The only way the Milwaukee Bucks are ever going to trade Giannis Antetokounmpo is if he asks for a trade. He did not.
While other teams know that, they have to at least check on the possibility, and the Rockets GM, Rafael Stone, talked about doing so in a recent ESPN Radio Houston appearance (hat tip Real GM). To be clear, Stone would get fined for discussing Antetokounmpo directly — team officials cannot discuss a player under contract with another team — so the hosts asked him about potential blockbuster trades such as “the big man from Greece in Milwaukee,” and Stone responded without mentioning names.
“I deal well with [Bucks GM] Jon Horst, I really like him. Jon was very clear that they weren’t doing anything. So, that was that.”
Stone pivoted and landed Kevin Durant instead, a player who makes Houston a legitimate threat to win the West this season. Stone also discussed the Durant trade process during the interview.
“It was long. Like, we understood what they wanted to get for Kevin, and it just didn’t make sense for our team, starting, I don’t know, a year ago. So, there were all these conversations, and it was a very, very long process…
“Obviously, we did the trade. We’re really happy with it. I’ve gotten to know Kevin a little bit, and I’m really happy with him as a person. But the flip side of that is Dillon [Brooks] and Jalen [Green] were just awesome. As people and as co-workers, they were amazing.”
While some pundits floated the idea of the Bucks initiating a trade for Antetokounmpo as a good basketball move — “if they’re not title contenders anymore, better to pull the rip cord early and jumpstart the next rebuild” — that’s living in a fantasy basketball world devoid of NBA reality. Milwaukee has a better chance of winning a title with a top-three player in the world on their roster than they do without, and getting players of that level to Milwaukee is a once-in-a-generation thing. As for the Bucks’ fans, ask Nico Harrison and the Mavericks about what happens when a fan favorite and franchise anchor is traded early (Dallas got bailed out by the NBA Draft Lottery or that anger would still be a story).
A player of Antetokounmpo’s status does far more than just help a small-to-mid-sized market win on the court, he makes the business profitable — the Bucks sell a lot of seats in the Fiserve Forum, and Milwaukee gets a lot of sponsorship dollars coming in, because companies want to be associated with Antetokounmpo and being on national television so much because of him. The franchise value is higher with him on the roster. Walk through the blocks around the Fiserve Forum before a Bucks game, and restaurants and bars are busy and pulsing with energy. What does that look like during year three of the rebuild?
The Bucks are not trading Antetokounmpo unless he asks. Knowing that, Antetokounmpo has used that leverage to get the Bucks to make all-in moves, such as trading for Damian Lillard, or then waiving and stretching Lillard to sign Myles Turner.
Eventually, Antetokounmpo may ask out. However, until he does, every call to Horst checking on Antetokounmpo’s status will go a lot like Stone’s did.