Giannis Confirms Viral Rumor Amid Growing Bucks Turmoil

Giannis Antetokounmpo has confirmed what had been one of the most viral and hotly debated rumors of the entire NBA season: the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks held real trade talks about him.

The two-time NBA MVP made the admission in a one-on-one interview with Lori Nickel of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, published April 5. The speculation was so intense, Antetokounmpo said, that he chose to leave his wife and four young children in Greece at the start of the season rather than expose them to the chaos swirling around his future.

“Because I didn’t know how the season was going to unfold,” he said. “There were a lot of rumors about me. There was a lot of uncertainty about me — from both sides.”

The confirmation lines up with what ESPN’s Shams Charania reported last October, two weeks before the start of the season: Antetokounmpo had identified the Knicks as the only team outside of Milwaukee he would accept as a trade destination, and the two sides engaged in an exclusive negotiating window over several weeks in August 2025. The Bucks insisted they preferred not to move their superstar, though sources told Charania that people inside Milwaukee also believed New York never made a strong enough offer to keep the conversations going.

Then, ahead of the February 5 trade deadline, SNY’s Ian Begley reported the Knicks planned to make an aggressive push for Antetokounmpo. No deal materialized, and the two-time NBA MVP stayed put.

Here’s what Antetokounmpo said and what it could mean for the Bucks moving forward.

Giannis Is Furious Over the Bucks’ Decision to Shut Him Down

The trade talk confirmation lands in the middle of an already messy situation between Antetokounmpo and the franchise. After he suffered a knee injury on March 15 against the Indiana Pacers, the Bucks decided to shut him down for the remainder of the season, a move he has made clear does not make him happy, to say the least.

When asked who made the call, Antetokounmpo did not single out one person. “I think it’s both, from what I’ve been communicated,” he told the Journal-Sentinel. “I’ve had the conversation with Coach Doc, the possibility of shutting me down; I had the conversation with Jon also.”

He was referring to head coach Doc Rivers and general manager Jon Horst.

The frustration runs deep. His younger brother Alex Antetokounmpo made his NBA debut on March 31, and Giannis watched from the bench, clutching Alex’s jersey and the game ball. Not being able to share the court with his little brother is another painful layer of the shutdown.

“Do you think I don’t want to play a basketball game with my little brother?” he said. “This hurts me.”

The NBA is currently investigating the Bucks’ handling of the situation, according to Bleacher Report, under the league’s player participation policy.

Will Antetokounmpo End Up With the Knicks This Summer?

With the season winding down and the relationship between Antetokounmpo and the Bucks looking shakier than ever, the question of where he plays next is more urgent than at any time previously. Adam Wells of Bleacher Report noted that given the Knicks’ prior interest, a New York trade push this summer would come as no surprise, particularly if the Knicks fall short in the playoffs after reaching the Eastern Conference Finals last season.

The Bucks are left in an uncomfortable position: their franchise cornerstone is openly unhappy, the league is investigating their medical decisions, and the offseason is fast approaching. Antetokounmpo put it simply in the Journal-Sentinel.

“When they think you’re up here,” he said, “they think you stop being human. And that’s what bothers me.”

Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin