The biggest story of the NBA Trade Deadline this past year was Giannis Antetokounmpo and what would happen to him. There was a huge opportunity for the Milwaukee Bucks to grab a big haul in exchange for Antetokounmpo, but no deal made sense for the Bucks, so they hung onto him. Since then, there has been some talk about how serious the Bucks were about trading him, and Brian Windhorst said they were.
ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst said the Bucks were taking calls about Antetokounmpo, and that it was a real idea, not a hoax. The Bucks wanted a big deal to trade him, but no deal stood out. There were conspiracy theories that it was never real because Giannis Antetokounmpo announced a Kalshi sponsorship not long after. There is still a way for the Bucks to trade Antetokounmpo in the summer if the two sides think that there is no path forward.
Windhorst said, “Here is what I can tell you. Again, let's focus on actions over words. The Bucks were negotiating a trade for Giannis last week. Now, whether they ever intended to follow through on those negotiations, I don't know. I can't speak with that kind of intelligence, but the Bucks were on the phone taking bids and having a back-and-forth.
“So, the idea that this was all some sort of hoax, no, the Bucks were absolutely doing it,” Windhorst continued. “And you know, they didn't like the offers that they got. I think their offers, you know, the NBA trades are so complex, and I don't know where to go, like to lose people, have them glaze over. But long story short, the Bucks can get more from teams in the summer than they can now.”
The emergence of prediction markets has allowed consumers to gamble on more things
. When Antetokounmpo announced his deal with Kalshi, alarm bells started to ring because he could have completely manipulated him, trying to get traded to get people to shell out money.
However, for now, it seems like the two had nothing to do with each other, even though the speculation that they did will only continue.
