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ATLANTA, GEORGIA – JANUARY 19: Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks reacts against the Atlanta Hawks during the fourth quarter at State Farm Arena on January 19, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
NBA<\/a> executives are nearly unanimous in the belief that the Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> Show will be ending its Milwaukee residency. The question of when has already been floated, with many saying it\u2019d be wiser to bypass this week\u2019s deadline and make a move in the offseason when the landscape is in better focus.<\/p>\n But a number of teams who spoke to Heavy say the larger issue is just who will be making the decisions for the Bucks<\/a> when push comes to trade. The final call on anything involving the franchise\u2019s most valuable asset will no doubt be made by ownership, but Jon Horst, general manager since 2017, is currently in charge of negotiating the options.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter how things have played out the last couple of years, do you let the guys in charge now make that call?\u201d asked one team official. \u201cWhat they do here is going to affect that franchise for the next five years \u2014 really maybe 10 years when you factor in the draft picks that you\u2019re going to have to get back if you trade (Giannis).<\/p>\n \u201cThis is going to be a monumental move for a small market franchise.\u201d<\/p>\n Even the more measured opposing execs believe Antetokounmpo will be on the move.<\/p>\n \u201cMy guess is they have to trade Giannis,\u201d said one. \u201cSome of the people you talk to there say they\u2019re not, but I really think they will at some point. They have to. I don\u2019t see how they can\u2019t.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s not going to sign an extension, and they\u2019ll end up losing him for nothing in a year if they don\u2019t do something. So if I had to guess, he\u2019d be on the move.\u201d<\/p>\n The Bucks Decline Can Be Traced to the 2023 Damian Lillard Trade<\/p>\n The Bucks, meanwhile, are on the move toward to lower reaches of the Eastern Conference standings. They\u2019ve lost eight of nine, and the last five straight \u2014 the latter three by an average of 18.3 points. With Antetokounmpo out indefinitely with a calf issue, the prospects of upward mobility for the 12th seed (18-29) are not promising.<\/p>\n The decline can fairly \u2014 and numerically \u2014 be traced to the September 27, 2023 move to acquire Damian Lillard<\/a> from Portland in a three-team trade that included Phoenix. Dealing Jrue Holiday<\/a> cost the Bucks defensively, but that problem was compounded when Milwaukee didn\u2019t realize that Portland would be looking to move Holiday\u2019s contract and that East rival Boston would be a logical landing spot. Holiday went on to be a critical piece of the Celtics<\/a>\u2018 2024 championship, while Milwaukee went from 58 wins to 49.<\/p>\n \u201cThe second they traded Jrue Holiday and Grayson Allen, that was the beginning of the end,\u201d an exec told Heavy. \u201cThey f***** that up. Those were two guys that fit Giannis and had no egos. Bad trade.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd they traded so many draft picks over the years \u2014 some rightfully so to get Jrue, and they won a championship with him, but a bunch of them not good.\u201d<\/p>\n The League Is Waiting to See What Happens With Giannis <\/p>\n Draft picks are a major part of the argument for waiting until after the season to trade Antetokounmpo, the reason being the Bucks will know after the lottery where the picks they might acquire will fall. But after winning it all in 2021, the present Milwaukee administration has been unable to surround Giannis with the proper pieces for a greater whole.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s bad up there,\u201d said veteran NBA personnel exec. \u201cThey couldn\u2019t get him any help. The question is if they\u2019ll give those guys the rebuild. You look at how they\u2019ve drafted, but mainly the moves they\u2019ve made, and you have to wonder. I mean, the Lillard thing just didn\u2019t work, and they bet so much on it. That\u2019s a hell of a decision. Then they stretch him and pay him out. C\u2019mon, man.<\/p>\n \u201cEverybody in the league is either trying to get in on Giannis or waiting to see what happens so they can decide what they have to do themselves to deal with the fallout of what comes next.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSteve Bulpett<\/a> has covered the NBA since 1985, the first 35 of those years as beat writer\/columnist for the Boston Herald. In that time, he has gained National Top 10 honors from the APSE as a columnist, beat reporter and features writer. Since 2014, he has served as a vice president of the Professional Basketball Writers Association. More about Steve Bulpett<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Bucks\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA, GEORGIA – JANUARY 19: Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks reacts against the Atlanta Hawks during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3775],"tags":[7,103,102,121,3871,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-578680","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-milwaukee-bucks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bucks","10":"tag-milwaukee","11":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","12":"tag-milwaukeebucks","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116004505558878275","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578680","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=578680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}