Milwaukee Bucks Rumors:Are Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat fueling Giannis Antetokounmpo’s desire to leave?
Don’t be confused about this.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is seriously considering leaving the Milwaukee Bucks.
He made his intentions clear.
Anyone who thinks they’re just bluffing probably needs a reality check now.
If the Bucks don’t win a championship next year (or two?
), then you can keep Giannis’ word and take his talents elsewhere.
Fox Sports’ Ric Bucher recently sat down with several NBA executives to discuss Antetokounmpo’s revealing comments.
At least one anonymous source believes that Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat had a lot to do with Giannis’ surprise announcement:
“What happened to him in the first round is why he took the stance of ‘I’m not saying I won’t come back, but I need to see what team we are,’” one player said in the Eastern Conference.
Deputy General Manager.
“Are we the team that gets eliminated in the first round?
Or are we really a finalist team that lost in the first round for different reasons last year?
I actually agree that they were caught in a unique and unexpected situation that caused them to lose in the first round.
They could very well go to the Finals or Conference Finals this year, and if that happens, it will be difficult to let Giannis go.
Expectations were high for Milwaukee last season, especially after finishing the regular season with the best record in the entire NBA.
That’s exactly why they were criticized after suffering a bitter first-round loss at the hands of Miami, who actually went all the way to the NBA Finals.
Giannis appears to have been deeply affected by this back-to-back loss — at least according to this anonymous executive — and he took out some of his frustration on the Bucks by sending them a bold warning of his impending departure.
To say the basketball world was shocked by Giannis’ comments would be an understatement.
Before announcing his intention to jump ship, many saw Antetkounmpo following in the footsteps of Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki by spending his entire 20-year career with the same team.
Obviously that could still happen, but at this point, the former back-to-back MVP leaving Milwaukee has become a very real possibility.
As for his Eastern Conference GM rival, Giannis wasn’t wrong in his decision to call the Bucks:
“He’s right,” the general manager said.
“If I were him, I would tell the Bucks, ‘Hey, you’re going to do what you’re going to do and you heard me, I want to win.
‘ If I think we’re going to win, great, but if not, I’ll do you a favor and you can trade me for a bunch of picks.
But I was surprised when he said it out loud.
Even the general manager was surprised by the way Giannis delivered his message in a public forum.
This is an issue that could have been discussed behind closed doors, and perhaps Anteotkounmpo should have taken that approach.
Except it didn’t, and now here we are.
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