Haynes: Giannis, Bucks Meeting Next Week to Discuss the Direction of the Team

[Effigy]

The bucks have no future, and are a crap city. Very surprised he’d want to stay there, but I respect the loyalty. Rare in todays NBA.

You might think about changing your name.

[bisme37]

There are two great teams that got there,” Antetokounmpo said, referring to the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers reaching the 2025 Finals presented by YouTube TV, “Indiana, with my friend Pascal Siakam, is reaping the rewards, and OKC simply has the MVP [Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]. I’m rooting for good basketball.”

“The Finals are different, I hope to be back soon with the Bucks."

https://sports.yahoo.com/article/giannis-antetokounmpo-quashes-bucks-trade-155650795.html

This quote by Giannis is not what people are making it out to be. Saying “I hope to be back soon with the Bucks” is different than saying “I’m not leaving the Bucks”

Giannis might want to stay but this quote is no firm confirmation of that.

In conjunction with this I think things are looking like Giannis stays a Buck.

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[Matches Malone]

The bucks have no future, and are a crap city. Very surprised he’d want to stay there, but I respect the loyalty. Rare in todays NBA.

You might think about changing your name.

Always the low IQ posters that have to disparage an entire city to get their point across.

Giannis completely changed the downtown area and re-vitalized a dying NBA city to a place people actually want to spend time doing stuff other than watching basketball.

[NoBias]

The bucks have no future, and are a crap city. Very surprised he’d want to stay there, but I respect the loyalty. Rare in todays NBA.

You might think about changing your name.

I have nothing against them personally. I’ve been to a ton of places in the US, all of Wisconsin was terrible. Portland wasn’t the greatest either since we’re on the subject. Seattle on the other hand was enjoyable.

[bisme37]

The good news is all the teams that were angling for Giannis can now turn their attention to Brook Lopez.

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[NoBias]

The bucks have no future, and are a crap city. Very surprised he’d want to stay there, but I respect the loyalty. Rare in todays NBA.

You might think about changing your name.

Always the low IQ posters that have to disparage an entire city to get their point across.

Giannis completely changed the downtown area and re-vitalized a dying NBA city to a place people actually want to spend time doing stuff other than watching basketball.

I was literally there four months ago. It sucked dude. Nothing low IQ about what’s happening right now other than you getting butthurt. I’m sorry I hurt your feelings.

[Matches Malone]

You might think about changing your name.

Always the low IQ posters that have to disparage an entire city to get their point across.

Giannis completely changed the downtown area and re-vitalized a dying NBA city to a place people actually want to spend time doing stuff other than watching basketball.

I was literally there four months ago. It sucked dude. Nothing low IQ about what’s happening right now other than you getting butthurt. I’m sorry I hurt your feelings.

Calling people butthurt is pretty low IQ... Are you 12? I'm sorry you couldn't figure out the nice places to go on your limited time there.

[BigDan245]

I respect Giannis if he doesn't want a trade...If he stays in Milwaukee his whole career, he'll be a goddamn legend.

Getting traded doesn't mean he'll win a title or even enjoy his life as much. The grass isn't always greener.

[bkkrh]

Funniest thing in this thread are the people that really seem to believe that Milwaukee is in a worse situation the next few years by keeping an MVP level player that might already be a all time top 20 player and try to build a new team around him.

Yep it's definitely better to tear everything down, start from scratch and try to just draft another player like him .

[RRyder823]

There are two great teams that got there,” Antetokounmpo said, referring to the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers reaching the 2025 Finals presented by YouTube TV, “Indiana, with my friend Pascal Siakam, is reaping the rewards, and OKC simply has the MVP [Shai Gilgeous-Alexander]. I’m rooting for good basketball.”

“The Finals are different, I hope to be back soon with the Bucks."

https://sports.yahoo.com/article/giannis-antetokounmpo-quashes-bucks-trade-155650795.html

This quote by Giannis is not what people are making it out to be. Saying “I hope to be back soon with the Bucks” is different than saying “I’m not leaving the Bucks”

Giannis might want to stay but this quote is no firm confirmation of that.

Stretch before those mental gymnastics did we?

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[RRyder823]

Funniest thing in this thread are the people that really seem to believe that Milwaukee is in a worse situation the next few years by keeping an MVP level player that might already be a all time top 20 player and try to build a new team around him.

Yep it's definitely better to tear everything down, start from scratch and try to just draft another player like him .

It really is one of the strangest things with this board.

Like which is a more preferable option?

Hope to fill in a roster around a Top20 all time guy even with limited resources even if it means your gonna have to hope to get lucky on some fringe moves in order for it to be successful in the next few years

or..........

Hope to win the powerball again and draft another Top20 all time guy AND then still fill out the rest of the roster with a few extra resources

It's like people see there isnt a great chance at contention and their mind instantly goes to "yeah but they could have a 0.0001% chance to have a better chance at contention in 3 years. They'd be dumb not to do it"

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[LegendOfSalmons]

Funniest thing in this thread are the people that really seem to believe that Milwaukee is in a worse situation the next few years by keeping an MVP level player that might already be a all time top 20 player and try to build a new team around him.

Yep it's definitely better to tear everything down, start from scratch and try to just draft another player like him .

Funny how building around an all time great sounds easy in theory until you realize Milwaukee has already burned through assets, cap space, and coaching changes trying to make it work. Keeping an MVP means nothing if the supporting cast is aging, the roster is inflexible, and the ceiling is second round exits at best. At some point, pretending a stagnant situation will magically improve isn’t loyalty, it’s just denial. Rebuilding isn't giving up, it’s facing reality before it hits even harder.

It is best for both Giannis and the Bucks organization to move on, yet most Bucks fans would rather sheepishly point out that "hE wAnTs tO sTaY" due to their own insecurities and pretend that this situation is good for both parties. What most likely happens is that Giannis in 2026 or in 2027 decides to call it quits when he realizes Kyle Kuzma and Gary Trent Jr. as your next options isn't the right path towards contention. Hopefully by then he isn't driven to the ground by the Bucks and still has some juice left.

[mg]

OTOH...

I hope they reward his loyalty. Bundle the Dame contract + '31 unprotected FRP for 2-3 rotation guys. I bet a team like Utah or Portland could bite.

Milwuakee doesn't get many shots to build a team around a generational player. It took 50 years for them to find Giannis after Kareem forced his way out. That would be a really tough sell to trade him esp after he basically pledged his loyalty to the Bucks once again.

[bkkrh]

Funniest thing in this thread are the people that really seem to believe that Milwaukee is in a worse situation the next few years by keeping an MVP level player that might already be a all time top 20 player and try to build a new team around him.

Yep it's definitely better to tear everything down, start from scratch and try to just draft another player like him .

Funny how building around an all time great sounds easy in theory until you realize Milwaukee has already burned through assets, cap space, and coaching changes trying to make it work. Keeping an MVP means nothing if the supporting cast is aging, the roster is inflexible, and the ceiling is second round exits at best. At some point, pretending a stagnant situation will magically improve isn’t loyalty, it’s just denial. Rebuilding isn't giving up, it’s facing reality before it hits even harder.

It is best for both Giannis and the Bucks organization to move on, yet most Bucks fans would rather sheepishly point out that "hE wAnTs tO sTaY" due to their own insecurities and pretend that this situation is good for both parties. What most likely happens is that Giannis in 2026 or in 2027 decides to call it quits when he realizes Kyle Kuzma and Gary Trent Jr. as your next options isn't the right path towards contention. Hopefully by then he isn't driven to the ground by the Bucks and still has some juice left.

As already mentioned in another other post, their roster next season, or the latest the following season, depending on player options will be Giannis, Dame's expiring contract, Kuzma's declining contract and a bunch of rookie contracts, most of them being team options. So there is a realistic chance that it will just be Giannis and a bunch of cheap rookie contracts.

Now we could of course see this as a chance for Milwaukee to actually sign some solid free agents around Giannis and could point out the obvious that Milwaukee wasn't able to use cap space besides the mid level and the tax payer mid level exception since 15-16, when they signed Greg Monroe. So personally I'd prefer if Milwaukee would be my team to bet on Giannis holding up well until then and the front office doing a good job to prepare for that free agency

Also why would it be best for Giannis and the Bucks organisation? Isn't this a matter of perspective? He apparently enjoys living and playing in Milwaukee and possibly going the Dirk route. At the same time, maybe Milwaukee is just happy with having him on their franchise for the rest of his career, even if he doesn't win another title. I would have been happy if Ewing would have stayed a Knick for life, despite it meaning that he would have been a bad contract for us in the twilight years. Do you feel the Celtics should have traded Bird when it became clear that they aren't contenders any more?

Until now I haven't heard a single time from Giannis himself that he considers leaving Milwaukee. Even now the whole buzz was around "league sources" saying that he is open-minded about his future, which basically means absolutely nothing.

So why should Milwaukee trade the at this point best player in their franchise history (I think you can put him over Kareem based on tenure) that from all we know wants to play for their team, is still in his prime and under contract for the next few seasons? Even if it's hard to build a roster around him, it will be way harder to find and trade another player like him and especially finding a player that is also willing to commit to Milwaukee as a market.

[zimpy27]

Giannis idolizes LeBron and the path he took.

LeBron never asked to be traded, he saw each contract out and only moved via free agency.

I expect Giannis to do the same, he will see out the deal with the Bucks and leave in 27 if they haven't made him a contender by then.

[Iwasawitness]

The good news is all the teams that were angling for Giannis can now turn their attention to Brook Lopez.

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I would love to have this man in Cleveland... but it can't and won't happen.

[Iwasawitness]

Giannis idolizes LeBron and the path he took.

LeBron never asked to be traded, he saw each contract out and only moved via free agency.

I expect Giannis to do the same, he will see out the deal with the Bucks and leave in 27 if they haven't made him a contender by then.

Impossible, I was told LeBron quit on multiple teams.

[JonHeist]

And you're being presumptuous they're middling when Giannis had an elite net rating w/ KPJ & outstanding several other guys, none of which were Dame.

The Bucks were middling though.... And now Dame is gone, BroLo might be gone.

We can celebrate a Brazilian report saying he's 100% staying while acknowledging the Bucks have a ton of work to do this off-season for any talk of Giannis back in the Finals wearing a Bucks uniform to be very likely.

I wouldn't want my FO to think we are just fine because of...checks notes..Kevin Porter Jr.

12-6 without dame btw

[Castle Black]

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[durden_tyler]

Giannis idolizes LeBron and the path he took.

LeBron never asked to be traded, he saw each contract out and only moved via free agency.

I expect Giannis to do the same, he will see out the deal with the Bucks and leave in 27 if they haven't made him a contender by then.

Does not change the fact that he left teams for greener pastures— smart though, since that’s an admission of weakness since he wanted rings.

Let’s see if Giannis is more of a Kobe or a Lebron in the next few weeks/ months.


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