Trade rumors surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo started to surface this season, and after the Milwaukee Bucks were quickly eliminated from the NBA Playoffs, the rumors grew louder. After losing in five games to the Indiana Pacers, the Bucks' season ended. Giannis' future is now very murky, and it is looking more and more likely that a massive offseason trade is looming.

Giannis Antetokounmpo has had a tremendous career with the Bucks, and he helped bring a championship to Milwaukee. However, it's clear that this team isn't the same as it was a few years ago. It's smart for Giannis to explore his options this offseason.

“He has to,” ESPN's Brian Windhorst said. “This is a responsible thing to do. It's also responsible to make it clear that it's going to be a process. He has a set of decisions to make. He has a set of things he needs to watch. But the Bucks are in a position where they're at the end of one era, and I'm not sure that they can move into the next era. All of their key players, at least most of them, are older than him. Their draft assets are exhausted. I don't know if they're able to, honestly, be able to put a team around him. And with this draft lottery starting tonight, you're going to start to see teams be able to align what their assets are, what their teams are going to look like going forward.”

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Brian Windhorst thinks that this is a smart way for Giannis to approach his current situation. It's time for this to happen, and it's already a major storyline in the league. One of the best players in the NBA could be heading to a new team.

“So to me, this is an intelligent thing to do,” Windhorst continued. “Giannis' representation owes this to him, and we'll watch how this plays out over the next few weeks, but I will tell you, this is something that the teams have been waiting to hear. They've been preparing for this moment for a long time.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo has been in the NBA since 2013. He has been with the Bucks for 12 seasons now. He is a 9x All-Star, 2x MVP, 6x All-NBA First team, an NBA champion and an NBA Finals MVP. If Giannis really does end leaving for a new team, this truly is the end of a special era in Milwaukee.