Giannis Thread - 13th Season with the Bucks

[Reddeye]

If the family has moved to Greece, is Giannis planning on playing many more years in the NBA? He seems big on family. You would think it would be hard on him to be away from his kids for 7+ months a year.

[Ron Swanson]

Is it really an unpopular opinion that Giannis has actually been entirely, and refreshingly, honest about all of this for years? He's always maintained one thing, and that's "I wanna win". So this all has me wondering why anyone is acting surprised that this might finally be the turning point. Giannis isn't a moron and I never honestly expected him to accept sticking it out for a bunch of re-tooling/re-building or whatever-you-want-to-call-it seasons just out of blind loyalty. Like, at what point do people actually believe the words he says, specifically the "I wanna be here as long as we can compete for championships" stuff?

It's on you guys if you thought everything was going to be all peachy just because we somewhat salvaged a nightmare situation/timeline with the Turner signing and a couple savvy cap moves. The only way I'd be willing to put any of this on him, is if his agent/camp specifically timed it to leak this stuff all right before the season starts as a prelude to a mid-season trade request. But I'll still put the odds of that as close to zero as I can imagine. This coming season really is starting to look like it's it though. He'll make the decision for you the second he decides to (or doesn't) sign the extension 12-months from now.

[Matches Malone]

Has he been completely honest though? I go back and forth on that. Maybe he's not even honest to himself right now because he doesn't know what he wants.

Seems to me this is all heading to a boiling point because he keeps opening the door of possibly leaving while also saying things like I hope to bring the Bucks back to the finals or finish my career with them. Maybe he just doesn't know and that's fair, but then maybe just say I don't know instead of making sweeping statements one way or the other so people are pleased with what he said.

It's clear the Bucks and FO are working under the assumption he is staying with their recent moves, so if something has changed, Giannis should probably tell them instead of stringing the situation along. If he's here to compete for rings, he probably should have asked out a few seasons ago or the second Doc came on board.

Edit: My only frustration in this situation is how much Giannis is a competitor and thinking of going elsewhere to win. He doesn't even work out with fellow players because he competes against them during the season. Why all of a sudden does he want to join another stacked team instead of trying to take them down? He took so much pride carrying that Greek team to a 3rd place finish, you'd think he'd take pride in helping bring up a second wave of Bucks success with him at the helm and carrying this young squad to places not thought possible. That was my wish at least, but doesn't seem plausible now lol

[Dick Tate]

The 4-month countdown clock has started (imo).

Because of the weak supporting cast, Antetokounmpo may have been wise to wait for any sort of trade demand. If the Bucks do sputter out of the gate, he’ll have more justification for asking out. In addition, as ESPN reported Tuesday, his monster $200-million-plus extension can be signed up until October 1, 2026, only if his team has employed him for at least six months. Teams will be motivated to acquire him ahead of the trade deadline rather than wait for this summer.

[BUCKnation]

Edit: My only frustration in this situation is how much Giannis is a competitor and thinking of going elsewhere to win. He doesn't even work out with fellow players because he competes against them during the season. Why all of a sudden does he want to join another stacked team instead of trying to take them down? He took so much pride carrying that Greek team to a 3rd place finish, you'd think he'd take pride in helping bring up a second wave of Bucks success with him at the helm and carrying this young squad to places not thought possible. That was my wish at least, but doesn't seem plausible now lol

This is his best chance to get another mvp, due to the narrative. If they pull off 50+ wins and he's his usual self with maybe more assists, he should be the favorite.

Using notechben's idea, the only good thing about Giannis in NY is that he'll probably finally get his due.

It's very similar to another situation close to me in soccer (you can ignore if you don't follow), but Harry Kane is in Bayern doing insane stuff and is finally getting recognition as the best striker in the world, when as a Tottenham fan, we've been yelling that from the rooftop for years.

[soxperry]

This is so stupid....you had a full off-season to figure out how you felt. A mid season trade?

In or out dude

In or **** out

[emunney]

Is it really an unpopular opinion that Giannis has actually been entirely, and refreshingly, honest about all of this for years? He's always maintained one thing, and that's "I wanna win". So this all has me wondering why anyone is acting surprised that this might finally be the turning point. Giannis isn't a moron and I never honestly expected him to accept sticking it out for a bunch of re-tooling/re-building or whatever-you-want-to-call-it seasons just out of blind loyalty. Like, at what point do people actually believe the words he says, specifically the "I wanna be here as long as we can compete for championships" stuff?

It's on you guys if you thought everything was going to be all peachy just because we somewhat salvaged a nightmare situation/timeline with the Turner signing and a couple savvy cap moves. The only way I'd be willing to put any of this on him, is if his agent/camp specifically timed it to leak this stuff all right before the season starts as a prelude to a mid-season trade request. But I'll still put the odds of that as close to zero as I can imagine. This coming season really is starting to look like it's it though. He'll make the decision for you the second he decides to (or doesn't) sign the extension 12-months from now.

If the team is as bad as the consensus suggests, it's a stretch to think he won't find a new team to extend with next summer. So given how people feel about the team, it's a pretty natural extension that they assume he's on his way out. But if the team works as well as I think it will, this will all be forgotten.

[GoldenAntlers]

I still don't have any worry about Giannis leaving.

[jakecronus8]

Just wanted to add that if this ends in a Giannis trade and the Bucks pull a Nico and only negotiate with one team they deserve the backlash and boycotts they receive. Love Giannis, but no one gets to force that action.

[StickeeFingaz]

I didn't realize we were taking this seriously now. I've been ignoring (very literally) anything Shams has said about Giannis since he joined ESPN. So this time might be for real?

Correct. Giannis continues to not refute these reports. He joined the team late staying in Greece for as long as possible, and now there is the heavy likelihood the family is all moving out of Milwaukee and back to Greece. It's not hard to read the room here.

I thought he was late getting to camp because he tested positive for COVID and couldn’t travel?

[emunney]

The 4-month countdown clock has started (imo).

Because of the weak supporting cast, Antetokounmpo may have been wise to wait for any sort of trade demand. If the Bucks do sputter out of the gate, he’ll have more justification for asking out. In addition, as ESPN reported Tuesday, his monster $200-million-plus extension can be signed up until October 1, 2026, only if his team has employed him for at least six months. Teams will be motivated to acquire him ahead of the trade deadline rather than wait for this summer.

Oct 2026 is the starting point, not the ending point, for his eligibility to sign an extension.

[Prez]

Is it really an unpopular opinion that Giannis has actually been entirely, and refreshingly, honest about all of this for years? He's always maintained one thing, and that's "I wanna win". So this all has me wondering why anyone is acting surprised that this might finally be the turning point. Giannis isn't a moron and I never honestly expected him to accept sticking it out for a bunch of re-tooling/re-building or whatever-you-want-to-call-it seasons just out of blind loyalty. Like, at what point do people actually believe the words he says, specifically the "I wanna be here as long as we can compete for championships" stuff?

It's on you guys if you thought everything was going to be all peachy just because we somewhat salvaged a nightmare situation/timeline with the Turner signing and a couple savvy cap moves. The only way I'd be willing to put any of this on him, is if his agent/camp specifically timed it to leak this stuff all right before the season starts as a prelude to a mid-season trade request. But I'll still put the odds of that as close to zero as I can imagine. This coming season really is starting to look like it's it though. He'll make the decision for you the second he decides to (or doesn't) sign the extension 12-months from now.

If the team is as bad as the consensus suggests, it's a stretch to think he won't find a new team to extend with next summer. So given how people feel about the team, it's a pretty natural extension that they assume he's on his way out. But if the team works as well as I think it will, this will all be forgotten.

This is pretty much where I’m at. If they simply swap in Giannis for Kuzma in that same starting 5 and Rollins gets a lot of run off the bench, barring injuries I think they’re gonna be pretty damn good and they’ll find a different story to jump to for the time being.

[MickeyDavis]

I didn't realize we were taking this seriously now. I've been ignoring (very literally) anything Shams has said about Giannis since he joined ESPN. So this time might be for real?

Correct. Giannis continues to not refute these reports. He joined the team late staying in Greece for as long as possible, and now there is the heavy likelihood the family is all moving out of Milwaukee and back to Greece. It's not hard to read the room here.

I thought he was late getting to camp because he tested positive for COVID and couldn’t travel?

Correct. Not everything is nefarious.

[Daver]

1 question board if this has to happen is horst obligated to trade giannis where he wants to go for a sh.. package like to NY giannis preferred destination because of his loyalty or is it horst job to trade him to tbe team no matter where who offers the best package even if its a team who sucks.IM ALL for tbe 2nd scenerio.Thsnk giannis for all hes done but dont screw over the franchise to just make him happy

[raferfenix]

We don’t know anything of substance here. What we have is another nothing article from Shams that wouldn’t be printed in the National Enquirer. No sources and nothing even remotely concrete.

The kids thing is weird but I don’t buy it until I hear it from the horses mouth.

Either way it would be really nice if Giannis responded to this. Also the organization even if it’s true. Lie about it to get this vultures off of us for at least the start of the season. This has always been way too much pressure for this team.

I don’t buy the kids moving thing until I hear it from a reputable source or Giannis. Just seems so unlike him.

Wish this were true about Shams -- and I thought the same for most of the summer -- but sources did give him fresh intel on the fallout from the late July meeting:

After Horst expressed his confidence in the Bucks' roster and his moves, Antetokounmpo aired his concerns about whether this team could truly achieve championship contention, and he wanted to explore whether there would be an alternative path forward for both the team and the player, league sources said.

Several teams were discussed internally, but one emerged as the only place Antetokounmpo wanted to play outside of Milwaukee: the New York Knicks, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation told ESPN.

This offseason marked the first time that Antetokounmpo truly initiated the pursuit of his best external options, and he had discussions with the Bucks that ultimately led to the conversations between the franchise and the Knicks.

Now it very much may be overblown for all the reasons Windy cited! However Giannis had the opportunity to tamp this down at media day and went the other direction, and now this.

I have started to wonder though about whether the family moving is actually true.

Is anyone hearing about that beyond the Greek sites?

No one has reported it out beyond aggregators aggregating from those so far. And Brew Hoop took Giannis' IG comment as a refutation of the story:

https://www.brewhoop.com/bucks-news/52318/milwaukee-bucks-giannis-antetokounmpo-refutes-rumors-family-move-greece-children

[Dick Tate]

The 4-month countdown clock has started (imo).

Because of the weak supporting cast, Antetokounmpo may have been wise to wait for any sort of trade demand. If the Bucks do sputter out of the gate, he’ll have more justification for asking out. In addition, as ESPN reported Tuesday, his monster $200-million-plus extension can be signed up until October 1, 2026, only if his team has employed him for at least six months. Teams will be motivated to acquire him ahead of the trade deadline rather than wait for this summer.

Oct 2026 is the starting point, not the ending point, for his eligibility to sign an extension.

Yahoo sucks.

[paulpressey25]

I have started to wonder though about whether the family moving is actually true.

Is anyone hearing about that beyond the Greek sites?

No one has reported it out beyond aggregators aggregating from those so far. And Brew Hoop took Giannis' IG comment as a refutation of the story:

https://www.brewhoop.com/bucks-news/52318/milwaukee-bucks-giannis-antetokounmpo-refutes-rumors-family-move-greece-children

The family is in Greece. I've heard that from couple sources here. And the Brewhoop link refers to a general desire of Giannis to not have the media track his family regardless of where they are situated.

[Daver]

We don’t know anything of substance here. What we have is another nothing article from Shams that wouldn’t be printed in the National Enquirer. No sources and nothing even remotely concrete.

The kids thing is weird but I don’t buy it until I hear it from the horses mouth.

Either way it would be really nice if Giannis responded to this. Also the organization even if it’s true. Lie about it to get this vultures off of us for at least the start of the season. This has always been way too much pressure for this team.

I don’t buy the kids moving thing until I hear it from a reputable source or Giannis. Just seems so unlike him.

Wish this were true about Shams -- and I thought the same for most of the summer -- but sources did give him fresh intel on the fallout from the late July meeting:

After Horst expressed his confidence in the Bucks' roster and his moves, Antetokounmpo aired his concerns about whether this team could truly achieve championship contention, and he wanted to explore whether there would be an alternative path forward for both the team and the player, league sources said.

Several teams were discussed internally, but one emerged as the only place Antetokounmpo wanted to play outside of Milwaukee: the New York Knicks, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation told ESPN.

This offseason marked the first time that Antetokounmpo truly initiated the pursuit of his best external options, and he had discussions with the Bucks that ultimately led to the conversations between the franchise and the Knicks.

Now it very much may be overblown for all the reasons Windy cited! However Giannis had the opportunity to tamp this down at media day and went the other direction, and now this.

I have started to wonder though about whether the family moving is actually true.

Is anyone hearing about that beyond the Greek sites?

No one has reported it out beyond aggregators aggregating from those so far. And Brew Hoop took Giannis' IG comment as a refutation of the story:

https://www.brewhoop.com/bucks-news/52318/milwaukee-bucks-giannis-antetokounmpo-refutes-rumors-family-move-greece-children

So do you grant his wish n trade him to tbe knicks for a garbage package seeing they like only 1 frp plus maybe kat/ OB/ hart or you say sorry giannis your going to a team who offers you the most

[aboveAverage]

It’s moot anyways because this team is going to be much better than expected at the start of the season. Giannis is super competitive and is not asking out unless the team is god awful for a long time period. He’s going to like this squad.

[Daver]

And another thing horst for all his warts has done i feel everything possible to keep the bucks contenders giannis wanted turner check wanted to keep trent/ porter check wanted to get younger faster hungrier check check check.This team has improved alot porter will have a fantastik yesr as will trent n turner 55 wins 3 seed ECFs my pick.
Giannis seemed hsppy with this roster calking them dogs then saying we will be faster n much more athletic