Will the biggest star in the Eastern Conference be looking for a new team in the next year or two?
Two-time Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo certainly didn’t rule out that possibility in a recent New York Times interview. Antekounmpo could ink a three-year extension this offseason in the range of $173MM. Unless he has a change of heart, he’s not going to be signing any papers.
By waiting until next summer, the value of a potential extension will rise, since he’ll be able to tack on an extra year. It would also give him another season to evaluate and ponder whether the Bucks can remain among the league’s elite teams.
“The real question’s not going to be this year (regarding an extension) — numbers-wise it doesn’t make sense,” Antetokounmpo said. “But next year, next summer it would make more sense for both parties. Even then, I don’t know. … I would not be the best version of myself if I don’t know that everybody’s on the same page, everybody’s going for a championship, everybody’s going to sacrifice time away from their family like I do. And if I don’t feel that, I’m not signing.”
If it comes to the point where Antetokounmpo requests a trade, it would send shock waves through the league, despite the rash of the superstar demands for trades in the last few years.
Antetokounmpo is under contract through the 2025/26 season but he can opt out in the summer of ‘25. He could wait until free agency to move on but as we’ve seen with the likes of Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard, signing an extension doesn’t remove the possibility of a trade request in short order.
Ideally, he’d spend his entire career with Milwaukee but only if he feels like the Bucks have a shot to win the championship year in and year out.
“I don’t want to be 20 years on the same team and don’t win another championship,” he said.
In the short term, the core group from their 2021 title – Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez to complement Antetokounmpo – remains in place. However, there isn’t a whole lot of young talent waiting in the wings to keep them in contention long-term.
That leads us to today’s topic: Do you think Antetokounmpo will remain with the Bucks for years to come, or will he leave via a trade or free agency within the next couple years? If he does go, where do you think he’ll wind up?
Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.
Giannis is the 3rd biggest star in the east after Embiid and Tatum. His FT% might also place him further down the list in a tight series, Of course Tatum needs to stop chuking in the big games too.
So a no time and 1 time MVP are better…?
Nah… Giannis shows up for the big games the other 2 don’t…
Naw, Giannis is the third or fourth biggest star in the league after LeBron and Steph. Free throws percentage doesn’t define stardom nor does it sale merch.
Bron is not a top 4 player anymore. All of you are disrespecting the man who just won a Finals in Jokic.
Tatum? Hahahahahahahahahaha.
Embiid? Talk to me when he gets out of the second round.
I’m not eating players by abilities, I’m rating them by stardom. LeBron still the most popular player in the NBA worldwide by far.
Giannis has a title and 2 MVP awards. Only LeBron and Steph are bigger. And of course Yokic is equal. 3rd in the East, SMH.
Why would you be on here hating on Giannis Antetokounmpo? He’s the second best player in the NBA behind Nikola Jokic. Joel Embiid and Jayson Tatum not on his level. Jayson Tatum has a chance to get on his level because he’s a superstar playing for the most storied franchise in basketball. Jayson Tatum has to win a championship or multiple championships to be on Greek Freak level.
Joel Embiid ain’t that dude. He can’t and never got the Philadelphia 76ers out of the second round of the playoffs. I can see the New York Knicks using them assets they got to get Joel Embiid next offseason.
Giannis Antetokounmpo if he leaves the Milwaukee Bucks will look great on the Chicago Bulls.
Giannis was great in the finals but let’s not kid ourselves, he needed a lot of help to get to the chip. Jrue, Middleton, Lopez, Portis, and Tucker all played pivotal roles in getting them to the Finals and winning it.
What a silly comment.
“let’s not kid ourselves, he needed a lot of help to get to the chip.”
Who has ever won a championship without the help of the other players on the team?
What are you even talking about?
Right now, today, Giannis is a bigger star than Tatum. Tatum has the potential to eclipse him at some point, but not today.
Right now, today, Giannis is a bigger star than Embiid. That isn’t changing. Ever. Embiid isn’t a guy that leads teams to championships, he’s the second star type.
Giannis should take a pay cut and go elsewhere…
If you want to win rings that’s how you have to do it…
Staying with one team and taking the bag leads to Lillard or Harden situations… Being a ring chaser with a big contract rarely works…
Sure he could take a pay cut with the Bucks, but he’ll always be a burden to their books and how much they can move… When he signs with another team there’s a window before he officially signs that the team can add more talent without Giannis’ contract on the books…
Why would he take a paycut when they’ll pay him the max they can offer, which is more than anyone else? Cap is gonna keep going up too.
I predict he won’t be a heat ,mavs warriors or clippers player in the future ! Thera as far as I’ll correctly predict. ,
Morey would probably go “even up” for Harden.
Giannis should be credited with having the character to not sign an extension that he may not want to be bound by. There are lots of great reasons ($$$) for him to sign it. The only reason not to sign one is to preserve his contractural freedom in the last years of his prime. With no crystal ball, holding off is the right choice.
Unless, of course, he got to live in Lillard’s world. Then the right choice would be to sign it, take the $$ and just assume he can just demand his freedom later on if he wants it. Who needs trade-offs.
At the time Lillard signed his extension he wanted win a championship and do it in Portland. The front office took a different direction when they decided not to trade Sharpe and Henderson for vets to help Dame win a championship within the timeframe of said extension.
If he’d left via free agency he would not only lose millions of dollars but the Blazers would’ve lost a valuable trade asset with nothing in return. Portland wanted Dame to sign the extension whichever direction they decided go.
The trade offers they heard from other teams clearly wasn’t enough to push them to title contention. Personally if I was Dame I would play this season and see how good Scoot is.
Well, at this time, Giannis wants to win more championships in MIL, and everyone’s on the same page. I guess in your world Giannis is entitled to just sign now, and, if things change, then MIL should just accommodate him as if he didn’t sign it. Thankfully, Giannis has more character than that.
Where did you learn that POR wanted Lillard to sign an extension even if he never felt bound by it? Did you just make it up? If not, then that was pretty stupid of POR. Because contrary to your assertion, if he didn’t sign the last extension, he’d be a MUCH more valuable trade asset; his contract has 4 more years, the next 2 years (94 mm) are less than the final 2 years (121 mm) which were the only ones added by the last extension. Considering his age and the final year is a player option, there is ZERO chance that extension increased his trade value.
He was bound by it, and if they made the proper moves he would’ve wanted to stay. Teams want star players under contract, it’s that simple.
I agree Giannis is just about as high as you can get in the character dept
However this gets resolved ( time will tell ) it gets done ( right ) and internally ….. where none of our limey eyes get to see the sausage being made ( thank goodness )
Mil will extract value back and won’t be left with nothing if he does exit early . It’s reallY just on how they fare the next year or 2 that will dictate his direction
All things equal I think he’d 100% prefer to be a buck for life , but he’s so damn competitive he’s not going to endure a down swing in his prime. I gotta lotta respect for How G and Joker have handled themselves with their teams – Lot more gracious and respectable than our ( current) American counterparts
Agreed. I didn’t want to mention the cultural angle (because there are always exceptions), but its been obvious for awhile. Euros of this generation don’t have the same sense of entitlement.
We all know where Giannis will end up eventually. Get him a gold and purple uniform so he can travel and never be called for fouls.
Two ways they can improve the roster are trading Jrue and Lopez next season. They could trade 24 FRP on draft night and would be able to deal 27, 29, and 31 FRPs.
They need to figure out what to do with Allen, trade him or extend him.
Giannis and AD in the front-court.
Good replacememt for Bron?
All this Gino talk is off-season filler. Realize this is shootaround but literally impossible to know at this point. Ask again in Dec for some hotter takes.
The fact that ppl are saying Tatum is a bigger star is only proof of my point lol
did he just take a shot at dirk?
I’m a Celtics fan but I know Giannis is the Superstar. Until Brad separate the two J’s…the Celtics won’t win a championship. And please replace the Jiu Jitsu coach… -_-