Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks could be parting ways, as ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Wednesday, citing sources, that the nine-time NBA All-Star and his agent are in talks with the franchise about Milwaukee’s future. Charania’s report came after Antetokounmpo appeared to have removed Bucks-related posts and mentions from his Instagram account.

Warriors icon Draymond Green discussed the situation and explained why Antetokounmpo would be a challenging player to center a possible trade around in the latest edition of his “Draymond Green Show” podcast.

“We all know that Giannis wants to compete at the highest level,” Green said. “A lot of people made a lot of noise about him deleting all Milwaukee Bucks references off of his Instagram account. If you’re Giannis and you’re trying to press the team to do something, those are the types of things that you would do in order to make the team realize, ‘I’m not happy … It’s going public now. Y’all better figure it out.’

“What I will say is, it’s not the easiest to trade someone that makes $50 million, because, in most cases, you usually have to depete your whole team, just to even make the salaries work; it limits the amount of teams that Giannis can go to. He’ll have a list of clubs that he’d be comfortable going to, that he’ll share with the team, and I think they’ll try to make it happen.”

Antetokounmpo is on the books for $54.13 million during the 2025-26 NBA season and is under contract through the 2027 campaign. As Green explained, that number isn’t easy to work with — or around.

The Warriors, for example, could offer the paint-dominant Antetokounmpo one of the more intriguing on-court fits across the league next to the floor-spacing Steph Curry. But considering Golden State already is paying Curry and Jimmy Butler over $50 million each, it would be extremely challenging to deal for Antetokounmpo.

However, the financials would be complex for most teams.

Antetokounmpo has spent his entire 13-year NBA career with the Bucks. But with Milwaukee sitting at 11th in the Eastern Conference as of Sunday afternoon, it’s clear the franchise is a shell of its 2021 finals-winning self.

Green believes the Bucks would “try” to fulfill a potential trade request from Antetokounmpo, should he desire an exit. Regardless, any potential deal involving the two-time NBA MVP would be a blockbuster.

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