The Milwaukee Bucks introduced new coach Taylor Jenkins and of course the biggest topic of the afternoon is the future of Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Bucks and Antetokounmpo are still playing the world’s longest game of will they/won’t they, and as of Wednesday, there still wasn’t a ton of clarity on the situation.
Team co-owner Jimmy Haslam did say, however, that they’ll talk with Antetokounmpo over the next few weeks to figure out his future and if that still involves the Bucks.
“Giannis has brought Milwaukee its second championship and first in 50 years. He’s a phenomenal player, he’s a phenomenal person, he’s arguably one of the best basketball players in the world,” Haslam said. “We will do what’s best for Giannis and what’s best for the organization. We don’t know whether Giannis will stay with us or not, but we’ll work through that with Giannis in the coming weeks.”
OK, at least we now have some sort of time frame for a decision made on Antetokounmpo’s future, who has two years and $121.2 million remaining on his contract, including a $62.7 million player option next summer. Haslam later narrowed the window even more, targeting “the next six or seven weeks” ahead of the June 23 draft.
If we’re trying to read the tea leaves on whether the Bucks expect Antetokounmpo to be back next season, general manager Jon Horst’s answer gave some interesting insight regarding his star player’s involvement in the selection of Jenkins as the next head coach.
“No (Antetokounmpo did not meet with Jenkins),” Horst said. “Every situation is different, and for us it’s really important. This is about building the culture, the identity of the team… It was clear to us in who we needed to hire to have as a partner with our organization going forward to build sustainable success for years to come in Milwaukee. This situation, it wasn’t about Giannis or not Giannis. None of the players (were part of the process). In years past, we’ve talked to a lot of the players, sought counsel, and sometimes that was right, sometimes that was wrong. This was about hiring Taylor Jenkins.”
None of that suggests that Antetokounmpo’s lack of involvement in the selection process means his days with the Bucks are over. That said, we don’t typically see a team picking a coach without at least consulting their star player(s).
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While Antetokounmpo wasn’t involved beforehand, he has spoken with Jenkins since he was hired.
“Yeah, great communication with Giannis (since I was hired),” Jenkins said. “He’s expressed tremendous excitement for me and my family. Obviously, even only being here for one season, he and I established a really good relationship, and maintained that respect even from a distance. It’s been amazing to communicate with all these guys. Over the phone, now in person. As you’ll learn about me, relationships are the most important thing to me in my life. So yes, I’ve had communications with Giannis, but I’ve actually been able to touch base with the entire roster.”
Trade rumors have hovered over Antetokounmpo and the Bucks for the last few seasons, but they were never louder than this season. The Bucks and Knicks reportedly had trade discussions last summer regarding the superstar and though nothing materialized, it began a constant stream of rumors for much of the season. Antetokounmpo stated on several occasions that he would never outright request a trade from the team, leaving it up to the Bucks to make what would be an incredibly difficult decision.
“I would say this, communication is complicated at times because you have agents involved, you have the press involved and you have the player involved,” Haslam said Wednesday. “We never had any problem communicating directly with Giannis — at all. We always knew where he stood and I think he always knew where we stood. We’ve had those kind of conversations since the season was over. “
Maybe Antetokounmpo won’t request a trade, but he has been incredibly vocal about still wanting to compete for championships, whether that’s in Milwaukee or elsewhere. However, the Bucks have fallen far short of competing for a championship in the years since winning it all in 2021. Some of that has been due to injuries to guys like Antetokounmpo and former forward Khris Middleton, but Milwaukee failed to improve the roster to account for Middleton’s decrease in production and waning availability.
That failure led to the Bucks losing in the first round of the playoffs in three of the last six years, and missing the playoffs this season after finishing with a 32-50 record. That’s the lowest win total for the Bucks since Antetokounmpo’s rookie season, when they won just 15 games.
From the sounds of management’s comments on Wednesday, it appears as though we’ll finally get some sort of definitive answer on Antetokounmpo’s future this summer. Either he stays and signs a max contract in October or he goes.
“Jon [Horst] and Taylor [Jenkins], along with [Bucks co-owner] Wes [Edens] and myself will make that call,” Haslam said, “and we understand the gravity of that call.”
