The Knicks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo timeline just got moved to the front of the line — and that’s a problem, because New York isn’t ready for the moment it has spent years trying to create.
In the version of reality the Knicks were banking on, Antetokounmpo would play out this season, see whether the Bucks could avoid a fourth straight first-round flameout, and only then decide whether to force his way out of Milwaukee. New York would have had time — a full season, well beyond the Feb. 5 NBA Trade Deadline — to evaluate its roster, preserve its assets, and build the cleanest possible runway for the kind of franchise-altering swing they’ve been dreaming about since the day Jalen Brunson signed.
But that’s not the world we live in. And it’s definitely not the world Milwaukee lives in.
While the Knicks are seeking improvement in the top-four of the East, the Bucks are three games under .500, clinging to the conference’s 10th seed and barreling toward exactly the kind of season Antetokounmpo has made it clear he won’t tolerate again.
He sounded the alarm early. Antetokounmpo scrubbed nearly every Bucks-related post from his Instagram page — except the 2021 championship — and, as ESPN reported on Wednesday, he and his agent have reopened discussions about his future.
Which leads us right back to the Knicks. Because New York is where this entire conversation began.
Antetokounmpo reportedly told Milwaukee back in August that the Knicks were his one preferred destination if he ever requested a trade, and the two sides negotiated exclusively with one another ahead of training camp.
ESPN reported this week that New York remains his preferred landing spot.
The problem? This time, the Bucks’ negotiating window won’t open exclusively for the Knicks.
If Giannis formally asks out, every team with even a sliver of a case will get involved. And New York, after years of asset-hoarding, enters the most important superstar window in its modern era with a largely empty wallet.
The Knicks already dealt five first-round picks for Mikal Bridges. They traded Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a first for Karl-Anthony Towns. They moved R.J. Barrett and Immanuel Quickley for OG Anunoby — and then had to max him at five years, $212 million.
Those choices leave them structurally handicapped at the very moment they need the most flexibility.
Bridges can’t be traded until Feb. 1 because of his extension. Anunoby’s on-again, off-again availability makes him a tough sell as centerpiece value. And the Knicks don’t have the draft capital to attach to Towns’ near dollar-for-dollar salary match in a Giannis deal (Antetokounmpo is in the first season of a three-year, $175.3M deal and will make $54.1M this season alone).
Plus the Bucks will have no shortage of cleaner, more attractive offers if Antetokounmpo expands his list of preferred destinations. Milwaukee won’t sit in purgatory forever. If Giannis asks out, they’ll move him.
And if the Knicks can’t build a compelling trade package, they’ll have only themselves to blame for spending the very chips they once saved for this exact moment.
New York does get one break: Antetokounmpo strained his calf Wednesday in a win over Detroit. He’ll miss two-to-four weeks — a best-case scenario for a terrifying non-contact injury — which likely delays any real movement into the new year.
That buys the Knicks time. Not months. Weeks. A few more games to evaluate a roster that can be good — sometimes really good — yet still wildly inconsistent. The defense slips. The offense stalls. The rotation has holes. And the injuries keep piling up.
And this is why the reassurance Giannis Antetokounmpo provides is so intoxicating. When he’s on your roster, there are no existential questions. He’s averaged 30 points, 11 rebounds and 5.7 assists or more for three straight seasons, and he does it year after year without blinking.
And Knicks fans still remember the image burned into their subconscious: Antetokounmpo and Jalen Brunson meeting at center court postgame in Milwaukee on Oct. 28 — a deflating moment for New York after The Greek Freak authored yet another late-game takeover.
These two superstars could one day be teammates in orange and blue. If the Knicks go all-in once more. The clock ticks with every loss the Bucks accrue this season.