Teams now skeptical about a Giannis trade request, plus Bucks may have an ace up their sleeve

Nearly a month after ESPN’s Shams Charania reported in very wishy-washy terms that Giannis Antetokounmpo was “open-minded” about staying with the Bucks or leaving Milwaukee for another franchise, there’s been very little to report. We’ve updated you on rumors from credible sources as they’ve come, but it’s usually clear what is probably baseless speculation and what is actual reporting. There’s been little of the latter, and no real indications or even confirmation that the team and Giannis have even discussed the state of affairs, as they do each offseason.

More notable info from Marc Stein came a couple weeks back that (brace yourself) Doc Rivers might be key to keeping Giannis in Milwaukee.:

The Bucks are also hoping that the presence of Doc Rivers as coach can provide some sort of boost. Antetokounmpo and Rivers are believed to have strong working relationship, which Rivers — annoyed as he clearly was to be greeted by paparazzi outside of a Beverly Hills restaurant a few days ago — apparently tried to convey by telling TMZ: “I talk to him all the time.”

It’s worth considering, as I think some fans have done, that despite how you might feel about Rivers’ coaching, the most important guy on the team might want him to remain head coach. I think it’s also safe to say that if Giannis didn’t favor Doc, he’d have been fired by now. He has one year left on his contract, and while chances seemed much higher of a coaching change a month ago, that ship almost certainly has sailed for now.

So what to make of this paucity of Giannis rumors? Well, Bucks fans might be thinking that no news is good news, and if so, they may be correct in doing so. The longer this goes on, the more teams are becoming less confident that Giannis will want to leave, which shouldn’t actually surprise anyone. NBA insider Jake Fischer, who you can generally read on The Stein Line these days, spoke to this when he appeared on a Bleacher Report live stream on Thursday:

“Honestly, right now I’d say the prevailing sentiment from rival teams that I’m speaking to—around the combine two weeks ago, two and a half weeks ago—there was no shortage of optimism, of hope, of excitement from other teams that they were going to be able to potentially make an offer to get Giannis Antetokounmpo into their franchise, into their building. Of late, I’d say that that confidence has been replaced with skepticism. To a man, from talking to agents, team executives, whoever, there is not a lot of belief right now at this juncture. It’s only June 5th—anything could happen—and I’ve been told all along that if there is a decision, a formal decision made to shut or open the door on trade conversations for Giannis this summer, that it would likely happen closer to the end of June and when the offseason really, really begins. But I’d say for now, for now, talking to people around the league, the assessment and the expectation is that they’re going to believe it when they see it—that someone who has valued being the franchise face, that the central lynchpin of the Bucks franchise, is going to want to play somewhere else. But the overwhelming context is pushing into the opposite column, right? There’s gonna be no Damian Lillard, there’s going to be a lot of work ahead for Milwaukee’s front office to figure out a championship caliber roster around Giannis Antetokounmpo when you have Damian Lillard on a $54 million salary recovering from a torn Achilles”

I have also felt in recent weeks that if there’s any resolution on this whole saga made public, it won’t happen until the end of June. It’s in the best interests of both the Bucks and Giannis’ camp to keep things under wraps as long as possible, no matter what the superstar decides. If he wants out, a public trade request (which seems like something Giannis would never do) could adversely affect his market: it could drive down the team’s asking price, or remove suitors from discussions, resulting in an even less ideal return.

If he wants to stay, concealing his and the team’s intentions could work in the Bucks’ favor if they try to make other moves in the trade or free agency arenas. A win-now trade around the draft or start of free agency on June 30th might be the biggest indicator we get of the Bucks’ confidence in Giannis remaining, for example. But free agents likely will want to know whether or not he’s going to be on the team next year when they’re weighing an offer from Milwaukee as opposed to elsewhere.

Regardless, the likelihood of Giannis asking out appears to continue decreasing if these reports are to be believed. And from being at the combine myself last month (though I certainly wasn’t having as many convos as Fischer, who was posted up in the hotel lobby), I don’t think teams were all that optimistic about a Giannis trade then either. And take this for what it’s worth, but here’s a little tidbit from the man himself, courtesy of BucksRealm on Twitter:

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