THE MILWAUKEE BUCKS have been advised to trade star man Giannis Antetokounmpo and start over.
The Bucks’ season came to an end on Wednesday when they were knocked out of the playoffs following a 119-118 loss to the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
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And now Milwaukee need to start over ahead of next term, and some major as well as difficult decisions may have to be made regarding their future.
According to the Memphis Grizzlies’ former Vice President of Basketball Operations John Hollinger, one of those tough choices should include trading Antetokounmpo, 30, this summer.
The Greek Freak is already a club legend as he led the Bucks to the NBA Championship in 2021 and won back-to-back NBA MVP honours in 2019 and 2020.
However, Hollinger believes the star power forward’s time has come to an end and is probably the only player in Doc Rivers’ squad with any draft value.
The former executive added that this is especially important now that Damian Lillard picked up yet another injury – this time hurting his Achilles – which has seriously destabilised the squad.
Hollinger wrote in his column for The Athletic: “There’s no way to sugarcoat this: The Milwaukee Bucks are done.
“The only important thing to monitor now is whether they trade Giannis Antetokounmpo, and if so, when.
“Damian Lillard’s Achilles injury was the final blow, the last solid piece of the Good Ship Giannis that was keeping it afloat long after the rest of the rotting ship was overrun with rats.
“They have no good young players and no draft assets, and their annual wrestling match with the collective bargaining agreement’s second-apron threshold results in more losses at the margins every year.
“The Bucks’ two best players after Antetokounmpo are free agents (Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis). Of the two highest-paid players under contract after Antetokounmpo, one may miss all of next season and be 36 when he returns for 2026-27 (Lillard) and the other isn’t any good (Kyle Kuzma).
“Antetokounmpo was, at worst, the third-best player in the NBA in 2024-25, and all that got the Bucks was the fifth seed and a first-round beatdown that was well in progress before Lillard’s injury.
“Milwaukee’s lineups with its two stars on the court together still had just a plus-4.7 net rating this season, or about what the New York Knicks, Memphis Grizzlies, Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves did across all 4,000-ish minutes of the season. Even the Bucks’ best pairings weren’t contender-level good.
“Thus, all eyes turn to Antetokounmpo, much as all eyes did on Lillard as his situation in Portland grew increasingly hopeless in 2022 and 2023.
“The Greek Freak is the best player this franchise will have this century, most likely, but he’s also 30 years old and looking at spending the remainder of his prime surrounded by increasingly underwhelming rosters.”