{"id":564556,"date":"2026-01-27T18:46:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T18:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/564556\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T18:46:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T18:46:22","slug":"why-hasnt-giannis-antetokounmpo-been-traded-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/564556\/","title":{"rendered":"Why hasn’t Giannis Antetokounmpo been traded yet?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are beyond the NBA season\u2019s midway<\/a> point<\/a>, and the Milwaukee Bucks are 18-26, 11th place in the Eastern Conference, a few games from the final play-in tournament berth.<\/p>\n

They have featured Giannis Antetokounmpo for 30 of those games, and the two-time league MVP has been incredible in them, averaging a 28-10-6 on 65\/40\/66 shooting splits. When he is on the court, they practically profile as a contender, outscoring opponents by 5.4 points per 100 possessions, excluding garbage time, according to Cleaning the Glass<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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How are the Bucks so bad? It\u2019s a long story, actually, one that has stripped them of all other star talent and most of their tradable draft assets. Not gonna lie: It\u2019s a sad story, and one that has us wondering why in the world Antetokounmpo has not been traded \u2026 yet.<\/p>\n

For starters, the Bucks are being outscored by 11.2 points per 100 possessions when Antetokounmpo is on the bench, looking more like the league\u2019s worst team. They are 3-11 when Giannis has missed games entirely to a right calf injury and a left adductor strain.<\/p>\n

Plus, \u201cWe\u2019re not playing hard, not doing the right things,\u201d Antetokounmpo said after Wednesday\u2019s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. \u201cWe\u2019re not playing to win. Not playing together. Our chemistry\u2019s not there. Guys are being selfish<\/a>. Guys are trying to look for their own shots instead of looking for the right shot for the team. Guys trying to do it on their own. At times, I feel like when we\u2019re down 10, down 15, down 30, we try to make it up in one play. It is not gonna work. We just gotta keep on chipping away, possession by possession.\u201d<\/p>\n

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On Friday, Antetokounmpo suffered another injury to his right calf, which he thinks will keep him sidelined until the \u201cend of February, beginning of March<\/a>.\u201d Things will get worse in Milwaukee, where Myles Turner and Kyle Kuzma have taken the places of Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton. Damian Lillard was even there in between. I told you it was a sad story.<\/p>\n

[Subscribe to Yahoo Sports NBA on YouTube<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the NBA\u2019s trade deadline will pass on Feb. 5 and, despite reports of recent hope from other teams to the contrary<\/a>, the likelier outcome is Antetokounmpo will remain a Buck throughout the remainder of the season, however gruesome it may get.<\/p>\n

As for beyond this season, well, do not expect Antetokounmpo to stay a Buck any longer.<\/p>\n

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\u201cNo way they run it back,\u201d one league source said.<\/p>\n

So, why not trade Antetokounmpo now? One theory floating around NBA circles: \u201cYou trade Luka, you\u2019ll never work again.\u201d In other words, look at what has become of Nico Harrison since he dealt Luka Don\u010di\u0107 from the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers.<\/p>\n

\"MILWAUKEE,<\/p>\n

It has been a sad season in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

(Patrick McDermott via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Absent a trade request, does Bucks general manager Jon Horst want to be The Guy Who Dealt Giannis Antetokounmpo, no matter the return? I wouldn\u2019t want to be That Guy, either.<\/p>\n

Not until the last minute, anyway, and this summer essentially yields the last minute, as Antetokounmpo will be entering the final year of his contract in the 2026-27 campaign<\/a>. He will have far more influence over his next destination the closer the end of his deal comes.<\/p>\n

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As ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania said, \u201cI’ve spoken to about a dozen sources on and off for weeks. The tension that is in the air within that organization and within the front office and in that locker room is at an all-time high. There’s a splintering environment going on there<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

After all, it has been years since Antetokounmpo told The New York Times\u2019 Tania Ganguli, \u201cWinning a championship comes first<\/a>. I don\u2019t want to be 20 years on the same team and don\u2019t win another championship.\u201d The Bucks have failed to emerge from the first round of the playoffs in each season since, and it appears they could miss the postseason entirely.<\/p>\n

It would only make sense that Antetokounmpo wants out. Only, \u201cThere will never be a chance, and there will never be a moment that I will come out and say, \u2018I want a trade,\u2019<\/a>\u201d Antetokounmpo recently told The Athletic\u2019s Sam Amick. \u201cThat\u2019s not \u2026 in \u2026 my \u2026 nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Of course, even that he couched with the phrase, \u201cAs of today.\u201d<\/p>\n

They seem to have reached a stalemate, then. Neither Antetokounmpo nor Horst wants to alienate the fans in Milwaukee. But we have reached the boiling point. This team is not going to win another championship for the foreseeable future, and therefore the team is not providing Antetokounmpo with what he wants, which is the chance to contend again.<\/p>\n

[Get more Bucks news: Milwaukee team feed<\/a>]<\/p>\n

None of this helps us solve the mystery of why Antetokounmpo has not yet been traded. In fact, it only leads us back to that question. There is, of course, more reason to wait until the offseason for a deal, most of it having to do with the salary cap. The first and second spending aprons make it awfully difficult for rival teams to make maneuvers midseason.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBetter in the summer,\u201d said one source familiar with Milwaukee\u2019s thinking. \u201cMore flexibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Again: Look at what Harrison got for Don\u010di\u0107 midway through the season. He obviously did not canvas the league for offers, or else he would have gotten something better than Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a first-round draft pick. Wait until the summer, though, and the whole league would have moved heaven and earth for the opportunity to trade for Don\u010di\u0107.<\/p>\n

The same may be true of Antetokounmpo, even at 31 years old. Even another calf injury \u201cdoes not appear to be dissuading interested parties<\/a>,\u201d reported Substack\u2019s Marc Stein.<\/p>\n

But it is not easy to move heaven and earth midway through the season and still field a championship team around Antetokounmpo. He is, really, a non-shooter who uses more than a third of his team\u2019s possessions. He needs a certain roster around him \u2014 mostly shooters everywhere, including the center position \u2014\u00a0to maximize his relentless attack.<\/p>\n

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There is an argument to be made that pulling off the Band-Aid now is what is best for the Bucks. Look at how quickly the Houston Rockets have bounced back since trading James Harden for a picks-heavy package in January 2021. Get the rebuild going as fast as you can.<\/p>\n

Then again, Milwaukee will have a better idea of exactly what other teams can offer in the 2026 draft when this season is complete. The Atlanta Hawks, for example, own the better pick between the Bucks and the New Orleans Pelicans, and if that lands in the top four at season\u2019s end, it may be the most valuable asset any team can trade for Antetokounmpo.<\/p>\n

Whether that means Antetokounmpo will be dealt this season may have more to do with whether Horst wants the responsibility of being the one to trade him. What ever happened to fortune favoring the bold, then? The second apron. That\u2019s what, I guess.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We are beyond the NBA season\u2019s midway point, and the Milwaukee Bucks are 18-26, 11th place in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3775],"tags":[495,208,7,103,149,125,123,194,560,2038,2039,124,150,508,7139,102,121,3871,367,6,470,179,361],"class_list":{"0":"post-564556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-milwaukee-bucks","8":"tag-anthony-davis","9":"tag-atlanta-hawks","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-bucks","12":"tag-dallas-mavericks","13":"tag-damian-lillard","14":"tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","15":"tag-houston-rockets","16":"tag-james-harden","17":"tag-jrue-holiday","18":"tag-khris-middleton","19":"tag-kyle-kuzma","20":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","21":"tag-luka","22":"tag-max-christie","23":"tag-milwaukee","24":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","25":"tag-milwaukeebucks","26":"tag-myles-turner","27":"tag-nba","28":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","29":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","30":"tag-the-bucks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115968553760954699","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}