Giannis Antetokounmpo’s NBA legacy is indelibly linked with one team — the Milwaukee Bucks. The Greek Freak remains a rare breed in a league where loyalty is often fleeting and superstars jump ship for greener pastures. He has been with the Bucks since 2013, scripting a tale of undiluted loyalty. Rachel Nichols, however, doesn’t think it would last forever.
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Since winning the NBA Championship in 2021, Giannis and the Bucks’ performances were anything but storybook. A combination of early playoff flameouts, key injuries, or a glaring lack of personnel depth has defined their post-championship runs. The Bucks had two first-round exits in the 2023 and 2024 playoffs, against the lower-seeded Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers, respectively.
Their 2022 championship defense came to a screeching halt in the Eastern Conference semifinals, losing to the Boston Celtics. It’s been a string of “what ifs” and “almosts” that have haunted Milwaukee fans and perhaps even the nine-time All-Star himself. So will Giannis stay loyal?
The 2021 Finals indeed seem like a long time ago. This has made Nichols predict that Giannis will follow in the footsteps of another NBA legend.
“I think he may end up being like KG (Kevin Garnett),” she stated on All The Smoke. “I think he will be there for a really long time and realizes at some point that this is what’s best.”
The reference to Garnett — a loyal soldier in Minnesota for over a decade before finally moving on and joining Boston to get the chance to chase a title — seems uncannily apt. KG’s career was defined by loyalty until it wasn’t anymore.
Nichols seems to be saying Giannis could walk that same tightrope: committed until the cost of staying outweighs the benefits. The star himself had hinted something similar in February this year.
“I don’t want to stay in my comfort zone. I want to be challenged. And if the challenge is here, which it is right now — we have a real challenge, people don’t respect us, we have [a] good group, it’s good. But we might not have a challenge one day,” Giannis had said.
We might be rebuilding as a team, or we might not be chasing nothing. So, will my individual athlete be more important than the championship? This is a thing that maybe some players make a mistake. They stay in the place maybe too long,” he added.
This sparked more talks about what fans and even analysts believe to be imminent — Giannis’ departure. That’s a regular feature in the NBA rumormill.
Rumors have linked Giannis to teams including the Heat and the Knicks
The rumors have never really stopped. Whether it’s the Miami Heat, Golden State Warriors, or even far-flung speculation about the LA Lakers or New York Knicks, Giannis has been a hot name in NBA trade speculations.
Every time a franchise is ready to make a splash or a contender needs a transformative star, Giannis is somehow in the conversation. Some of that comes with being one of the best players in the league. But it also speaks volumes about the undercurrent of doubt on how long Milwaukee can realistically keep him.
To his credit, Giannis has done more than most stars to pledge his loyalty. He signed a supermax extension in 2020. He’s spoken about his love for Milwaukee, the franchise that believed in him when he was just a skinny kid from Greece. He even brought the city its first title in 50 years.
But trades are part of the NBA business. So, till the franchise decides to ship him away, he will continue to do his job. Giannis is very clear about his stance on trade, though.
“I don’t think that I would ever text [and ask for a trade], I am not this kind of guy, they would have to kick me out,” he told COSMOTE TV in February.
In today’s NBA, words and contracts only go so far. Situations change. Circumstances shift. And fans have learned to take loyalty with a grain of salt.
