The relationship between Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks has boiled over and the two must privately wish that they parted ways sooner.
ESPN’s Shams Charania reports that Antetokounmpo and his agent, Alex Saratsis, met with Bucks owners Jimmy Haslam and Wes Edens two weeks before the trade deadline, where it was agreed that the two sides would part ways amicably, with Antetokounmpo’s side asking they “do right” by him.
After negotiations with multiple teams, including the Timberwolves, Warriors, Cavaliers, Heat, and 76ers, some teams felt that the Bucks did not want to move Antetokounmpo at the deadline, the report states.
With teams dropping out, ESPN reports that the Bucks seriously considered trading Antetokounmpo to the Heat for Kel’el Ware, Tyler Herro, other players and multiple draft picks and pick swaps.
The Bucks informed the Heat on Feb. 5 that they would not accept the deal, though.
After a particularly devastating blowout loss to the Bulls on March 1 where the Bucks blew a double-digit lead. coach Doc Rivers called a team meeting to the rally troops into a potential playoff spot.
At that meeting, Rivers had some harsh criticism for his players.
“I took teams to the playoffs and to the championship that weren’t supposed to. I thought this was one of them,” Rivers told his players after, per ESPN. “Either you’re with us or against us. If you’re not playing hard, we’re not playing you anymore.
“I know everything that goes on in this building.”
Kyle Kuzma was a “did not play, coach’s decision” that next game.
One league source told ESPN that the locker room issues center around Antetokounmpo’s uncertainty with the team.
“The crux of the issue is feeling Giannis doesn’t want to be here on any given day,” Charania wrote.
With the locker room fragmented, the Bucks’ playoff hopes fell apart by mid-March as the team fell to 27-36 and far behind the playoff picture.
“It feels like a funeral,” one team source told ESPN after a particularly difficult loss.
Another team source also blamed ’Antetokounmpo for the teams fractured locker room.
“When your best player is one foot in, one foot out, you’re not going to win,” the source told ESPN.
During one practice in December after a 45-point loss, big man Bobby Portis called out his teammates for a lack of intensity.
“This is why we suck — we carry ourselves like everything is fine, and we have no f—ing urgency,” Portis said, per the report. “We just lost by 45. Everybody’s body language is terrible. No one is listening to coaches.”
It is widely expected that Antetokounmpo will be traded this offseason, though it is unclear if he will fetch the big price that Milwaukee is hoping for.
It looks unlikely that Antetokounmpo will get to choose his landing spot given the tulmutuous relationshiip that has unfolded this season.
Antetokounmpo has been out since March 15 and the league is currently investigating whether he is healthy enough to play in games as the Bucks hold him out and Antetokounmpo himself saying he’s healthy enough to return.