{"id":114245,"date":"2024-12-27T10:49:18","date_gmt":"2024-12-27T15:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=114245"},"modified":"2024-12-27T10:49:18","modified_gmt":"2024-12-27T15:49:18","slug":"rival-teams-monitoring-milwaukee-bucks-giannis-antetokounmpo-long-term-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/27\/rival-teams-monitoring-milwaukee-bucks-giannis-antetokounmpo-long-term-status\/","title":{"rendered":"Rival Teams Monitoring Milwaukee Bucks Star’s Long-Term Status"},"content":{"rendered":"

This season has been a whirlwind for the Milwaukee Bucks<\/a> and their fans. After starting the campaign 2-8, the Bucks went on an impressive run, winning 12 of their next 15 games. Additionally, the Bucks took home this year’s NBA Cup, defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> in the final round. Due to their rocky start, many speculated whether Milwaukee would make any major moves this season. This included the possibility of the Bucks firing head coach Doc Rivers<\/a> or trading Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> or Damian Lillard<\/a>. Now that the Bucks, who are 16-13, have worked themselves back into the playoff picture, it seems like a major shakeup is off the table. However, this is not entirely true.<\/p>\n

According to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps (subscription required<\/a>), rival NBA teams are still keeping an eye on Antetokounmpo’s long-term status in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

“Longer term, rival teams are still watching what will happen with Giannis Antetokounmpo if the Milwaukee Bucks suffer another disappointing end to the season after two consecutive first-round losses,” Bontemps wrote.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rival Teams Monitoring Milwaukee Bucks Star’s Long-Term Status<\/h2>\n

The Milwaukee Bucks Will Not Trade Giannis Antetokounmpo This Season<\/h3>\n

Amidst the trade rumors, ESPN’s Shams Charania previously reported that the Bucks will not trade<\/a> the two-time MVP this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be no Giannis Antetokounmpo trade this season,\u201d Charania said before the Bucks-Thunder NBA Cup final. \u201cBetween the Cup and moving forward\u2026 his priority is putting himself in a position where he can have long-term sustained winning wherever that may be. Right now, it\u2019s Milwaukee.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Antetokounmpo still has two years remaining on his three-year, $175.4 million contract extension he signed last year. Additionally, the Bucks star also has a $62.8 million player option for the 2027-28 season. At this point, Antetokounmpo and the Bucks are mutually committed to each other. A trade this season seems highly unlikely, especially given Charania’s report.<\/p>\n

Giannis Antetokounmpo Is Putting Together Another MVP-Caliber Season<\/h3>\n

Despite the team’s early struggles this season, Antetokounmpo is in the midst of arguably his best individual campaign this season. Through 24 games, he is averaging a league-leading 32.7 points, 11.6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 1.5 blocks. Additionally, Antetokounmpo is shooting a career-high 61.3% from the field this season as well.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the 30-year-old made it clear he wants to be a part of the MVP conversation<\/a> once again this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, that definitely might put tears in my eyes,\u201d Antetokounmpo told Yahoo Sports earlier this week<\/a>. \u201cI do want to be part of that conversation. It lets me know I was able to help my team, carry my team, solidified [us as a team].<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not gonna lie, it definitely means something to me.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Additionally, Antetokounmpo also acknowledged that, due to the intense competition in the NBA, he may never win the MVP award again despite putting up career numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point in my career, I had the conversation with my brother, I was like, man, it\u2019s crazy to me. I had just come to a realization that I might never win another MVP,\u201d Antetokounmpo told Yahoo Sports. \u201cI\u2019m having better years than the years I won it. But hey, the league is improving, guys are playing very, very well.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This season has been a whirlwind for the Milwaukee Bucks and their fans. After starting the campaign 2-8, the Bucks went on an impressive run, winning 12 of their next 15 games. Additionally, the Bucks took home this year’s NBA Cup, defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder in the final round. Due to their rocky start, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4631,"featured_media":108681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,2,15,62,3,4721],"tags":[306],"class_list":["post-114245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-featured","category-bucks","category-nba","category-news","category-trade-rumors","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo"],"modified_by":"Elie Deglaoui","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4631"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114245"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114248,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114245\/revisions\/114248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}