Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks have had a very successful partnership. The Bucks took a chance on a skinny kid from Greece in 2013, and he developed into one of the NBA’s most dominant forces.
It led to Antetokounmpo leading Milwaukee back to the mountaintop in 2021, winning their first NBA championship since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar donned the green jersey. This included a 50-point closeout masterpiece from Antetokounmpo on one leg, further cementing himself as not only a franchise legend, but NBA legend.
Since then, the Antetokounmpo era has been tumultuous to say the least. It should make his future with the franchise obvious.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is not going to be a Buck next season and nor should he
The Bucks have won one playoff series since 2022 and missed the playoffs this past season. They have had three different head coaches get fired or resign in Mike Budenholzer, Adrian Griffin, and Doc Rivers. They waived and stretched Damian Lillard’s contract to bring in Myles Turner and that was an abject failure.
On top of all of that, Antetokounmpo has tried to say that he wants to stay, but his cryptic social media posts, cryptic press conferences, and just his overall actions do not support that. This is a guy that basically opened an NBA investigation into the organization after saying that they forced him to sit out at the end of the season.
It just feels like the Bucks and Antetokounmpo have outgrown each other. He is not going to compete for another championship with this franchise. They have no picks, no flexibility, no good young players, and just a lack of overall hope.
The only way they can get out of this is by landing a haul for Antetokounmpo. The rebuild needs to start for this franchise. Say goodbye to a legend, thank him for putting you back on the map, and go your separate ways.
It just feels like Antetokounmpo and Milwaukee are holding onto each other for the wrong reasons. There is no future together. There is no impending honeymoon. It’s over. Both sides need a fresh start.
The last thing you need is this saga hanging over your heads for another season. It greatly affected the on-court product the Bucks put out there. If Jon Horst doesn’t take care of it this summer, then the bad vibes will continue into next season. Give the new head coach a fresh start with a rebuilding roster and let Antetokounmpo compete for championships elsewhere.