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While the Milwaukee Bucks reportedly have been open to a trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo, some teams perhaps aren’t buying it.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, teams have questioned whether the Bucks are truly ready to move on from their star.
“There are certainly questions about whether Milwaukee’s serious and genuine about pulling a move of this magnitude for this franchise at the deadline,” Charania said.
The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski also reported the skepticism from teams around the league, including the Minnesota Timberwolves, that the Bucks are “actually open to moving” the superstar.
The Golden State Warriors fully pivoted off a potential trade, believing Giannis is not moving at the deadline, per Charania:
“They came to the belief over the last 24 hours, the Warriors did, that the Bucks we’re not going to be moving their two-time MVP at this trade deadline,” Charania said on SportsCenter. Will see if that holds true over the next 24 hours.”
Golden State instead traded for Kristaps Porzingis.
Charania reported last week that the two-time MVP is “ready for a new home” either at the trade deadline or this offseason, but with the deadline less than 24 hours away, time is ticking for the Bucks to make a move.
Antetokounmpo perhaps complicated things on Tuesday when he said that he wants to remain in Milwaukee.
“You know,” he said, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Jim Owczarski. “What I want deep down in my heart is I want to be a Milwaukee Buck for the rest of my career and win here.”
He echoed that sentiment to The Athletic’s Eric Nehm.
“Brother, if you ask me deep down what I want today, I want to be a Milwaukee Buck for the rest of my career,” Antetokounmpo told Nehm. “I want to win here, another championship. And if you can tell me that’s possible, let’s just hang up the phone.”
If that statement from Antetokounmpo is enough of a reason for the Bucks to believe that he would be okay with staying on the team beyond the trade deadline, it seems Milwaukee would hold off on trading him.
That would give the front office the remainder of the regular season to convince their star to want to stay in Milwaukee.
NBA insider Marc Stein noted on Tuesday that the Bucks “believe that a bolt of lottery luck in May could still keep alive Milwaukee’s dream of convincing Antetokounmpo to extend the relationship one more time.” That plan would, of course, require Antetokounmpo to remain on the team past Thursday’s deadline.
The Bucks seem to have plenty of suitors for Antetokounmpo, but they’ll have to decide whether they’re ready to move on from him in the coming hours.