going to meet with Horst the week of May 19 for one of their annual offseason conversations about the direction of the team. Other conversations have typically occurred in the summer months.

[Bucknado]

Saw this floating on my TL... Didn't Jim O say there were already meetings that took place or am I remembering wrong?

Shams seems to think those haven't happened yet. I still feel like he's being disingenuous with this entire situation because of who his employer is, but I guess we'll see. He seems to think this will be the biggest offseason ever... his words not mine.

Love how that dumbass Pat chimes in saying "Oh they're going to guilt trip him." Oh shut the **** up. I'm so tired of acting like we need to push superstars to the easiest path to a ring so they can add to their accolades. How about you compete for once.

Read on Twitter

Jim O. They had conversations, maybe not technically a meeting but same thing IMO. Maybe the week of 5/19 meeting didn't take place yet. No big deal.

By the time the NBA Combine ended on May 18, Antetokounmpo had some conversations with organizational leadership about the future of the team and remained happy in Milwaukee with no real intent to leave, and therefore no trade request had been made. In all his years, he has never requested a trade, even though he has regularly applied pressure on the team to keep upgrading to the roster.

Longtime NBA reporter Chris Haynes said Antetokounmpo was going to meet with Horst the week of May 19 for one of their annual offseason conversations about the direction of the team. Other conversations have typically occurred in the summer months.

And he talks to Doc “all the time”.

So far people who know Giannis or kinda know Giannis have said he doesn’t want to be moved. People who don’t know him (ESPN) say he hasn’t talked to the team and is plotting his escape…

[ReginaldDwight]

Shams sucks. Easily the worst insider in sports right now.

[Ron Swanson]

Shams really out there staking his rep on the idea that Giannis is still seriously mulling over asking for a trade. Meanwhile, the closest thing to an insider that we have (Haynes) said that the meeting was definitely happening last week, and Jim O. says that it had already happened by the 18th (though that could have been informal). Just one long game of telephone with these guys.

[DanoMac]

Shams downfall is crazy

[RogerMurdock]

He's riding high on breaking the Luka story.

[raferfenix]

I mean if Giannis wanted to tamp down unwarranted speculation he could.

Not like he’s on a social media break.

If a decision has been made then the rollout at least is still being worked on.

As it stands Shams / Haynes / Marc Stein all have reports about a decision TBD that are going almost entirely unanswered beyond bits from Jim O and TMZ chasing Doc down.

[MickeyDavis]

Giannis isn't going to make some big proclamation. He'll be suited up for the Bucks in October and playing his ass off as usual. And October 2026 he'll sign an extension.

[sidney lanier]

The premise of the predictive pundits is this: Giannis might go elsewhere to seek a(nother) title.

The flaw in that premise is that, in an NBA where there's a different champion every year and nothing like a dynasty in sight, how would he know where to go?

In the Giannis will title-hunt story
To seek out more personal glory
It's a problem it seems
To identify teams
The results are too aleatory

[RRyder823]

Shams sucks. Easily the worst insider in sports right now.

Much like Woj if you're looking for confirmation that something actually happened he's the one to see.

However when it comes to rumor or speculation based on insider knowledge both were/are absolutely **** horrible

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[Bucknado]

Windy openly said this morning there are no major free agent stories this offseason. LeBron and Harden aren’t moving. So the story is Giannis and then KD. They have nothing to write about to generate clicks.

[RogerMurdock]

My daughter is going to Greece this summer. She will tell Giannis to stay when she sees him.