{"id":830631,"date":"2026-09-08T10:32:41","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T10:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/830631\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T10:32:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T10:32:41","slug":"giannis-antetokounmpos-trade-raises-major-questions-for-the-bucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/830631\/","title":{"rendered":"Giannis Antetokounmpo’s trade raises major questions for the Bucks"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILWAUKEE (AP) \u2014 Giannis Antetokounmpo brought the Milwaukee Bucks back to relevance and delivered<\/a> the franchise its first title in half a century as the most impactful player in team history.<\/p>\n

Now the Bucks face the onerous challenge of retooling without the player who carried the team on his broad shoulders for over a decade.<\/p>\n

The Bucks agreed on the eve of Tuesday\u2019s draft to send Antetokounmpo along with forward Bobby Portis to the Miami Heat<\/a> in exchange for Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel\u2019el Ware and Kasparas Jakucionis, according to a person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the move had yet to receive the required league approval.<\/p>\n

Milwaukee also got the No. 13 selection in Tuesday\u2019s draft – they used it on Tennessee forward Nate Ament – along with a first-round pick swap in 2030, first-round picks in 2031 and 2033 and a second-rounder in 2033, the person said.<\/p>\n

The move leaves the Bucks without one of the most beloved figures in Wisconsin sports history. Milwaukee fans watched in awe as Antetokounmpo spent the last 13 seasons maturing from a skinny teenager into one of the top players on the planet.<\/p>\n

Bucks coach Taylor Jenkins understood this was a possibility when he accepted the job in April following the departure of Doc Rivers.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cNaturally, we did talk about Giannis, the entire roster, developmental pathways for everyone you know, moving forward,\u201d Jenkins said during his introductory news conference<\/a> last month. \u201cBecause from the coaching lens, I\u2019ve got to start formulating that, what we\u2019re going to do, not just this offseason, but when we hit the ground running, you know, at the start of training camp. So naturally, (we) talked about that. Had great dialogue, full transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Replacing a beloved superstar<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo had spent his entire career with the Bucks, who selected the 18-year-old from Greece with the 15th pick in the 2013 draft. The nine-time all-NBA forward leads the Bucks in virtually every career statistical category, including points, rebounds, assists, blocks, games and minutes.<\/p>\n

He won MVP awards in 2019 and 2020. Antetokounmpo came back from a knee hyperextension in the 2021 playoffs to earn NBA Finals MVP honors<\/a> while scoring 50 points in the title-clinching Game 6 victory over the Phoenix Suns.<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo, 31, had signed multiple contract extensions to stay in Milwaukee and play in one of the NBA\u2019s smallest markets. He was so appreciated for his loyalty that a mural of him<\/a> \u2014 53\u00bd feet high and 56\u00bd feet wide \u2014 appears on the side of a three-story building in downtown Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

Plenty of fans stopped by that mural Tuesday to pay homage to Milwaukee\u2019s departing superstar. Some left mementoes, including a Sports Illustrated commemorating the Bucks\u2019 2021 title that included this message: \u201cThanks for everything, big fella! 34 forever \u2014 Milwaukee.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m at a loss for words,\u201d said Danny Nelson of Delafield, Wisconsin. \u201cI still don\u2019t think it\u2019s real. He was everything to the city. It doesn\u2019t feel real that he\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those fans generally harbored no hard feelings toward Antetokounmpo regarding the trade. They instead wanted to offer thanks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want what\u2019s best for him,\u201d Isabelle Branger of Milwaukee said. \u201cHe\u2019s done a lot for us here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Facing possibility of a long rebuild<\/p>\n

The Bucks made plenty of high-risk, high-reward moves in an attempt to keep Antetokounmpo happy and remain in contention. But the Bucks never got beyond the second round of the playoffs after winning that 2021 title due in part to injuries to Antetokounmpo<\/a> and other<\/a> key players.<\/a> They\u2019re coming off a 32-50 season<\/a> that snapped a string of nine straight playoff appearances.<\/p>\n

Those big swings they took to stay competitive with Antetokounmpo will make it tougher to rebuild without him.<\/p>\n

Even after making this blockbuster deal to recoup draft capital, Milwaukee doesn\u2019t have any first-round picks in 2027 or 2029. <\/p>\n

The Bucks gave up multiple first-round picks in the 2020 trade that brought Jrue Holiday<\/a> to Milwaukee and the 2023 deal in which they acquired Damian Lillard.<\/a> Holiday played a key role in the Bucks\u2019 2021 title before leaving Milwaukee in the Lillard trade. Lillard was waived<\/a> after tearing his Achilles<\/a> in a 2025 first-round playoff loss to Indiana, a move that enabled the Bucks to sign former Pacers center Myles Turner.<\/a><\/p>\n

That made it imperative that the Bucks find assets with their two lottery picks<\/a> Tuesday, as they picked Arizona guard Brayden Burries at No. 10 overall before taking Ament at No. 13. That No. 10 pick represents their earliest selection since 2016, when they also went 10th and took Thon Maker.<\/p>\n

Although he couldn\u2019t comment directly on Antetokounmpo\u2019s exit because the trade isn\u2019t official, Bucks general manager Jon Horst spoke generally about the path forward Tuesday night in a press conference following the first round.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just really excited to continue to build and kind of add on piece and piece and create, again, an identity, a style of play, a roster full of character and versatility and size,\u201d Horst said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of work ahead of us, but it\u2019s a good start.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bucks have one potential building block in guard Ryan Rollins, who turns 24 next month. Perhaps a new staff gets more from Turner, whose production dipped his first year in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

This trade gives Milwaukee an infusion of youth as it begins a new chapter.<\/p>\n

Herro is a Milwaukee-area native and 2025 All-Star who has scored at least 20 points per game each of the last four seasons, though injuries limited the 26-year-old to 33 games in 2025-26. <\/p>\n

Jaquez, 25, scored 15.4 points per game in a bench role this season. Ware is a 22-year-old, 7-footer. Jakucionis, 20, was the 20th pick in last year\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n

But this still represents a major transition for a team that had considered itself a legitimate contender as long as it had a healthy Antetokounmpo, who finished fourth or higher in the MVP balloting every year from 2019-25 before injuries limited him to a career-low 36 games this season.<\/p>\n

This franchise has been through lean years before. The Bucks reached the Eastern Conference finals in 2001 but didn\u2019t win another playoff series until returning to the East finals in 2019.<\/p>\n

Longtime Bucks fans know the challenges that come after a superstar\u2019s departure. <\/p>\n

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar led the Bucks to a 1971 title when he was known as Lew Alcindor and got them another conference championship in 1974 before requesting a trade. The Bucks sent Abdul-Jabbar to the Los Angeles Lakers in the summer of 1975, and they wouldn\u2019t get back to the NBA Finals until that 2021 championship season.<\/p>\n

Now the guy most responsible for that 2021 celebration<\/a> also is leaving town.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/nba<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILWAUKEE (AP) \u2014 Giannis Antetokounmpo brought the Milwaukee Bucks back to relevance and delivered the franchise its first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":830632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3775],"tags":[7,507,52247,103,125,98579,2660,583,420,123,98580,7278,20265,2038,615,189,102,121,3871,367,18339,6,446,12,1220,11,2763,66,4194,11344,492,580,1980],"class_list":["post-830631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-milwaukee-bucks","tag-basketball","tag-bobby-portis","tag-brayden-burries","tag-bucks","tag-damian-lillard","tag-danny-nelson","tag-doc-rivers","tag-fl-state-wire","tag-florida","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-isabelle-branger","tag-jaime-jaquez","tag-jon-horst","tag-jrue-holiday","tag-kareem-abdul-jabbar","tag-miami-heat","tag-milwaukee","tag-milwaukee-bucks","tag-milwaukeebucks","tag-myles-turner","tag-nate-ament","tag-nba","tag-nba-basketball","tag-nba-draft","tag-nba-finals","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-ryan-rollins","tag-sports","tag-taylor-jenkins","tag-thon-maker","tag-tyler-herro","tag-wi-state-wire","tag-wisconsin"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830631","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=830631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}