The Milwaukee Bucks have let it be known that they will not be trading Giannis Antetokounmpo past the deadline. With that in mind, they have decided to make small moves around the margins, and the first one involved sending Cole Anthony to the Phoenix Suns, which was first reported by ESPN's Shams Charania.
“The Milwaukee Bucks have agreed to trade Cole Anthony and Amir Coffey to the Phoenix Suns for Nick Richards and Nigel Hayes-Davis, sources tell ESPN,” Charania wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
All of the players involved in the trade are on expiring contracts, and the Bucks now have depth at the forward and center positions for the rest of the season. For the Suns, they get under the tax, which is what they wanted to accomplish at the deadline. This doesn't seem to be the only move the Bucks plan on making before the deadline, and expect them to be similar to the one with the Suns.
“Over the last week, the Bucks have been focused on incoming calls for Giannis Antetokounmpo and canvassing the NBA for small salary trades. Milwaukee remains in talks to complete potentially more of the latter here on deadline day,” Charania wrote.
For over a week, the Bucks have been listening to calls for Antetokounmpo as teams have tried to put together packages to acquire the star player. In the end, it seems as if the Bucks weren't really trying to trade him before the deadline, and they'll most likely wait until after the season to get a deal done.
Antetokounmpo did note in one of his latest interviews that if the Bucks could convince him that they can make moves to improve the team for next season, he could see himself staying. If they're able to make the right moves between now and the offseason to land another star such as Ja Morant, there's a chance that Antetokounmpo buys in and sticks with the team where he's been his entire career.
