After swooping in and trading for Damian Lillard before last season, the Milwaukee Bucks have continued to perform below expectations.
Trailing 2-0, the Bucks face being eliminated by the Indiana Pacers in the first round for a second straight season.
On Monday, NBA Insider Chris Haynes appeared on ‘the Dan Patrick Show’ and was asked if 2021 Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo will finish his career in Milwaukee.
“I don’t think so. This is going to be a pivotal Playoff, these 2025 Playoffs for the Milwaukee Bucks, it’s gonna be pivotal. If they don’t get to the Finals, win the Finals, or even make a deep run, you can probably see some wholesale changes going on in Milwaukee,” Haynes said. “You can go from coaching staff and front office to the players, it can be a pretty big, significant wholesale if the Milwaukee Bucks don’t make a significant run this postseason.”
When asked by Patrick if he could envision the team trading Antetokounmpo, Haynes gave perhaps the most intriguing answer from his appearance.
“I could see them going in a different direction and yeah I can see that possibility if things go sour this postseason for sure.”
Dan Patrick: “Will Giannis finish his career in Milwaukee [with the Bucks]?”
Chris Haynes: “I don’t think so. … If they don’t get to the Finals, win the Finals, or even make a deep run, you could probably see some wholesale changes.” 👀
(via @dpshow)pic.twitter.com/xo5mVH0tEG
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 23, 2025
The Miami Heat, in the midst of a transitional stage after trading away Jimmy Butler midseason, have been linked to Antetokounmpo in the past. With the Heat already being rumored to go after two-time Finals MVP Kevin Durant this offseason, here’s what a trade proposal could look like for Antetokounmpo.
Heat receive: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bobby Portis, AJ Green
Milwaukee Bucks receive: Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins, Kel’el Ware, Nikola Jovic, conditional 2029 and 2031 first round picks, 2028 and 2030 first round pick swaps
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Alexander Toledo is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI and producer/co-host of the Five on the Floor podcast, covering the Heat and NBA. He can be reached at toledoalexander22@gmail.com. Twitter: @tropicalblanket
The Milwaukee Bucks ended the regular season with a 48-34 record, good for the fifth seed in the East.
They’re set to face the fourth-seeded Indiana Pacers in the first round of the playoffs for the second straight year. Last year, they were eliminated in six games after 2021 Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo sustained an injury three games in.
This time around, they’ll be without nine-time All-Star Damian Lillard, who’s out indefinitely due to a pulmonary embolism. NBA veteran Marcus Morris is skeptical of the Bucks’ future given the situation. On ESPN’s First Take, Morris looked ahead to this offseason, where he says the circumstances could drastically change.
“If I’m Giannis and we don’t get past this first round, I think I’m going to, I think I’m going to sunny, sunny, sunny, sunny Miami,” Morris said. “Listen, it’s wide open over there. You can start something new. It’s a really big market. You know, they need, it’s wide open, right? And then you talk about Dame as well. Like, do both of them somehow slide to a new team and get to Miami?”
The Heat were the team Lillard originally asked to be traded to in 2023 before the Bucks made a deal with the Portland Trail Blazers. Additionally, the Heat sought out to pursue Antetokounmpo in 2021 before he signed an extension with Milwaukee.
“I mean, listen. We done see crazier things happen”, Morris said. “Do Milwaukee want to blow it up after they lose, right? You just got Kyle Kuzma. Like, if they lose in this first round, I think it’s so many questions to be answered and I know that, you know, Giannis wants to win right?”
Now that the Jimmy Butler era is over in Miami, Morris believes the Bucks’ stars can build something there, despite his co-star Stephen A. Smith’s valid concern that the Heat wouldn’t have enough to make such a move happen.
“But I’m just not sure, if I’m Giannis, that I want to continue to keep on trying like, he got his one. Like now, is it something new? Is it a new challenge? Do I go to a new team? Do I go to a bigger market? I think it’d be something to see for sure.”
