With less than a month remaining in the NBA’s regular season, Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks are at odds over whether the two-time league MVP should finish out Milwaukee’s 14 remaining games.
The Bucks, per league sources, have made it clear to their franchise centerpiece that it would be in their shared interest for him to sit out with the team currently 6 1/2 games behind the Charlotte Hornets for the final Play-In Tournament spot. While injuries have forced Antetokounmpo to miss 32 games already this season, league sources tell The Athletic the 10-time All-Star forward has informed the team he has no desire to cut his season short.
Antetokounmpo, who has been the subject of fervent trade rumors all season but remained with the team at last month’s deadline, has been on a minutes limit regularly this season, as he has worked his way through injuries to his calf, groin, ankle and knee. He has appeared in 36 games and averaged 27.6 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 28.9 minutes.
When reached for comment, a team source noted that Antetokounmpo is still injured and not cleared to play at this time, and an update will be sent when that changes.
The latest injury for Antetokounmpo is a left knee hyperextension suffered in the third quarter of the Bucks’ 134-123 win over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday. Following that game, Antetokounmpo told reporters that he believed he was fine, thought he could have returned to the game and would not need further imaging on the injury. Bucks coach Doc Rivers told reporters before Tuesday’s game that Milwaukee had its star forward go through an MRI on Monday to be certain.
“The good news was it was a really good image, so there was no damage. Nothing,” Rivers said. “It was really just good news. But I don’t know the next part (about a timeline for his return).”
Even with a clean MRI on his left knee, the Bucks declared Antetokounmpo out for Tuesday’s 123-116 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers two hours before tipoff. While Antetokounmpo was already listed as questionable on the injury report with a left ankle sprain, Milwaukee updated its injury report to say he was out with a bone bruise caused by a left knee hyperextension.
After announcing that Antetokounmpo would miss Tuesday’s game, Rivers was asked when he thought the risk of the Bucks’ best player suffering another injury would outweigh the reward of putting him on the floor with a postseason appearance looking far-fetched.
“That’s a good question,” Rivers said. “I don’t have the answer, but it’s a very good question. … Honestly, that’s all I have, but it’s a good question. It’s something we will talk about, but that’s about it.”
Bucks leadership has already approached Antetokounmpo about the idea of not playing another game for Milwaukee this season, which the franchise’s all-time leading scorer firmly rebuffed, league sources told The Athletic Tuesday.
Losing as much as possible at this point in the season helps the Bucks’ long-term prospects. The team is in position to secure a lottery pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, one of the most loaded drafts in recent memory. While Milwaukee does not control its own pick this season, a pick swap with New Orleans — which the Pelicans sent to the Atlanta Hawks — means the Bucks will get the lesser of their pick and the Pelicans’ pick.
As of Wednesday morning, the Pelicans — whose pick will go to Atlanta — have the NBA’s seventh-worst record, while the Bucks are tied with the Chicago Bulls for the ninth-worst. Whether the Bucks use this year’s first-round pick in a trade to improve the team around their superstar or select a young player to help build a new-look roster, that pick having stronger lottery odds would be to their advantage. Losing more can only help improve those odds.
Sitting Antetokounmpo would make losses more likely. The Bucks are 11-21 without Antetokounmpo and 17-19 with him this season.
While the franchise ultimately held onto Antetokounmpo through the Feb. 5 trade deadline, general manager Jon Horst listened to offers from opposing teams in the lead-up, a stark contrast to his typical approach regarding Antetokounmpo’s future. There is an expectation that trades could again be explored this summer.
Ensuring Antetokounmpo is healthy heading into the offseason would be best for the franchise, whether they opt to trade Antetokounmpo or choose to offer him a supermax extension on Oct. 1 after fortifying their roster during the offseason.
Throughout his tenure as general manager, Horst has regularly turned away opposing teams looking to trade for Antetokounmpo and instead tried to surround the superstar with as much talent as possible to keep the Bucks in contention for NBA championships. Even with first-round playoff exits in each of the last three seasons, Milwaukee has been in the conversation for title contention at the start of the last seven seasons and won an NBA title in 2021.
Following Tuesday’s game, Rivers said he believed Antetokounmpo would be joining the team in Salt Lake City for Thursday’s game against the Utah Jazz, Milwaukee’s first contest in a four-game Western Conference road trip.
While it remains to be seen whether this disagreement leads to Antetokounmpo returning to the floor soon, the opposing beliefs from both parties about how to move forward are worth watching closely with a pivotal offseason rapidly approaching.