The New York Knicks can officially put aside their dreams of acquiring Giannis Antetokounmpo...for now.
According to ESPN's Shams Charania, the Milwaukee Bucks are re-signing Thanasis Antetokounmpo to a guaranteed contract next season. And as Charania notes, this “also means after a summer of exploring options, Giannis is staying in Milwaukee to start the season.”
End-of-the-bench signings aren’t supposed to sway the whims of superstars. But it’s entirely different when that end-of-bench signing just so happens to be your older brother.
It would be one thing if the Bucks waived and stretched Damian Lillard to sign Myles Turner without knowing which way Giannis was leaning. They would never bring back his brother on a guaranteed deal that will require them to get rid of another player with a better chance of cracking the rotation.
The Knicks knew Giannis would begin the season in Milwaukee
This effectively ends the Knicks’ well-documented pursuit of the MVP…for the time being. Frankly, though, it’s bound to start up again.
New York will not be caught off-guard by this news. The Mikal Bridges extension was a clear sign that the front office expected Giannis to remain with the Bucks into next season.
Bridges cannot be moved for six months from the date he put pen to paper. While this restriction will lift just a few days before the February 5 trade deadline, it precludes him from being shipped out in any offseason (or early season) packages.
This is not a decision the Knicks make unless they’re certain Giannis will stick with Milwaukee. They have other ways of cobbling together the necessary salary, but with zero first-round picks to trade, Bridges was (and still is) one of their best assets. There was almost no way New York would exit negotiations without having to ship him to the Bucks, or another team.
This isn’t the end of Giannis trade rumors
Rumor-mill junkies needn’t fret over this marking the conclusion of Giannis-to-New York speculation. It will come back ‘round again.
Keeping Giannis into next season does not guarantee the Bucks that he’ll finish the season on the roster. He could have a change of heart if it turns out Milwaukee is lightyears away from fringe contention. That’s why teams like the Knicks would do well to put their best foot forward when Giannis comes to town this season. It’s an opportunity to remind him of what he could have if he heads elsewhere.
Granted, Giannis doesn’t seem likely to request a trade midseason. The Bucks’ offseason process appears to have bought them another year’s worth of patience, before he reevaluates the landscape next summer. That is great news for the Knicks. They will always be a long shot when stacked up against suitors with more assets, but their best possible package will be much stronger over the 2026 offseason, when they have actual first-round picks to dangle.
Put another way: Don’t call this the end of the Knicks’ Giannis pursuit. It’s more like a temporary, potentially beneficial pause.