The Knicks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo timeline simply bought moved to the entrance of the road — and that’s an issue, as a result of New York isn’t prepared for the second it has spent years making an attempt to create.
Within the model of actuality the Knicks have been banking on, Antetokounmpo would play out this season, see whether or not the Bucks might keep away from a fourth straight first-round flameout, and solely then resolve whether or not to drive his manner out of Milwaukee. New York would have had time — a full season, properly past the Feb. 5 NBA Commerce Deadline — to guage its roster, protect its property, and construct the cleanest doable runway for the form of franchise-altering swing they’ve been dreaming about because the day Jalen Brunson signed.
However that’s not the world we stay in. And it’s positively not the world Milwaukee lives in.
Whereas the Knicks are looking for enchancment within the top-four of the East, the Bucks are three video games underneath .500, clinging to the convention’s tenth seed and barreling towards precisely the form of season Antetokounmpo has made it clear he received’t tolerate once more.
He sounded the alarm early. Antetokounmpo scrubbed almost each Bucks-related put up from his Instagram web page — besides the 2021 championship — and, as ESPN reported on Wednesday, he and his agent have reopened discussions about his future.
Which leads us proper again to the Knicks. As a result of New York is the place this whole dialog started.
Antetokounmpo reportedly informed Milwaukee again in August that the Knicks have been his one most well-liked vacation spot if he ever requested a commerce, and the 2 sides negotiated solely with each other forward of coaching camp.
ESPN reported this week that New York stays his most well-liked touchdown spot.
The issue? This time, the Bucks’ negotiating window received’t open solely for the Knicks.
If Giannis formally asks out, each staff with even a sliver of a case will become involved. And New York, after years of asset-hoarding, enters an important celebrity window in its trendy period with a largely empty pockets.
The Knicks already dealt 5 first-round picks for Mikal Bridges. They traded Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and a primary for Karl-Anthony Cities. They moved R.J. Barrett and Immanuel Quickley for OG Anunoby — after which needed to max him at 5 years, $212 million.
These selections depart them structurally handicapped on the very second they want probably the most flexibility.
Bridges can’t be traded till Feb. 1 due to his extension. Anunoby’s on-again, off-again availability makes him a tricky promote as centerpiece worth. And the Knicks don’t have the draft capital to connect to Cities’ close to dollar-for-dollar wage match in a Giannis deal (Antetokounmpo is within the first season of a three-year, $175.3M deal and can make $54.1M this season alone).
Plus the Bucks can have no scarcity of cleaner, extra enticing presents if Antetokounmpo expands his record of most well-liked locations. Milwaukee received’t sit in purgatory ceaselessly. If Giannis asks out, they’ll transfer him.
And if the Knicks can’t construct a compelling commerce bundle, they’ll have solely themselves guilty for spending the very chips they as soon as saved for this actual second.
New York does get one break: Antetokounmpo strained his calf Wednesday in a win over Detroit. He’ll miss two-to-four weeks — a best-case situation for a terrifying non-contact harm — which possible delays any actual motion into the brand new yr.
That buys the Knicks time. Not months. Weeks. A couple of extra video games to guage a roster that may be good — generally actually good — but nonetheless wildly inconsistent. The protection slips. The offense stalls. The rotation has holes. And the accidents hold piling up.
And this is the reason the reassurance Giannis Antetokounmpo offers is so intoxicating. When he’s in your roster, there are not any existential questions. He’s averaged 30 factors, 11 rebounds and 5.7 assists or extra for 3 straight seasons, and he does it yr after yr with out blinking.
And Knicks followers nonetheless keep in mind the picture burned into their unconscious: Antetokounmpo and Jalen Brunson assembly at heart court docket postgame in Milwaukee on Oct. 28 — a deflating second for New York after The Greek Freak authored one more late-game takeover.
These two superstars might someday be teammates in orange and blue. If the Knicks go all-in as soon as extra. The clock ticks with each loss the Bucks accrue this season.
