Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks are in the middle of a nasty divorce — and the Knicks are a party to their mess as a potential rebound destination should they fall short of the NBA Finals this season.
Antetokounmpo is currently embroiled in controversy in Milwaukee, where the Bucks are 10 games outside of the Eastern Conference’s 10th seed and the final Play-In Tournament spot. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player of the Year wanted to play in a handful of meaningless regular-season games — ostensibly to share the floor for the first time with his younger brother, Alex Antetokounmpo — but the Bucks denied his request, citing injury history and failure to clear return-to-play benchmarks like participating in 3-on-3 workouts in the decision to shut him down for the rest of the season.
As a result, an already messy situation took a new turn. Antetokounmpo said he’s unsure “where the relationship goes” after this, while the Bucks, likely working to trade their franchise cornerstone after missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade, want to preserve their top asset’s health and well-being entering a pivotal offseason for the changing of the guard in Milwaukee.
Last summer, ESPN reported Antetokounmpo met directly with Bucks GM Jon Horst and expressed a desire to, if traded from Milwaukee, play for the Knicks — and only the Knicks. Those murmurs are only expected to grow should the Knicks find themselves eliminated from the playoffs before reaching the NBA Finals, the championship-appearance-or-bust mandate laid forth by owner James Dolan in a WFAN radio appearance in mid-January.
“Everyone at the highest levels around the Bucks — you think about ownership on down — believes there’s an inevitability to what this is: a trade this offseason based on where the Bucks are going this offseason and where Giannis Antetokounmpo has been in all of this,”
The Knicks and Bucks, according to reports, engaged in conversation surrounding Antetokounmpo during the offseason, but Milwaukee’s asking price far exceeded what the Knicks were willing — or able — to offer at the time. For reference, ESPN reported the Bucks turned down the Miami Heat trade-deadline offer of Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, plus a package of first-round picks, first-round pick swaps and matching salary.
The Knicks traded five first-round picks to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Mikal Bridges, whose early-August contract extension rendered him ineligible to be traded until days ahead of the Feb. 5 NBA Trade Deadline. The Knicks also traded Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett to the Toronto Raptors for OG Anunoby, then subsequently moved Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a first-round pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Karl-Anthony Towns.
The assets the Knicks surrendered to acquire those foundational players were the pieces they would have been able to move in a deal for Giannis, who is averaging 27.6 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists on 62.4% shooting from the field despite appearing in a career-low 36 games this year, nursing a variety of injuries. And those players, or others on a roster largely devoid of draft assets, could be on an express train out of New York should the Knicks fall short of an NBA Finals appearance and deem a Giannis trade the clearest-cut route to true title contention.
Antetokounmpo, 31, will enter his 14th NBA season in October. He battled four separate injuries this season alone, including a left adductor/groin strain in November, 23 total games lost to two right calf strains, plus a left knee hyperextension/bone bruise, effectively ending his season in March.
Antetokounmpo is in the first year of a three-year, $175 million deal, but next season, he will be viewed as an expiring contract, wielding the power to decline the Year 3 player option to enter unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2027.
That means if the Bucks don’t sign their franchise cornerstone to another contract extension or move him by next February’s NBA Trade Deadline, there is a strong chance Antetokounmpo leaves Milwaukee as a free agent with the Bucks receiving nothing in return.
With a generational talent who’s laid claim to multiple MVP awards, that is a worst-case scenario.
Just like anything short of getting back to the conference finals and punching a ticket to The Big Dance will be grounds for termination for the Knicks roster as currently constructed. This is Year 2 of the stacked core featuring Towns, Bridges, Jalen Brunson, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Mitchell Robinson as the team’s six-best players. After changing head coaches — firing Tom Thibodeau and replacing him with Mike Brown — the Knicks have identical win-loss records, but have undergone a change in identity, a persona remaining under construction with just three regular-season games left before the playoffs roll around.
The Knicks finished third in the East behind Cleveland and Boston last season. They sit third entering a Thursday-Friday back-to-back against the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors before Sunday’s season finale against the Charlotte Hornets.