Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo was launched back into the NBA trade news cycle on Tuesday with a bombshell report from ESPN’s Shams Charania. Apparently, things are far from settled.
Antetokounmpo was linked to the New York Knicks, who’d have to gut their core to land the “Greek Freak” alongside Jalen Brunson, in Charania’s piece.
“After Horst expressed his confidence in the Bucks' roster and his moves, Antetokounmpo aired his concerns about whether this team could truly achieve championship contention, and he wanted to explore whether there would be an alternative path forward for both the team and the player, league sources said,” Charania wrote.
“In the end, Antetokounmpo returned to Milwaukee for the start of the 2025-26 season. With Antetokounmpo participating at EuroBasket, the Bucks reached an agreement in late August to bring back his brother Thanasis Antetokounmpo on a guaranteed one-year, $2.9 million deal. At least for the moment, the sides had found a common ground to stay together.
“However, one of the game's greatest-ever players is a hot-button topic around the league entering the new season, and a final resolution could still await. In fact, the path to this point was far from straight, and it nearly led the two-time NBA MVP to finding a new home in New York.”
New York, though, didn’t aggressively pursue Antetokounmpo because of the price. The Knicks are on the cusp of contending and hope Mike Brown’s arrival, following the dismissal of Tom Thibodeau this offseason, gets them over the top.
ClutchPoints’ Brett Siegel shared two different reports on a team that does have the pieces to land Antetokounmpo and one that doesn’t.
The team that can’t, the Golden State Warriors, would need Antetokounmpo to stay for the entire 2025-26 season in Milwaukee to have a shot at landing him next offseason – using Draymond Green and Jimmy Butler to get the deal done.
“Can’t happen without giving up Green/Butler at the deadline, which isn’t going to happen,” Siegel wrote.
“If (the) Warriors are to get in Giannis mix for real, it would need to be in the offseason.”
As for a franchise that does have what it takes to land Antetokounmpo, the San Antonio Spurs were Siegel’s one team that makes sense.
“If there is one team that could make a trade for Giannis work at the trade deadline, it’s the Spurs,” Siegel wrote.
“That’s the only team who could realistically make the money work and give Milwaukee the assets needed in a two-team trade.”
The Brooklyn Nets also make a lot of sense, but their young core will have to prove they are keepers. As things stand, the Bucks would be foolish to take any of the Nets’ assets over what the Spurs can offer.
That can change, though.