If you thought this summer was the last we were going to hear about Giannis Antetokounmpo possibly requesting a trade from the Milwaukee Bucks, well then this week’s news had to hit hard. Giannis scrubbed the Bucks from his social media earlier this week, and it was reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania yesterday that his agent and he have started conversations with the franchise to discuss his future.
Advertisement
That’s an ominous sign for Bucks fans, especially given that the team has scuffled to a 10-13 start. Worse yet, Giannis strained his right calf just a few minutes into last night’s game against the East-leading Pistons, though the Bucks surprisingly went on to win without the two-time MVP.
NBA fans aren’t eager to get into another protracted ‘will he/won’t he’ standoff about Giannis’ future, so Brian Windhorst appeared on Get Up this morning to attempt to shed some light on the expected timeline.
“I think that everybody here wants some clarity within the next couple of weeks and whether Giannis is going to be committed to the Bucks for the season or he would like to be traded,” Windhorst said.
“And the key date to circle is December 15th. That is when all the players for the most part who were signed last summer can be traded. Every year December 15th is the unofficial start of NBA trade season, so between now and then, pending this injury situation, I think the Bucks and Giannis would hope to have clarity on whether he’s remaining invested or not,” he explained.
NBA teams are more careful than ever with calf injuries these days after the recent rash of Achilles tears. Given that Giannis might be looking to make a move, there’s a real possibility that he doesn’t suit up for the Bucks ever again.
Earlier in his segment, Windhorst had revealed, “Back in August, [Giannis] approached the Bucks about the possibility of being traded to the New York Knicks, and the Bucks and the Knicks had several weeks of trade discussions about it.”
Recent NBA history has shown that if a superstar wants to force a trade to a particular team, they almost always get their way. There could be other places of interest for Giannis though, from San Antonio to Atlanta to Golden State, just to name a few.
Giannis has been extremely loyal to the Bucks. So it’s hard to imagine him playing hardball with the team to ensure he goes to New York if they could get a better return from another team that he could be happy with.
At the same time, the Bucks will probably want to do right by him after his many years of loyal service, so maybe they bite the bullet and get him where he wants to go.
That December 15th date isn’t far off, and it seems unlikely that Giannis suits up again before that while he recovers from this calf injury. If the team rallies like it did against the Pistons, maybe that could convince him to stick around. If the Bucks go on a losing streak, though, it may prove to him that he has a better chance of competing elsewhere.
Just as they were this summer, all eyes in the league will be on what Giannis decides.
