{"id":713780,"date":"2026-04-19T08:33:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T08:33:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/713780\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T08:33:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T08:33:44","slug":"giannis-antetokounmpo-calls-miami-a-beautiful-city-amid-bucks-upheaval-trade-speculation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/713780\/","title":{"rendered":"Giannis Antetokounmpo calls Miami a ‘beautiful city’ amid Bucks’ upheaval, trade speculation"},"content":{"rendered":"

With speculation on whether Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a>\u2019s time as a Milwaukee<\/a> Buck is coming to an end<\/a>, the Miami Heat<\/a> have emerged as a potential landing spot<\/a> for the two-time NBA MVP. And, as it turns out, Antetokounmpo isn\u2019t against the destination.<\/p>\n

On an episode<\/a> of the podcast \u201cGogi\u2019s Garage,\u201d hosted by retired NBA player Goran Dragi\u0107<\/a>, Antetokounmpo didn\u2019t do much to confirm he planned to leave the Bucks. However, he did note an affinity for Miami, calling it \u201ca beautiful city.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Antetokounmpo, who has spent his entire 13-year career with Milwaukee, told Dragi\u0107 that this year was the first \u201creal\u201d experience he had with trade rumors. The forward said that stories on his potential departure were \u201ceverywhere\u201d and that he was constantly stopped by fans asking him not to leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kept saying, I was like, \u2018Guys, I\u2019m here, I\u2019m not going nowhere,\u2019\u201d Antetokounmpo said, saying that the rumors would continue anyway. \u201cThey wasn\u2019t listening to what I was saying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo said he has stayed committed to the Bucks, even through this past season. Milwaukee ended with a 32-50 record, missing the playoffs for the first time in nine years, with head coach Doc Rivers stepping down<\/a> after the season ended.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are loyal people. When people believe in us and people help us, and make us stand on our feet, it\u2019s very hard for you to turn your back,\u201d Antetokounmpo said. \u201cBut at the same time you\u2019re competitive, you want to win. Everybody wants to win. So you\u2019ve gotta make a better decision for yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dragi\u0107 then suggested Antetokounmpo should head somewhere warm, citing the 31-year-old\u2019s age.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need warm climate, man,\u201d Dragi\u0107 said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHey, Miami\u2019s not a bad place, man. It\u2019s [a] beautiful, beautiful city, beautiful city,\u201d Antetokounmpo said in response.<\/p>\n

Dragi\u0107, for what it\u2019s worth, spent seven seasons of his 15-year career with the Heat.<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo is under contract with the Bucks through 2028 after signing an extension in 2023<\/a>. But Milwaukee has been hurtling toward a breaking point with its star, with Antetokounmpo reportedly asking for a trade multiple times<\/a> during the disastrous 2025-26 campaign.<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo isn\u2019t doing much to tamp down current speculation either: When asked this week if he had played his last game as a Buck, Antetokounmpo said he wasn\u2019t sure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a very good question,\u201d Antetokounmpo told reporters after the Bucks\u2019 last game on Sunday. \u201cI don’t know. It\u2019s not up to me anymore. It\u2019s not up to me. We\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With speculation on whether Giannis Antetokounmpo\u2019s time as a Milwaukee Buck is coming to an end, the Miami…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":713781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3778],"tags":[7,88976,123,6274,144,295,189,3881,102,6,361],"class_list":{"0":"post-713780","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-heat","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-beautiful-city","10":"tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","11":"tag-goran-dragic","12":"tag-heat","13":"tag-miami","14":"tag-miami-heat","15":"tag-miamiheat","16":"tag-milwaukee","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-the-bucks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116430451754028179","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713780","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=713780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/713781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}