The Athletic’s Sam Amick went on “The Zach Lowe Show” and made a comment on a Milwaukee Bucks “person” who was happy to see Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic included in a column about 2027 free agents.
“That’s something I spent a fair amount of time this summer talking to people about. I had a Bucks person give me a hard time and say they were just happy that I included Joker in a column about ’27 because they were tired of Giannis being by himself,” Amick said.
That was misconstrued by the NBACentral X account to mean that the Bucks wanted to pair the former MVPs in Milwaukee. The Bucks won’t have the cap space to execute that after stretching and waiving Damian Lillard’s contract and signing Myles Turner this offseason.
Amick made it clear on Monday that the two aren’t teaming up in Milwaukee, Denver, or anywhere else and scolded the NBACentral X account for claiming he said something he didn’t.
“This tweet completely misconstrues what I said, fyi. It was a reference to the fact that I discussed Giannis AND Jokic as dream targets for OTHER teams in 2027 - not to play together (on the Bucks or anywhere else). “Being by himself” is a reference to the 2027 discussion in the media/around the league,” Amick wrote.
The Bucks run a serious risk of losing Antetokounmpo after releasing Lillard without his blessing. Turner proved to be a winning player during the Indiana Pacers’ run to the 2025 Finals, but there’s no distributor in Milwaukee like Tyrese Haliburton to make him look that good.
Certainly, Jokic isn’t itching to sign on the dotted line for a team that’s dramatically underperformed since winning the 2020-21 NBA Championship. Looking at the Los Angeles Lakers and Luka Doncic feels far likelier.
As for Antetokounmpo, there’s always been an infatuation with playing alongside Steph Curry. The Golden State Warriors could open up that cap space and give the “Greek Freak” that chance before No. 30 retires.