Giannis Questions Bucks’ Future: ‘If We Don’t Win a Championship, I Might Get Traded’

Adam WellsOctober 16, 2024

Stacy Revere/Getty Images

Giannis Antetokounmpo is not ignoring the pressure on the Milwaukee Bucks going into the start of the 2024-25 NBA season.

Speaking to The Athletic’s Sam Amick, the eight-time All-Star acknowledged he “might get traded” if the Bucks don’t win a title this season.

“Do you have it in the back of your mind, like, ‘(What) if this year doesn’t go well?’ Yeah, if we don’t win a championship, I might get traded. Yeah, this is the job we live. This is the world we’re living in. It’s everybody,” Antetokounmpo said.

The Bucks are in a difficult spot going into one of the most important seasons in franchise history. They’re spending $267.9 million between payroll and luxury tax payments, third-most in the NBA behind the Phoenix Suns ($408.9 million) and Minnesota Timberwolves ($299.5 million).

They are also one four teams over the second apron, meaning they can’t aggregate contracts for salary-matching in trades among other restrictions.

Thanks to their recent trades for Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard, the Bucks don’t have a first-round draft pick until 2031. All of this is to suggest that the roster as currently constructed will likely be the one they roll with for the entire 2024-25 campaign.

Holiday is no longer with the team because he was moved as part of the package last offseason for Lillard to the Portland Trail Blazers, who subsequently dealt him to the Boston Celtics.

That’s not entirely bad because they are starting from a point with a potential MVP candidate (Antetokounmpo) and an All-Star guard who can score at will (Lillard). Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, Gary Trent Jr., Taurean Prince and Bobby Portis Jr. are very good role players at this stage of their careers.

Middleton is the biggest question mark outside of the two non-superstars after having offseason surgery on both of his ankles. It’s unclear if he will be ready for the start of the regular season after sitting out the entire preseason, including Thursday’s game against the Dallas Mavericks.

One thing that should greatly benefit the team is continuity with the head coach. Doc Rivers is back for his first full season after being hired on Jan. 26 after Adrian Griffin was fired 43 games into his tenure.

Of course, the biggest factor in all of this is the health of Antetokounmpo. The Bucks have lost in the first round of the playoffs in each of the past two years in large part because he was either unable to play or was at less than 100 percent.

Antetokounmpo missed two games against the Miami Heat in the first round of the 2023 playoffs due to a back injury. He didn’t play at all in the first-round series against the Indiana Pacers last season due to a calf injury.

Even though it sounds extreme to think that Antetokounmpo—who is still under contract for three seasons plus a player option for 2027-28—could be entering his final year with the Bucks, the front office and ownership may not want to keep spending as much as they have been for a team that isn’t delivering results in the playoffs.

They would most likely look to get rid of everyone else before Antetokounmpo, but he would bring back, by far, the biggest trade return of anyone on the roster if the organization decides to enter a full rebuild.

Antetokounmpo and the Bucks will open the regular season on the road against the Philadelphia 76ers on Oct. 23.