Has Giannis Antetokounmpo already played his last game for the Milwaukee Bucks? originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

It has been an eventful couple of days for Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.

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First, a report surfaced that Antetokounmpo and his agent, Alex Saratsis, were in talks with the Bucks regarding the two-time MVP’s future with the franchise. These talks are basically to determine if the best course of action for Antetokounmpo at this point in his career is remaining in Milwaukee, or potentially playing elsewhere.

Then, the same evening that the report came out, Antetokounmpo left Milwaukee’s 113-109 victory over the Detroit Pistons with an apparent leg injury. Luckily Antetokounmpo avoided a serious Achilles injury, but he’ll still be sidelined for up to a month with a right calf strain.

This latest injury and resulting stint on the sideline begs the question: Have we already seen Antetokounmpo play has last game in a Bucks uniform?

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Without Antetokounmpo for the foreseeable future, the Bucks are likely to slide down the standings in the Eastern Conference, and by the time he returns, playoffs could be a longshot. At that point, perhaps the front office would decide that undergoing a rebuild would be the best course of action for the future. By the time he returns, the trade deadline could be creeping up.

There are plenty of teams who would love to trade for Antetokounmpo, and would offer a lot for the opportunity to acquire him. It wouldn’t be difficult to imagine him working with the Bucks to find to find the combination of a suitable package and destination. Star players do it often.

When it comes to Antetokounmpo, it feels like his departure from Milwaukee was been predicted and discussed for years, due in part at least to Antetokounmpo himself being non-committal about playing his entire career with the Bucks. This time though, it really feels like a move could happen.

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Antetokounmpo is 30, and not getting any younger. He’s well aware of that, and he seems desperate for the opportunity to continue to compete for titles while he’s still at the peak of his powers. Realistically, Milwaukee doesn’t offer him that at this point in time. The current roster isn’t championship-caliber, and there are no obvious avenues to improvement.

At this point, it just feels like a matter of when, and not if, when it comes to Antetokounmpo getting traded. That’s probably difficult to stomach for Bucks fans, because Antetokounmpo seems like a guy who could just play with one franchise for his entire career. Seeing him in another uniform would be weird.

But, very few players stay with one team for an entire career. Countless superstars have been moved in the past. Sometimes it’s the team that wants to move on, sometimes it’s the player. In this particular situation, it’s the latter.

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Since Antetokounmpo’s calf injury isn’t season-ending, it likely wouldn’t prevent teams from trying to trade for him. The floodgates have opened, and the Bucks will likely be inundated with calls and offers in the coming days, and weeks. There’s no guarantee that they get an intriguing enough offer during that time, but if they do, then we yes, we could have already seen Antetokounmpo’s last game in a Bucks uniform.