Wes Edens recently told ESPN that Giannis Antetokounmpo has two paths this summer with the Milwaukee Bucks: "Either he will be extended or he'll be traded." Sounds simple, right? Well, not exactly, as the superstar won't be extension-eligible until Oct. 1.
Marc Stein of The Stein Line highlighted that very important date (subscription required) in his latest piece, writing, "So decisions will have to be made this summer based on what team and player say they plan to do."
The Bucks should know what Antetokounmpo wants to do well before Oct. 1, but there is a reality in which the saga could drag on far longer than Milwaukee would want. They're headed toward a lottery pick, and because this draft class is supposed to be stacked, they could try to add to it in a Giannis trade, but that'd mean a trade would have to happen in June.
Giannis isn't extension-eligible until Oct. 1
Milwaukee doesn't want its offseason to be at a standstill because of Antetokounmpo. If he decides to stay and extend, the Bucks will need to know, as they'd want to try to retool their roster to the best of their ability to push for a championship. Delaying that decision would only hurt him and the team.
What would happen if Giannis told Milwaukee that he wanted to extend, only to change his mind later on in the summer? That's like what Stein wrote: decisions will be made based on what is said, since Antetokounmpo can't take action on his end until the beginning of October.
Giannis doesn't come across as the kind of star who would do something like that (at least intentionally), but still, the Bucks would have to prepare for that possibility.
The sooner Giannis makes his decision, the better
Milwaukee won't be the only team eagerly awaiting Antetokounmpo to decide the next step on his journey, as every other team in the league would be, too. Even the ones that won't be interested in a trade. Until the Giannis domino falls, the offseason could be relatively quiet.
As of Saturday, the Bucks are eliminated from postseason contention, giving Antetokounmpo a little extra time to ponder his future. You would think that he already has an idea of what he wants to do next. If it's a trade, it's just a matter of ripping the band-aid off and making it known that he wants to leave Milwaukee. That would be hard for him to do.
Hopefully, things don't come to a point where the Bucks would need to put their foot down — the smoother that this goes, whichever way it does, the better. Don't let the disagreement over whether he should play or not again this season spill into the summer. No back-and-forth drama or a messy breakup, please.