The Milwaukee Bucks find themselves in a state of limbo right now.
After the team lost nine-time All-Star point guard Damian Lillard to an Achilles tendon tear in its five-game first round playoff series loss to the Finals-bound Indiana Pacers, the future of nine-time All-NBA power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo was suddenly in flux.
Lillard could miss all of 2025-26 as he recovers from one of the most devastating lower body injuries in basketball, and there is no guarantee that the 34-year-old will ever be the same player even when he does lace up his sneakers and take the floor again.
Moving off the two years and $112.6 million remaining on Lillard's deal had been the main roster-building mechanism still available to a Bucks team that hasn't advanced past the first round in three years. Now, that option is effectively gone. Antetokounmpo, a two-time league MVP who won a championship for Milwaukee in 2021, could be getting frustrated as a superstar still in his prime with no realistic path to a title this year.
Will Antetokounmpo demand to be dealt?
During an appearance on ESPN's "Get Up" Thursday morning, NBA insider Shams Charania reported that Antetokounmpo appears to be taking his time in making a decision.
"Giannis Antetokounmpo has been in Milwaukee for 12 years, and so I reported during draft combine and lottery week that he was open-minded about seeing, are there best possible fits outside of Milwaukee? And that is a due diligence process that he has undertaken, everyone around him has undertaken as well," Charania said.
"But again, he's been there for 12 years, so there's a level of equity in seeing, what can the Bucks do at the draft? What can the Bucks do during free agency? How can they improve the team?" Charania wondered. "He has said on record, they've got free agents in Bobby Portis, Brook Lopez, Kevin Porter Jr., and so he's gonna remain open-minded."
Lopez is an unrestricted free agent, while Portis and Porter both have player options for 2025-26.
"I don't think his future is necessarily tied to this week, to free agency week. It's going to be a process where you see how this team looks into July, well into July potentially."