Whether the Milwaukee Bucks would move Giannis Antetokounmpo or not was the biggest storyline ahead of the NBA’s trade deadline, and the future Hall of Famer opened up about the situation during an interview on SportsCenter with ESPN’s Malika Andrews.
“As of today I’m committed to the Milwaukee Bucks,” he said. “I’m committed to the people that I work with, my teammates, the coaching staff, coach Doc [Rivers] and Jon [Horst] in the front office. What I’ve said from the beginning of this year, out of my mouth and the way I’ve carried myself, you will never hear me say I don’t want to be a Milwaukee Buck.”
He said that of course he dreamed of playing in Madison Square Garden or alongside LeBron James when he was growing up watching basketball but made it clear, “I am a winner and I’m extremely loyal.”
Antetokounmpo didn’t close the door on playing elsewhere later in his career, though, and said, “If there were ever to be a scenario of me not being a Milwaukee Buck no more I don’t want anybody to ever think like, ‘hey man I quit on my team, because this is my team and I love it.'”
The Madison Square Garden mention was notable since ESPN’s Shams Charania reported in October the Bucks and New York Knicks “engaged in conversations,” although a trade never materialized.
Milwaukee kept Antetokounmpo throughout the offseason but struggled with consistency in the first half of the 2025-26 campaign.
The noise surrounding the star only got louder as the deadline approached, and Charania reported in January that “Antetokounmpo is ready for a new home” with several “aggressive offers” from other teams.
Ultimately, though, the Bucks decided to hold onto Antetokounmpo through the deadline, but it only pushed the conversation back to the summer in reality.
The situation doesn’t change much with Milwaukee looking like a team that isn’t ready to contend for a championship in the immediate future and Antetokounmpo’s 2027-28 player option looming.
If the 31-year-old wants to add another NBA title to his resume, he may have to go elsewhere despite the loyalty he talked about in his conversation with Andrews. And the Bucks may have to trade him so they get a significant return package instead of seeing him eventually leave in free agency.