Maybe another organization getting the seven-time All-Star is a pipe dream for the fan base. The Milwaukee Bucks Forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has won an NBA Title with the Bucks, would be open to leaving if the situation arose for him to win another ring.
A season ago the Bucks owned the NBA’s oldest and most experienced rosters in quite some still, still they experienced a first-round exit in the playoffs. That led to the firing of Mike Budenholzer, the Bucks later hired Adrian Griffin.
The Milwaukee Bucks lost a No. 8 seed Miami Heat, who wound up going to the NBA finals, in five games. With the loss in the series, the Bucks became the only team in NBA history to lose a series in less than six games to an eight-seed since the seven-game first round was implemented before thee 2002-03 season.
Antetokounmpo, who is entering year three of the five-year, $228.2 million supermax extension he signed ahead of the 2020-21 season, is not committed to staying in Milwaukee long-term even with the Bucks Front Office retaining the core Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez and Jrue Holiday.
“I’m a Milwaukee Buck, but most importantly I’m a winner, I want to win,” Antetokounmpo said on the 48 Minutes podcast. “I have to do whatever it takes for me to win. And if there’s a better situation for me to win the Larry O’Brien, I have to take that better situation.”
This is not the first time that Giannis has been vocal about potentially leaving the Bucks either.
“The real question’s not going to be this year — numbers-wise it doesn’t make sense,” Antetokounmpo told New York Times reporter Tania Ganguli in late August. “But next year, next summer it would make more sense for both parties. Even then, I don’t know.
“I would not be the best version of myself if I don’t know that everybody’s on the same page, everybody’s going for a championship, everybody’s going to sacrifice time away from their family like I do. And if I don’t feel that, I’m not signing.”
With the Bucks’ main core still intact, the Bucks should have enough to make a deep run at the playoffs. However, that core isn’t getting young either. Holiday has one more year–a $39.4 million player option in 2024-25–on his current deal while Lopez also owns one more year ($23.0M in ’24-25), per Spotrac. Though Holiday is entering his age-33 season while Lopez is entering his age-35 season, in addition to Middleton entering his age-32 season.
So a rebuild or maybe just a reset could be coming soon.
Giannis Antetokounmpo will become extension-eligible later this month for an additional $170 million plus, but reports show that he’s unlikely to sign any deal. If the better situation for Giannis to win another NBA Title did arise and he left for free agency. There wouldn’t be a shortage of teams interested in the “Greek Freak.”
The Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks would be two teams interested just to name a couple. A lot can happen by the time his contract expires but if Giannis leaves Milwaukee in order to win another NBA Title it would change the landscape of the NBA.
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