“I don’t know what’s going to happen” – Brian Windhorst shares that the Giannis trade rumors are a mystery originally appeared on Basketball Network.
With Kevin Durant traded to the Houston Rockets, many people wonder where Giannis Antetokounmpo will go. Some say the San Antonio Spurs, while others say the New York Knicks or the Miami Heat. Some mention the Brooklyn Nets, and a couple even throw the Golden State Warriors into the conversation.
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ESPN’s Brian Windhorst says it may be premature to look at possible landing spots because Giannis has not asked the Bucks to trade him, and the Milwaukee Bucks have not declared that they want to move on from Antetokounmpo.
What’s certain, though, is that the Bucks have seven free agents this summer, including four rotation players. They also don’t have the cap space to sign free agents or draft picks to trade.
Milwaukee is also expected to miss Damian Lillard for a significant period after he suffered an Achilles tear. Aside from those facts, Windhorst says everything else is purely speculation. However, how teams approached trading for KD was interesting.
“When you see teams not go after Kevin Durant to save their assets for something bigger, I can’t say for sure. I can’t say absolutely what’s in Pat Riley’s mind, as he doesn’t put all of his assets on the table that he could for Kevin Durant. I can’t say exactly what Leon Rose is thinking as general manager and president of the New York Knicks when they elect to pass on Durant. But I can state those facts surrounding the Bucks and you can extrapolate what you can extrapolate,” said Windhorst.
Riley did not make everybody available
Before the Phoenix Suns shipped KD to the Rockets, they negotiated with the Heat. Still, Pat Riley reportedly did not want to include Jaime Jaquez Jr., Nikola Jovic, Haywood Highsmith, and the No.20 pick of the 2025 NBA Draft, as their restrictions were among the reasons they could not reach a deal.
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Meanwhile, after failing to win the Eastern Conference Finals, the Knicks were expected to make a big move. But New York did not get KD and did not even attempt by not make a proposal, which is mind-boggling. Windhorst then compared the Giannis saga to predicting the Rudy Gobert trade in 2022.
“I don’t know. In the case of Rudy Gobert, I knew he was getting traded. I don’t know what’s going to happen here, and not knowing is enough to leave some teams to leave their options open,” he added.
It all started from a rumor spread by Shams
It’s wild how far the Giannis talks have progressed. As Windy said, Antetokounmpo has not publicly declared that he wants out, nor have the Bucks shared they are making the Greek Freak available. Looking back, it was Shams who opened Pandora’s box when he floated the rumor on ESPN’s “Get Up” last month.
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“Giannis Antetokounmpo, the two-time NBA MVP, he has not made any firm decisions about his future. But sources tell me for the first time in his 12-year NBA career, he is open-minded about whether his best fit is in Milwaukee or playing elsewhere — and exploring what those options outside of Milwaukee look like,” Shams claimed.
As they say, if there’s smoke, there is fire. But in this case, Giannis has hinted a couple of times that Shams’ rumor is just, well, a rumor, including a couple of weeks ago when he tweeted about missing Woj, which was an obvious shot at Charania. As Windy said, let’s just read between the lines.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jun 26, 2025, where it first appeared.