Somehow, Giannis Antetokounmpo returned… to the Milwaukee Bucks. For the last two months, the Milwaukee Bucks star seemed to be edging closer and closer to his exit. Rumors about his displeasure flowed, and the Bucks were supposedly shopping their star already. However, Milwaukee instead decided to wait until the offseason to deal the star.
At least one analyst thinks that Antetokounmpo should have forced his way out of the Bucks. Bill Simmons said that the Greek star might end up regretting his decision to not request a trade. Simmons cited Kevin Garnett's scenario in the early 2000s as a reason why Giannis should have asked for a trade.
“They had to trade him and yet they didn’t have to trade him because it made more sense for them as a franchise to wait till this summer when more teams can be in it,” Simmons said on his podcast. “But it didn’t make more sense for him to wait. I just don’t get it. If I were him I would’ve talked to a bunch of older retired stars that were in fairly similar situations to this. Including KG, I would’ve called KG. Be like, ‘Hey KG, if you had to do that over again, would you have waited until the summer of 2007 to really kind of open the door to a trade? Or would you have done that a year or two sooner?’ Guess what KG would’ve said? I would’ve done that as soon as I knew I had no future with that team.”
Now, the analogy isn't picture-perfect. Part of Garnett's frustration with the Timberwolves before asking for a trade was due to their lack of success in the playoffs. While the Bucks have been dreadful over the last few years, they also have the championship from 2021 to hang their hats on. That championship has likely been a reason why Antetokounmpo hasn't requested a trade outright: he isn't chasing his first ring desperately like Garnett was.
Still, Antetokounmpo has long said that he would stay on the Bucks as long as they were competitive. This season, the Bucks are far from that. They sit at a 20-29 record and will more than likely miss the playoffs. In their best-case scenario, they make it to the Play-In Tournament, but either lose there or get squashed in the first round. That's not a competitive team by any means.
