The Milwaukee Bucks recently frustrated the NBA world by not trading Giannis Antetokounmpo at the deadline, despite immense clamoring from league reporters that a deal was on the horizon. Antetokounmpo is currently out of the lineup due to injury, and the team has freefallen down the Eastern Conference playoff standings as a result.
Despite staying stagnant at the deadline, not everyone is convinced that Milwaukee will be Antetokunmpo's home over the long haul.
Recently, NBA insider Jake Fischer detailed his belief that the Bucks will end up trading the Greek Freak over the summer, noting that it “remains undeniably true that the Bucks are going to get more attractive offers in the offseason than they could have gotten this month,” per Marc Stein's Substack.
Fischer also pointed out that he continues “to hear rival teams musing aloud about Brooklyn's potential emergence as a credible destination given the Nets' considerable cache of draft capital to package with, say, Michael Porter Jr.” and that one of the Western Conference teams that inevitably disappoints in this year's playoffs could become interested in Antetokounmpo after the fact.
Antetokounmpo and the Bucks have won precisely one playoff series since their NBA championship in 2021, and injury concerns have become an increasingly large issue for the star over the last couple of seasons, particularly regarding his calf, which is often viewed as a precursor to a potentially much more devastating Achilles injury.
Meanwhile, it remains to be seen whether the Bucks will bring Antetokounmpo back at all this year, as keeping him out would increase their chances of securing a good pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, although they will have to settle for the lesser of their own selection and that of the New Orleans Pelicans.
In any case, it seems that NBA fans can expect the exhausting Antetokounmpo trade saga to once again heat up over the summer.
