Why Giannis Antetokounmpo is holding up the entire NBA trade market

Contributor
Alex Walsh
Why Giannis Antetokounmpo is holding up the entire NBA trade market image

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The NBA trade market has heated up quite a bit recently, as it typically does this time of year, with the trade deadline a few weeks away.

However, no deals have materialized yet, and Giannis Antetokounmpo is the sole reason why.

Why is Giannis Antetokounmpo holding up the NBA trade market?

When a player like Giannis even shows the slightest amount of unhappiness or frustration with his team, other teams across the league are going to hold their breath and pray.

Rarely will you see a superstar of his level potentially become available. Even though the odds point towards Giannis staying, it just shows how much a situation like this can affect the entire league.

The rumors on Giannis heading in the direction of potentially asking out of Milwaukee or being traded started this summer, and the impact it's had on the NBA is evident.

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Since the middle of August, there have only been three trades in the NBA.

The most recent one happened to be last week, when Trae Young was traded to the Wizards, but before that, no trade happened since the Hawks and Nets had a small transaction on Sept. 16.

There wasn't significantly more action on the market in the first half of the 2024-25 season, but there were more trades than there have been to this point, with six trades taking place from October to mid-January.

The lack of trades this season shows how one player can have dozens of other teams waiting to see what happens, as Giannis' power has created a domino effect on the NBA.

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The scarcity of deals isn't the only indication that Giannis has put the market on hold.

ESPN's Brian Windhorst confirmed this by reporting, "There are deals that are on hold and talk progressions on hold because teams still aren't 100% sure whether Giannis is gonna be on the team the rest of the year."

Of course, we will get a barrage of trades in a few weeks leading up to the deadline/on deadline day, but until any resolution or action is taken from Giannis or Milwaukee, it seems we could continue to sit and wait for the time being.

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