According to NBA reporter Bill Reiter of CBS Sports, Giannis Antetokounmpo wants to play for the Miami Heat or Brooklyn Nets if he leaves the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Bucks are 1-3 on the young season and haven’t looked good at all on either side of the ball.
“Teams are circling — and hopeful,” one Western Conference team executive said.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened by the trade deadline,” said a top executive of a team that could be in the mix.
An Eastern Conference NBA executive has already heard the places believed to be Giannis’ would-be preferred destinations: “The teams I’ve heard are Miami and New York — the Nets, not the Knicks.”
The Bucks lost to the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the 2024 playoffs in the first year of the Antetokounmpo-Damian Lillard era.
“They tell me it’s up to Doc now, that they’re going to wait 20 games and then see what Doc wants,” said one person familiar with the Bucks’ front-office inner-workings. “It sounds like it’s a mess.”
A future Hall of Famer, Antetokounmpo has career averages of 23.4 points, 9.8 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.2 blocks. He led the Bucks to the 2021 championship.
According to NBA reporter Sam Amick of The Athletic, rival execs hope the Bucks fail this season so Antetokounmpo thinks about leaving.
“As I shared with Antetokounmpo, rival front office executives are hoping the Bucks fail miserably so that he might consider an NBA life outside of Milwaukee,” Amick wrote. “(He is signed through the 2026-27 season and has a player option worth $62.7 million in 2027-28.) If Lillard struggles to be at his best again in a Bucks jersey, trade calls will inevitably come Milwaukee’s way about him. (He’s owed a combined $161.4 million for the next three seasons, with a player option in 2026-27.)”
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