It is absoloutely Negligent of the Milwaukee Bucks to not field Giannis offers

[Rustyman]

Giannis is top 3-5 player in the league. There are 25 other teams out there who would like him. If the Bucks trade him, there is minimal chance they are getting an equivalent player in the next 10 years.

The should regard the coming year as a rebuilding year and then go all in again on Giannis. I am not trading the potential for being a contender for 4 out of 5 years for being a bottom feeder and in the coming draft, there are only two players with potential worth trading Giannis for.

[pepe1991]

I'm not sure some people here understand Bucks situation, from basketball POV.
At all.

Bucks don't control any of future first round picks until 2031 draft.

2025 -first round pick is already gone - turned into 19# Pick for Nets
2026 - Pelicans have unprotected pick swap, their best hope is that both teams suck so swap won't be that bad
2027- read 2026
2028- for what i can figure, Bucks will get worst pick among Wizards, Blazers and them (parts of Kuzma trade)
2029- unprotected pick to Blazers
2030- unprotected pick swap to Blazers


"They can regard coming year as rebuild"

To do what?

Unprotected FAs:
Brook Lopez- probably gone
Taurean Prince - probably gone
Gary Trent- probably gone
Jericho Sims - who cares?


Player options:
Bobby Portis- will probably opt out
Pat Connaughton - might stay
Kevin Porter - will probably opt out


Salary books:
$138M tied into Giannis, Lillard and Kuzma.
Green, Jackson, Livingston: 6,8M guaranteed

Cap space for a league $154M
Disabled player exception they can get for Lillard = 1 years $14M for free agent

Lot of Bucks fans hope for medical retirement for Lillard. Well...bad news...

A player can only apply for medical retirement a year after he plays his last NBA game. So, he won’t be qualify to apply for medical retirement until 4/27/2026. If he tries to comeback and play even one second of NBA game next season, it would reset that 1 year waiting period. I think it is logical to assume that Dame is going to give it a try as long as he feel he can run and jump.

To qualify for medical retirement, the league will appoint a third party doctor. And that doctor has to agree that playing basketball is detrimental to player’s health. Two of most recent medical retirement are Chris Bosh and Omer Asik. Both of them had serious health condition. So, it appears that the league won’t approve medical retirement unless a player has a life threatening health condition.



So back to "retooling".

Bucks will probably lose Brook for nothing and potentially lose Portis and Trent.
They have full MLE and disabled player exception.
In free agency pool, best they can hope is some Santi Aldama, Precious Achiuwa or Tre Jones, Sam Merrill etc.

In reality, 2025-26 will just come and go with Giannis and Bucks not being relevant.
2026-27 still offers no easy nor quick fixes. Lillard and Giannis alone will combine for $125M. Disabled player provision will be lifted and that player will be UFA. No influx of young talent, or talent in general.

And that's whole thing, yes, you love Giannis, yes he won you championship, yes he is important for your city. But you are fooling yourself if you think upcoming years won't get ugly for both parties. At some point he will get fed up with losing in first rounds on 40 wins teams and he will just be older and less valuable for trades AND more frustrated with situation. ( case and point- Kevin Durant current situation).
On other side, sitting with some $70M a year salary cap star, at age of 36, with no picks nor ability to rebuild until he is gone also won't feel nice. Bucks won't start serious rebuild until it's 2031. You think that's not long? It's as far from now as COVID outbreak was. Feels like lifetime ago.

I don't have any bets in this "race". I would actually like to see good Bucks with Giannis again, but that simply isn't reality. Bucks front office simply played itself in corner. That Lillard trade followed by Middelton trade just to avoid staying in second apron ( payed with first round selected player and future pick ) was one of last things that killed whole thing. Even with healthy Lillard future was bleak, with broken star on mega max contract in mid 30s future flat out does not exist.

[RRyder823]

As a neutral party fan who has no real rooting interest one way or another for Giannis to stay or go and as a fan of a team that has no real shot or even interesting in trading for him, I have to agree with the title of this post.

The time to get absolute max value for him is now. Still can get good value in a year or two, but moving him now and starting a full rebuild this summer is what they should do. They just can’t really rebuild the roster around him realistically in the next 2 years.

Your a Portland fan. How exactly are you neutral on this? lol

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[Packbuckman]

I'm not sure some people here understand Bucks situation, from basketball POV.
At all.

Bucks don't control any of future first round picks until 2031 draft.

2025 -first round pick is already gone - turned into 19# Pick for Nets
2026 - Pelicans have unprotected pick swap, their best hope is that both teams suck so swap won't be that bad
2027- read 2026
2028- for what i can figure, Bucks will get worst pick among Wizards, Blazers and them (parts of Kuzma trade)
2029- unprotected pick to Blazers
2030- unprotected pick swap to Blazers


"They can regard coming year as rebuild"

To do what?

Unprotected FAs:
Brook Lopez- probably gone
Taurean Prince - probably gone
Gary Trent- probably gone
Jericho Sims - who cares?


Player options:
Bobby Portis- will probably opt out
Pat Connaughton - might stay
Kevin Porter - will probably opt out


Salary books:
$138M tied into Giannis, Lillard and Kuzma.
Green, Jackson, Livingston: 6,8M guaranteed

Cap space for a league $154M
Disabled player exception they can get for Lillard = 1 years $14M for free agent

Lot of Bucks fans hope for medical retirement for Lillard. Well...bad news...

A player can only apply for medical retirement a year after he plays his last NBA game. So, he won’t be qualify to apply for medical retirement until 4/27/2026. If he tries to comeback and play even one second of NBA game next season, it would reset that 1 year waiting period. I think it is logical to assume that Dame is going to give it a try as long as he feel he can run and jump.

To qualify for medical retirement, the league will appoint a third party doctor. And that doctor has to agree that playing basketball is detrimental to player’s health. Two of most recent medical retirement are Chris Bosh and Omer Asik. Both of them had serious health condition. So, it appears that the league won’t approve medical retirement unless a player has a life threatening health condition.



So back to "retooling".

Bucks will probably lose Brook for nothing and potentially lose Portis and Trent.
They have full MLE and disabled player exception.
In free agency pool, best they can hope is some Santi Aldama, Precious Achiuwa or Tre Jones, Sam Merrill etc.

In reality, 2025-26 will just come and go with Giannis and Bucks not being relevant.
2026-27 still offers no easy nor quick fixes. Lillard and Giannis alone will combine for $125M. Disabled player provision will be lifted and that player will be UFA. No influx of young talent, or talent in general.

And that's whole thing, yes, you love Giannis, yes he won you championship, yes he is important for your city. But you are fooling yourself if you think upcoming years won't get ugly for both parties. At some point he will get fed up with losing in first rounds on 40 wins teams and he will just be older and less valuable for trades AND more frustrated with situation. ( case and point- Kevin Durant current situation).
On other side, sitting with some $70M a year salary cap star, at age of 36, with no picks nor ability to rebuild until he is gone also won't feel nice. Bucks won't start serious rebuild until it's 2031. You think that's not long? It's as far from now as COVID outbreak was. Feels like lifetime ago.

I don't have any bets in this "race". I would actually like to see good Bucks with Giannis again, but that simply isn't reality. Bucks front office simply played itself in corner. That Lillard trade followed by Middelton trade just to avoid staying in second apron ( payed with first round selected player and future pick ) was one of last things that killed whole thing. Even with healthy Lillard future was bleak, with broken star on mega max contract in mid 30s future flat out does not exist.

Those 3 pick swaps in a row are still 1st rd picks they have the bucks with Giannis are still going to be a playoff team those 3 yrs so swap away. So in reality they will be keeping their own picks in those situations because they will have the better records and higher pick anyways.

[Wolveswin]

I'm not sure some people here understand Bucks situation, from basketball POV.
At all.

Bucks don't control any of future first round picks until 2031 draft.

2025 -first round pick is already gone - turned into 19# Pick for Nets
2026 - Pelicans have unprotected pick swap, their best hope is that both teams suck so swap won't be that bad
2027- read 2026
2028- for what i can figure, Bucks will get worst pick among Wizards, Blazers and them (parts of Kuzma trade)
2029- unprotected pick to Blazers
2030- unprotected pick swap to Blazers


"They can regard coming year as rebuild"

To do what?

Unprotected FAs:
Brook Lopez- probably gone
Taurean Prince - probably gone
Gary Trent- probably gone
Jericho Sims - who cares?


Player options:
Bobby Portis- will probably opt out
Pat Connaughton - might stay
Kevin Porter - will probably opt out


Salary books:
$138M tied into Giannis, Lillard and Kuzma.
Green, Jackson, Livingston: 6,8M guaranteed

Cap space for a league $154M
Disabled player exception they can get for Lillard = 1 years $14M for free agent

Lot of Bucks fans hope for medical retirement for Lillard. Well...bad news...

A player can only apply for medical retirement a year after he plays his last NBA game. So, he won’t be qualify to apply for medical retirement until 4/27/2026. If he tries to comeback and play even one second of NBA game next season, it would reset that 1 year waiting period. I think it is logical to assume that Dame is going to give it a try as long as he feel he can run and jump.

To qualify for medical retirement, the league will appoint a third party doctor. And that doctor has to agree that playing basketball is detrimental to player’s health. Two of most recent medical retirement are Chris Bosh and Omer Asik. Both of them had serious health condition. So, it appears that the league won’t approve medical retirement unless a player has a life threatening health condition.



So back to "retooling".

Bucks will probably lose Brook for nothing and potentially lose Portis and Trent.
They have full MLE and disabled player exception.
In free agency pool, best they can hope is some Santi Aldama, Precious Achiuwa or Tre Jones, Sam Merrill etc.

In reality, 2025-26 will just come and go with Giannis and Bucks not being relevant.
2026-27 still offers no easy nor quick fixes. Lillard and Giannis alone will combine for $125M. Disabled player provision will be lifted and that player will be UFA. No influx of young talent, or talent in general.

And that's whole thing, yes, you love Giannis, yes he won you championship, yes he is important for your city. But you are fooling yourself if you think upcoming years won't get ugly for both parties. At some point he will get fed up with losing in first rounds on 40 wins teams and he will just be older and less valuable for trades AND more frustrated with situation. ( case and point- Kevin Durant current situation).
On other side, sitting with some $70M a year salary cap star, at age of 36, with no picks nor ability to rebuild until he is gone also won't feel nice. Bucks won't start serious rebuild until it's 2031. You think that's not long? It's as far from now as COVID outbreak was. Feels like lifetime ago.

I don't have any bets in this "race". I would actually like to see good Bucks with Giannis again, but that simply isn't reality. Bucks front office simply played itself in corner. That Lillard trade followed by Middelton trade just to avoid staying in second apron ( payed with first round selected player and future pick ) was one of last things that killed whole thing. Even with healthy Lillard future was bleak, with broken star on mega max contract in mid 30s future flat out does not exist.

Those 3 pick swaps in a row are still 1st rd picks they have the bucks with Giannis are still going to be a playoff team those 3 yrs so swap away. So in reality they will be keeping their own picks in those situations because they will have the better records and higher pick anyways.

You are helping make his point for him. If Giannis stays, you really think 3x late round picks over three years is going to make Bucks a winner (championship team) better than other contenders? The cupboard is empty and Bucks can’t help Giannis become a champ again with limited resources.

[JKiddy]

I slept on this. I am unbiased and neutral.

The Bucks have to trade him soon whether its now or mid-season. The worst they can do is trade him next summer.

If they do not it truly is malpractice. There is no path to relevance for 5 years. He will sell tickets but he cannot carry this crappy of a team now. It is just the truth.

I tried to prop up any other player. Lopez is likely gone. Dame even in 2026-2027 will not be 85% of what he was. It is just bad.

I would trade him now for ALL MIL PICKS from other teams and TANK. Why? Look at what OKC did once they lost KD, Harden, and Westbrook (and then PG). They have so many assets and are in the Finals!

That can be MIL in 4 years.

[doogie_hauser]

Windy has confirmed on one of ESPN's You Tube Channel's that the Bucks will not be trading Giannis this off season.

Hope we can all move on with our lives now, a Giannis trade is not happening (least in the short term) according to HoopsHype.

[RRyder823]

I slept on this. I am unbiased and neutral.

The Bucks have to trade him soon whether its now or mid-season. The worst they can do is trade him next summer.

If they do not it truly is malpractice. There is no path to relevance for 5 years. He will sell tickets but he cannot carry this crappy of a team now. It is just the truth.

I tried to prop up any other player. Lopez is likely gone. Dame even in 2026-2027 will not be 85% of what he was. It is just bad.

I would trade him now for ALL MIL PICKS from other teams and TANK. Why? Look at what OKC did once they lost KD, Harden, and Westbrook (and then PG). They have so many assets and are in the Finals!

That can be MIL in 4 years.

Let it go dude. He wants to stay. Milwaukee doesn't want to trade him. He's not turning down a supermax extension next offseason. He has a championship and enjoys where hes at.

Move on

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[Packbuckman]

I'm not sure some people here understand Bucks situation, from basketball POV.
At all.

Bucks don't control any of future first round picks until 2031 draft.

2025 -first round pick is already gone - turned into 19# Pick for Nets
2026 - Pelicans have unprotected pick swap, their best hope is that both teams suck so swap won't be that bad
2027- read 2026
2028- for what i can figure, Bucks will get worst pick among Wizards, Blazers and them (parts of Kuzma trade)
2029- unprotected pick to Blazers
2030- unprotected pick swap to Blazers


"They can regard coming year as rebuild"

To do what?

Unprotected FAs:
Brook Lopez- probably gone
Taurean Prince - probably gone
Gary Trent- probably gone
Jericho Sims - who cares?


Player options:
Bobby Portis- will probably opt out
Pat Connaughton - might stay
Kevin Porter - will probably opt out


Salary books:
$138M tied into Giannis, Lillard and Kuzma.
Green, Jackson, Livingston: 6,8M guaranteed

Cap space for a league $154M
Disabled player exception they can get for Lillard = 1 years $14M for free agent

Lot of Bucks fans hope for medical retirement for Lillard. Well...bad news...

A player can only apply for medical retirement a year after he plays his last NBA game. So, he won’t be qualify to apply for medical retirement until 4/27/2026. If he tries to comeback and play even one second of NBA game next season, it would reset that 1 year waiting period. I think it is logical to assume that Dame is going to give it a try as long as he feel he can run and jump.

To qualify for medical retirement, the league will appoint a third party doctor. And that doctor has to agree that playing basketball is detrimental to player’s health. Two of most recent medical retirement are Chris Bosh and Omer Asik. Both of them had serious health condition. So, it appears that the league won’t approve medical retirement unless a player has a life threatening health condition.



So back to "retooling".

Bucks will probably lose Brook for nothing and potentially lose Portis and Trent.
They have full MLE and disabled player exception.
In free agency pool, best they can hope is some Santi Aldama, Precious Achiuwa or Tre Jones, Sam Merrill etc.

In reality, 2025-26 will just come and go with Giannis and Bucks not being relevant.
2026-27 still offers no easy nor quick fixes. Lillard and Giannis alone will combine for $125M. Disabled player provision will be lifted and that player will be UFA. No influx of young talent, or talent in general.

And that's whole thing, yes, you love Giannis, yes he won you championship, yes he is important for your city. But you are fooling yourself if you think upcoming years won't get ugly for both parties. At some point he will get fed up with losing in first rounds on 40 wins teams and he will just be older and less valuable for trades AND more frustrated with situation. ( case and point- Kevin Durant current situation).
On other side, sitting with some $70M a year salary cap star, at age of 36, with no picks nor ability to rebuild until he is gone also won't feel nice. Bucks won't start serious rebuild until it's 2031. You think that's not long? It's as far from now as COVID outbreak was. Feels like lifetime ago.

I don't have any bets in this "race". I would actually like to see good Bucks with Giannis again, but that simply isn't reality. Bucks front office simply played itself in corner. That Lillard trade followed by Middelton trade just to avoid staying in second apron ( payed with first round selected player and future pick ) was one of last things that killed whole thing. Even with healthy Lillard future was bleak, with broken star on mega max contract in mid 30s future flat out does not exist.

Those 3 pick swaps in a row are still 1st rd picks they have the bucks with Giannis are still going to be a playoff team those 3 yrs so swap away. So in reality they will be keeping their own picks in those situations because they will have the better records and higher pick anyways.

You are helping make his point for him. If Giannis stays, you really think 3x late round picks over three years is going to make Bucks a winner (championship team) better than other contenders? The cupboard is empty and Bucks can’t help Giannis become a champ again with limited resources.

No I am not because 1st rd talent is just that 1st rd talent. Now you got to develop that talent look at the top players today not all are lottery picks Giannis himself was 15th and with Giannis on your team you need shooters and the next few years their salary cap will get better to bring in free agents plus Dame will be back before the blood clots was having a great year. Play Giannis at pg and play the young guys like Doc finally did in playoffs but it was to late.

[Wolveswin]

Those 3 pick swaps in a row are still 1st rd picks they have the bucks with Giannis are still going to be a playoff team those 3 yrs so swap away. So in reality they will be keeping their own picks in those situations because they will have the better records and higher pick anyways.

You are helping make his point for him. If Giannis stays, you really think 3x late round picks over three years is going to make Bucks a winner (championship team) better than other contenders? The cupboard is empty and Bucks can’t help Giannis become a champ again with limited resources.

No I am not because 1st rd talent is just that 1st rd talent. Now you got to develop that talent look at the top players today not all are lottery picks Giannis himself was 15th and with Giannis on your team you need shooters and the next few years their salary cap will get better to bring in free agents plus Dame will be back before the blood clots was having a great year. Play Giannis at pg and play the young guys like Doc finally did in playoffs but it was to late.

So your plan is HOPE. Hope Bucks can hit again on a one in a million lotto luck drafting another Giannis lite player late in the draft. And hope said lucky player found late in draft develops soon/fast enough before Giannis ages out. Hope all this unprecedented Bucks luck helps Giannis produce a team good enough to win a chip. Hope isn’t a plan.

[JayMKE]

tl:dr the diatribes crying about Giannis staying in Milwaukee. There is no trade with Giannis that puts the Bucks in a better situation with the scrubby draft picks or wheel spinning not-good-enoughs, the Bucks aren’t trading him as a courtesy because you or ESPN don’t like the team. I will take winning 40 games a season for the rest of his career before trading Giannis before I ever agree to some scrub ass poo poo pile. Give the Bucks are a guy who can be an MVP and #1 on a championship or eff off

[JayMKE]

That can be MIL in 4 years.

Have you watched the NBA more than 5 minutes? These crappy deals being floated only put the team on the path to mediocrity at best.

[JKiddy]

The only way or when he gets dealt MIL it will have to involve the Blazers and Pelicans so that MIL gets their draft picks back.

That would be the only way they can truly have a free get out of jail free card. Right now they are stuck in purgatory for 4 years. The only chance they have is if they get them with some expirings to free up cap space and young promising prospects.

[JayMKE]

As a neutral party fan who has no real rooting interest one way or another for Giannis to stay or go and as a fan of a team that has no real shot or even interesting in trading for him, I have to agree with the title of this post.

The time to get absolute max value for him is now. Still can get good value in a year or two, but moving him now and starting a full rebuild this summer is what they should do. They just can’t really rebuild the roster around him realistically in the next 2 years.

What you fail to understand is that Giannis is an icon and means more to Milwaukee and Wisconsin than just a basketball asset. He's a once-in-a-lifetime lucky break in a league that wants to see the Bucks fail. You don't sell miracles like that early so you can have some 47 win seasons with a team full of Danny Grangers and Tobias Harrises. You ride that into the ground and whatever happens happens.

No, I absolutely FULLY FULLY FULLY understand it. Seeing as I'm Blazers fan and Milwaukee currently has the last player to represent Portland and the state of Oregon in the same way, I understand it absolutely completely.

I also look back on when I had that same stance with Dame and regret the Blazers not being more proactive to trade Dame before he asked out in 2020/2021 season when the roster was clearly getting to a point of no return for being able to be rebuilt around him.

So appreciate you trying to tell me what I do and don't understand, but you're **** wrong.

Additionally, if the Bucks were to move Giannis now, and given the state of the Eastern conference, there's a real chance they could be back in the thick of the EC Playoffs immediately after the deal post-Giannis given with what they would get back (plus replenish their depleted draft capital).

Obviously you fail to understand and are incredibly naive(or something else) if you think the Bucks would be able to field a competitive team in the east post-Giannis. Competitive for the play-in maybe but probably not, I don’t give a **** about that and am not enticed about spinning our wheels with scrubs. Who is this future MVP the Bucks are getting you think?

Giannis will retire a Buck, he can go out like Dirk and we’ll be fine with it. Concern trolls should move onto Jokic.

[JayMKE]

The only way or when he gets dealt MIL it will have to involve the Blazers and Pelicans so that MIL gets their draft picks back.

That would be the only way they can truly have a free get out of jail free card. Right now they are stuck in purgatory for 4 years. The only chance they have is if they get them with some expirings to free up cap space and young promising prospects.

Why would Portland or New Orleans return those picks if Giannis got dealt? That’s the entire reason they have the value that they do. Only losers want to tank and the Bucks aren’t trading Giannis for a return that merely enables them to tank. There isn’t top tier assets available and this draft is not very strong.

Bucks keep Giannis and stay relevant whether you like it or not

[JKiddy]

It would have to be a multi-team deal. When he is dealt I am willing to bet it won't be a two team deal. The teams giving back those picks to MIL will be getting something for it obviously.

[JayMKE]

It would have to be a multi-team deal. When he is dealt I am willing to bet it won't be a two team deal. The teams giving back those picks to MIL will be getting something for it obviously.

And the Bucks would not be getting enough, like I said they’re not trading Giannis for the right to tank. Find me the future MVP centerpiece asset that’s coming back

Should Denver trade Jokic? That franchise has handled things more negatively and has little assets to improve, why do we never hear this narrative? the Bucks more than anything has been hampered by injuries to our star players.

[RRyder823]

The only way or when he gets dealt MIL it will have to involve the Blazers and Pelicans so that MIL gets their draft picks back.

That would be the only way they can truly have a free get out of jail free card. Right now they are stuck in purgatory for 4 years. The only chance they have is if they get them with some expirings to free up cap space and young promising prospects.

Please explain why NO or Portland would trade those picks if Giannis is being dealt. The value of those picks skyrocket if Giannis is traded.

You seem to acknowledge that without their own picks they're stuck for the next few years (options start opening up after this next season but let's stick to the 4 you mentioned just for sake of argument)

So if they can't tank with the idea of tanking with added draft capital and the only result of a Giannis trade is adding a handful of mid draft picks and a couple young players to be named later to a team without Giannis so they can possibly be a play in team in 4 years then why not just keep Giannis those 4 years, hope to get lucky with a fringe move or a mid 1st round selection and if it doesn't work then go into the tank at that time when they actually control their own picks?

In any case he doesn't want a trade. The Bucks dont want to trade him. Just move on brah

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[JKiddy]

What will NOP and POR receive?

This happened recently with the BK trade with HOU where BK received their picks back for some PHX picks.

Those PHX picks are SUPER VALUABLE as they imploded.

What did BK get? They got their own picks back. But, what did they have to give up? The PHX picks.

So NOP and POR would receive either multiple picks for the MIL picks or a player and a pick to make it worth while in a multi-team deal.

We can just come back here whenever this happens IF it does because there really is much more to talk about until it occurs.

[Wingy]

2026 - Pelicans have unprotected pick swap, their best hope is that both teams suck so swap won't be that bad

It was all pretty well known to a significant portion of the NBA fandom here, but still, good summary (that I mostly deleted in the quote) nonetheless.

This is probably their one, long, long shot. Pelicans were really bad this year, so no reason they can’t be really bad again next year. No faith in Zion’s health, and #7 pick is a crapshoot.

If the Bucks can soft tank, maybe get Giannis to have some extended PTO next year, they can maybe get a late lottery pick. If they nail it, that gives them some hope. Long, long, long shot.