ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania kicked off Monday morning with news no Milwaukee Bucks fans want to hear. Per Charania, Giannis Antetokounmpo is open to the idea of whether his best fit is in Milwaukee or elsewhere for the first time in his career, though no firm decisions have been made, such as a trade request.
There have been rumors of teams being interested in Giannis Antetokounmpo for years now, but this rumor will make past summers look like child's play.
The goal should be to keep Giannis, retool around him
To be clear, chatter like this happens every year. While this certainly feels more extreme than past instances of Giannis saying he'd possibly leave Milwaukee if he felt like they weren't in a position to contend, this isn't the first time something along these lines has come out. As it has been in recent years, it feels like he's putting pressure on management to make moves.
Everyone knows Giannis loves Milwaukee. Bobby Portis recently went on FanDuel's Run It Back and said that Giannis "bleeds green" and wants to have a career like Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan, where they stay with one franchise forever. That's still possible, but the Milwaukee Bucks need to make Giannis feel like Milwaukee is still a spot he can achieve his goal of stacking championships.
With newfound flexibility following the Kyle Kuzma trade, the Milwaukee Bucks will have a good shot to do so. Even with Damian Lillard sidelined, Milwaukee has assets to put a solid team around Giannis next season. The question is whether or not it will be enough to make the Greek Freak believe this is the best position for him.
Despite the optimism about the upcoming summer, there's no doubt things look gloomy in Milwaukee after the team's third first-round exit. The Kyle Kuzma trade was a midseason disaster. Lillard will be out of the mix for most, if not all, of next season. Doc Rivers didn't start his best lineup until his game was on the brink of elimination. Major changes are needed if this team wants to contend again.
The next few months just got a lot more interesting for the Milwaukee Bucks. In years past, they got Giannis Antetokounmpo's commitment by trading for stars like Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard. That likely won't happen this summer, so it will be interesting to see how they proceed. Their moves may be the difference between another decade of contention or sorrow.
Stay tuned for more Milwaukee Bucks analysis.