{"id":699084,"date":"2026-04-05T04:58:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T04:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/699084\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T04:58:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T04:58:20","slug":"central-notes-giannis-bucks-trade-market-bulls-shakeup-pistons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/699084\/","title":{"rendered":"Central Notes: Giannis, Bucks, Trade Market, Bulls Shakeup, Pistons"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NBA weighed in with a statement on Saturday as it continues the investigation<\/a> of a disagreement between Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> and Bucks, writes Eric Nehm of The Athletic<\/a>. Antetokounmpo, who has been sidelined since March 15 with a left knee hyperextension and a bone bruise, contends that he\u2019s healthy enough to return to action, but the team won\u2019t give him medical clearance. The Bucks say he hasn\u2019t fully healed and isn\u2019t sincere about wanting to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe investigation has found that the Bucks scheduled Giannis to work out last week in three-on-three scrimmages as part of his return-to-play process, but he declined to participate,\u201d the NBA said on Saturday. \u201cThere is a disagreement as to whether the team requested that Giannis participate in a group workout earlier this week, and the league is continuing to monitor the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NBA has held conversations with Bucks officials as part of the probe, a source told Nehm. Antetokounmpo emphatically expressed his desire to return to action during an interview after Milwaukee\u2019s loss to Boston on Friday, but with only five games remaining, it may be too late even if the dispute is resolved in his favor.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s more from the Central Division:<\/p>\n

Trading Antetokounmpo this summer could be the first step in a massive roster overhaul for the Bucks, suggests Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter video link<\/a>). He points to Bobby Portis<\/a>, Myles Turner<\/a> and Kyle Kuzma<\/a> as other veteran players who might be moved and says coach Doc Rivers\u2019 future with the team is also uncertain. Scotto expects the Heat, Warriors, Knicks, Cavaliers and others to approach Milwaukee with offers.
\nMajor changes could be coming to the Bulls over the next 10 days, a source tells Joe Crowley of The Chicago Sun-Times<\/a> (subscription required). Executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley could both be held accountable for the disappointing season, and a coaching move is possible as well. Crowley notes that Billy Donovan is one of the main targets for the vacant North Carolina job, and there are also suggestions that he could stay and help revamp the front office or move into the top management role himself.
\nIf there\u2019s a bright side to Cade Cunningham<\/a>\u2018s injury, it\u2019s that his teammates are learning how to succeed without him as the playoffs approach, notes Hunter Patterson of The Athletic<\/a>. Isaiah Stewart<\/a> is also out indefinitely with a left calf strain, but the Pistons keep winning and look ready to be a force in the playoffs if the roster gets healthy again. \u201cObviously, we\u2019re better with (Cade), Stew and today Tobias (Harris) <\/a>on the floor,\u201d Jalen Duren<\/a> said. \u201cBut I think having guys come in and get reps in, get shots up, see the ball go through (the rim) \u2014 the type of offense we\u2019re playing with everybody being involved \u2014 it gets everybody\u2019s confidence up. It gets everybody\u2019s juices flowing going into that postseason.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NBA weighed in with a statement on Saturday as it continues the investigation of a disagreement between…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3775],"tags":[4750,7,3363,507,103,909,2660,123,1016,124,22774,102,121,3871,367,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-699084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-milwaukee-bucks","8":"tag-arturas-karnisovas","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-billy-donovan","11":"tag-bobby-portis","12":"tag-bucks","13":"tag-cade-cunningham","14":"tag-doc-rivers","15":"tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","16":"tag-isaiah-stewart","17":"tag-kyle-kuzma","18":"tag-marc-eversley","19":"tag-milwaukee","20":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","21":"tag-milwaukeebucks","22":"tag-myles-turner","23":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116350334283181888","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699084","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=699084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}