Giannis Antetokounmpo won an NBA championship with the Milwaukee Bucks, but he isn’t content with just one ring.
Because of that, Antetokounmpo’s future in Milwaukee is in serious doubt at the moment. Especially given his lack of chemistry with Damian Lillard, whose inaugural campaign with the team has been mired by his extremely ugly divorce.
According to ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst, if the Bucks fail to perform well in the playoffs this year, Antetokounmpo could opt to move on.
Windhorst shed some light on Antetokounmpo’s status during a recent appearance on ESPN’s ‘Get Up’ program.
“If they lose in the first round, the first person you’re worried about isn’t Dame, it’s Giannis,” Windhorst said.
“If [the Bucks] go down in the first round again … I’m not sure where Giannis is going to be.”
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“You want to make sure Giannis is still committed, and also when you talk about this first round, you got to worry about where Giannis’s calf is, if he’s going to be 100%. But if they go down in the first round again, and they have that disappointment in back-to-back years, I’m not sure where Giannis is going to be.”
The primary problem, in Windhorst’s estimation, is how flawed the Bucks’ roster is.
“But no matter what happens, this is a flawed roster,” he continued.
“They clearly did not — the panacea that they thought Dame Lillard was going to be wasn’t the case. They’re going to have to make changes one way or another, and they’ve basically mortgaged their entire draft in the future, so they’re going to have to get creative.
“And I do think it’s possible that Dame [being traded] could be looked at, but you got to make sure Giannis is committed to it first.”
If Milwaukee performs well in the playoffs, obviously this entire conversation is moot.
But if the Bucks come up short, expect the chatter surrounding Antetokounmpo’s future to only grow louder.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.