The NBA commerce deadline is lower than a month away, and Giannis Antetokounmpo doesn’t sound like any person who expects to be dealt.
Antetokounmpo advised The Athletic that he “will never” request a commerce from the Milwaukee Bucks amid widespread hypothesis round his future.
“There will never be a chance, and there will never be a moment that I will come out and say, ‘I want a trade,’ ” Antetokounmpo mentioned Wednesday evening, in keeping with an interview revealed Thursday.
“My plan is to be here for the rest of my career. If they don’t want me … I’m not the one in charge. I am an employee.”
Antetokounmpo’s feedback come a little bit over a month after ESPN reported the two-time NBA MVP and the Bucks have been discussing whether or not his future was in Milwaukee or whether or not it made sense for the 31-year-old ahead to proceed his profession some other place.
Since they received the NBA Finals in 2021, the Bucks have received just one playoff sequence, and so they’ve suffered first-round exits in every of the final three postseasons.
Milwaukee is 16-21 this season, good for eleventh place within the Japanese Convention.
“I am not (going anywhere). I am invested in this team,” Antetokounmpo advised The Athletic. “I want to turn this team around. I want to play good basketball. I want to be healthy. I want to help my teammates. I wanna win games.”
In October, ESPN reported that Antetokounmpo eyed the Knicks as a doable vacation spot, and that the Knicks and Bucks even mentioned what a commerce would possibly seem like.
However on Monday, Knicks proprietor James Dolan mentioned he was unaware of any offseason commerce talks involving Antetokounmpo.
“We love our team right now,” Dolan mentioned on WFAN. “They have chemistry. They all like each other. I’ve never seen a locker room more copacetic. There’s a lot of energy in there. Leon [Rose] can always overrule me, but I don’t see us making a big change. We’ve got to keep building up this group. This group can win a championship.”
Antetokounmpo is averaging 29.5 factors, 10.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists per sport this season.
The NBA commerce deadline is Feb. 5.
