There are rumors that Giannis Antetokounmpo might be traded due to the Milwaukee Bucks’ poor performance at the beginning of the NBA season.
The Milwaukee Bucks were blown out by the Memphis Grizzlies, 122-99, in the FedEx Forum on Thursday, making it three straight losses in the first four games.
The Greek Freak connected 17/22 two-pointers on the way to a 37-point, 11-rebound double-double. He added four assists, one block, and one steal over 33 minutes.
Limited to 9/42 from beyond the arc, the team coached by Doc Rivers could not stay close to the Grizzlies.
Retrieving a memory from his late father, Giannis said: “Losing, it is frustrating…My dad used to say why whine if you are not going to give up. I am not going to give up.”
Trade rumors for Antetokounmpo
However, “teams are circling — and hopeful,” one Western Conference team executive told CBS News.
According to US outlet an Eastern Conference NBA executive has already heard the places believed to be Giannis’ would-be preferred destinations: “The teams I’ve heard are Miami and New York — the Nets, not the Knicks.”
Antetokounmpo added fuel to this fire himself a few weeks ago when talking to The Athletic‘s Sam Amick, he alluded to the idea of being traded if things go badly this season.
“If we don’t win this year, would you get fired?” the Bucks star asked a staffer, according to Amick’s reporting. “Do you have it in the back of your mind, like, ‘(What) if this year doesn’t go well?’ Yeah, if we don’t win a championship, I might get traded. Yeah, this is the job we live. This is the world we’re living in. It’s everybody.”
After expressing frustration about the Bucks’ lack of “identity” after last Sunday’s loss to Brooklyn Nets, Antetokounmpo shared a more optimistic perspective when speaking to reporters following the next day’s loss to the Celtics.
“At the end of the day, we have a great team. I believe we will keep on playing better, learning from our mistakes,” Antetokounmpo said. “Eventually, we are going to start winning games. I don’t think we are far off.
All of this drama, on and potentially off the court, could play perfectly into the hands of teams who have been waiting to make a run at Giannis for years. He’s a former MVP and still a top-three NBA player. If at any point you can add “disgruntled” to the list, things could move quickly, CBS notes.
Giannis’ 2021 NBA Championship triumph doused some of those daydreams. So did the three-year, $186 million contract extension he signed a year ago.
Related: Giannis Antetokounmpo: NBA’s 4th Highest Paid Player for 2024
