Amid swirling speculation about his future with the Milwaukee Bucks, star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo set the record straight regarding trade talks with the organization. The two-time MVP stressed that he remains committed to the team and that he personally hasn’t requested a trade out of Milwaukee.
Antetokounmpo has been sidelined since Dec. 3 due to a calf strain.
"If my agent is talking to the Bucks about it, he's his own person. He can have any conversation he wants," Antetokounmpo said in his first public comments in a couple of weeks. "At the end of the day, I personally have not had the conversation with the Bucks. I'm still locked in, locked in on my teammates, most importantly locked in on me getting back healthy."
Antetokounmpo saying that he hasn’t talked to the Bucks but his agent might have is a matter of semantics. Obviously, Antetokounmpo’s agent isn’t going to engage the organization on potential trade talks without a green light from his client. So, if such talks are going on, Antetokounmpo is well-aware of them, and on board.
If he doesn’t want to say so publicly, that’s his prerogative, but don’t be fooled by his phrasing. He’s not some uninvolved third-party. This particular approach from Antetokounmpo recently drew criticism from NBA analyst Kendrick Perkins, who called the Bucks forward a “coward” for hiding behind his agent and anonymous reports.
“Giannis is a coward. Giannis is a coward,” Perkins said. “Let’s just call a spade a spade. … And I say that respectfully, because he don’t want to be there [Milwaukee]. … Instead of him just coming out and saying ‘trade me, trade me, trade me.’ … Publicly come out and say, ‘trade me’ and stand on it.
"Once it comes out and they ask you the question, say ‘yes, my time is up,’ because I’m tired of it, bro.”
Although it seems like it would, Antetokounmpo insists that the loud chatter about his future doesn’t impact his approach, or that of his teammates.
"It doesn't affect my work," Antetokounmpo said. "It doesn't affect my relationship with my teammates, it doesn't affect my relationship with my coach. It doesn't affect my relationship with the GM. So, it doesn't really bother me because they know what I'm about... Right now, we cannot be worrying about what the [reports] are.”
While it may not be impacting the work, Antetokounmpo admitted that he has been approached by curious teammates about the trade repots.
"I've had the conversation with the coach about it. I've had conversations with individual players about it,” Antetokounmpo said. “I've been approached by teammates who asked me about the [reports] because it might affect their own life and their own career and I'm straight with them whatever that answer may be."
Overall, these comments sound like they’re coming from a guy who wants a trade but doesn’t want to admit it publicly, for one reason or another. As a Bucks fan, they will likely to do little to inspire optimism regarding Antetokounmpo’s future with the franchise.