Giannis Antetokounmpo Out for Weeks After Reigniting Trade Talk

Giannis Antetokounmpo injured his calf while appearing to stick his foot out the door in Milwaukee. 

On Wednesday, ESPN reported that the Bucks star and his agent, Alex Saratsis, have “started conversations” with the organization about “whether his best fit is staying or elsewhere” with a decision expected in the coming weeks.

It’s not a trade request—yet.

The Bucks lack the assets to trade for another co-star to pair with Antetokounmpo and improving around the margins might not be enough to appease him. The timing of the report is curious, too, as it came roughly two weeks before Dec. 15, when teams become eligible to trade players who signed over the summer and trade talks tend to pick up around the league. 

Later on Wednesday, Antetokounmpo left the Bucks’ win over the Pistons with a noncontact lower leg injury. The team termed it a calf strain and Bucks coach Doc Rivers ruled out a possible Achilles injury for the 6-foot-10 forward; he’ll miss up to four weeks.

Antetokounmpo has already missed six games this season and if he’s out closer to a month, he will be the latest star ineligible for All-NBA honors. 

Antetokounmpo’s future has loomed over the Bucks’ slow start; Milwaukee is 10–13 and just 10th in a relatively thin Eastern Conference. The Bucks are 1–5 without Antetokounmpo and if the team continues to struggle to win without him, it could influence his decision to ask for a trade. 

Over the summer, ESPN reported that Antetokounmpo was “open-minded” to playing for a different team after playing his entire 12-year career in Milwaukee to date. Antetokounmpo, who turns 31 on Saturday, reportedly told the Bucks he’d be open to playing for the Knicks, and the two teams briefly engaged in trade talks. 

In an attempt to build a better contender around him, the Bucks waived and stretched Damian Lillard’s two-year, $113 million contract, adding more than $20 million in cap space to their books for the coming years and signed Myles Turner to a four-year, $107 million contract. 

But it hasn’t been enough. 

“The reason that this is out is because we’re not playing well,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers told reporters before Wednesday’s game. “When we started out the season, I heard guys saying, ‘Man, they’re going to be really good.’ So, let’s just call a spade a spade. We’re not playing well. We had a tough loss the other night, and so now this is the subject matter. It’s no more true than it was this summer. Does it affect our team and our players? I hope not. I can tell you, after listening to our guys talk today, it doesn’t. But that doesn’t mean it won’t. I can’t answer that.

Should Antetokounmpo ask for a trade, executing one midseason is easier said than done. The two-time MVP will make $54.1 million this season in the first year of a three-year, $175 million extension he signed in September 2023. The final year of that contract is a $62.7 million player option for the 2027–28 season. The Rockets unsuccessfully tried to trade Kevin Durant before February’s trade deadline and dealt him to Houston in June, when the teams had more time to work out a deal. 

Only the Nets and Jazz currently have enough cap space. Both teams are rebuilding, which makes them unlikely destinations. The Knicks, his desired team over the summer, lack the draft capital and young players the Bucks would likely seek in a return, though the team could prefer a different package. 

The Bucks have no control of their draft picks until 2030, which gives the organization no reason to tank. Trading Antetokounmpo would be the biggest decision for the organization since it dealt Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the Lakers 50 years ago. Could a package around, say, Karl-Anthony Towns and O.G. Anunoby be enough for the Bucks to pull the trigger?