Giannis Antetokounmpo trade saga just opened a door Knicks have been waiting for

The Knicks remained patient during the Kevin Durant sweepstakes in hopes that Giannis Antetokounmpo would become frustrated with Milwaukee and eventually request a trade. Now, that patience may be paying off. The Bucks just waived Damian Lillard to make room to sign Myles Turner, and according to NBA insider Chris Haynes, Antetokounmpo is not pleased with the decision.

Antetokounmpo also took to social media, posting a picture with the caption "I don't know what's going on right now, man." The Knicks, along with most teams in the league, will likely start making calls to Milwaukee, seeing if their stance has changed on the former MVP, or, rather, if his stance on them has changed.

Antetokounmpo would make the Knicks title favorites

Antetokounmpo is one of the five best players in the league, arguably one of the three best. He is a two-time MVP winner, a Defensive Player of the Year, and has a championship ring. Pairing him with Jalen Brunson seems almost too good to be true.

Last season, Antetokounmpo averaged 30.4 points, 6.5 assists, and 11.9 rebounds per game. He is one of the most unstoppable forces in the game at getting to the rim, where he had over 200 field goal attempts more than any other player in the league while shooting 74.9 percent.

While he isn't quite the defender he was earlier in his career, he is still elite on that end of the ball. A defense built around Antetokounmpo and OG Anunoby would be a nightmare for opposing offenses to figure out. Last season, he averaged one steal and one block per game while posting a Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus of +1.2, which was in the 88th percentile.

How could the Knicks get him to New York?

If Antetokounmpo does request a trade, the Knicks would likely need a bit of help on his end by requesting New York specifically. A trade package would likely need to center around Karl-Anthony Towns, but the Knicks don't have many tradable first-round picks at their disposal after the package they sent to Brooklyn last season to land Mikal Bridges.

The coming days should provide more clarity regarding just how upset Antetokounmpo, the Knicks, and the rest of the basketball world will be closely monitoring his every move. Until then, the Knicks will focus on finding veteran minimum players to fill out the rest of their roster after making splashes by landing Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele so far.