The 'Get Up' crew discusses the tension between Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks over shutting him down for the rest of the season. (1:32)
MILWAUKEE BUCKS PLAYERS filed into the team's practice facility Dec. 16, two days after suffering a 45-point blowout loss on the road against the Brooklyn Nets. The team was 11-16 and in 11th in the Eastern Conference, playing without star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who had missed games because of strains to his right calf and groin.
The vibes at practice were off as the pressure mounted to turn around the season. Players appeared to be going through the motions, and Bobby Portis noticed, according to sources with direct knowledge of the events. Milwaukee's emotional leader erupted at teammates in the middle of practice.
"This is why we suck -- we carry ourselves like everything is fine, and we have no f---ing urgency," Portis said. "We just lost by 45. Everybody's body language is terrible. No one is listening to coaches."
Portis, who joined the franchise in 2020, is one of the few Milwaukee players and coaches left from the team that won the 2021 title. He and Antetokounmpo have been part of the highest of highs together and know what a championship team looks like.
Last summer, general manager Jon Horst and coach Doc Rivers tried to sell Antetokounmpo -- and team ownership -- on contending in the Eastern Conference after waiving Damian Lillard. They stretched the remaining $113 million on Lillard's contract over five seasons to bring in Myles Turner on a four-year, $108 million deal. It was the largest contract ever to be waived and stretched, and that meant the Bucks would have $22.5 million annually in dead money through 2030. After back-and-forth discussions -- including a meeting in Antetokounmpo's native Greece in late July after which the New York Knicks became the only team he'd play for other than Milwaukee -- and the Bucks refusing to move him, Antetokounmpo agreed to give the new roster a chance to grow. His pledge didn't last long, however.
Within two weeks, the Bucks had lost humiliating games in Washington and Brooklyn, received an impassioned plea from one of their leaders, and once again were on the clock with their franchise icon. After dropping to 9-13 on Dec. 1, Antetokounmpo and his agent, Alex Saratsis, reopened conversations with Horst and reasserted the message they had delivered since last May: The time had come to part ways.
Head-scratching losses continued, however, including a 33-point home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Jan. 13, in which Antetokounmpo and the Bucks' fans exchanged boos.
"It feels like a funeral," one team source said after that defeat.
The Bucks were mathematically eliminated from the postseason March 28 after spending the majority of the season at No. 11 in the Eastern Conference. They have had 13 losses by 25 or more points as of Tuesday, the most in a season in franchise history. During their four-game losing streak from Feb. 27 to March 4, the Bucks were outscored by 97 points, the largest combined margin of defeats in any four-game stretch in team history.
This season, the Bucks have gone 17-19 with Antetokounmpo in the lineup and 14-28 without him, and they rank 25th in offensive rating and 26th in defensive rating overall. They are one of six NBA teams to rank in the bottom five in both categories.
All the while, the uncertainty of Antetokounmpo's future in Milwaukee lingered. The Bucks engaged in trade talks ahead of the Feb. 5 trade deadline but chose to hold on to him, even as it became increasingly clear that they didn't have much hope of even elevating into the play-in race. Milwaukee is now headed to the draft lottery for the first time since 2016, snapping a streak of nine consecutive years in the playoffs. The Bucks haven't won a postseason series since 2022. Antetokounmpo, who is under contract for one more season, has played in a career-low 36 games and privately feuded with the organization for several months, culminating in rebuking the team's requests to shut down in the final month of the season and setting up another contentious summer.
"When your best player is one foot in, one foot out," said one team source, "you're not going to win."
ANTETOKOUNMPO EXPRESSED SERIOUS doubts and concerns about the Bucks' roster months before the season started. The Bucks built contending rosters for more than half a decade, but the blockbuster trades to acquire Jrue Holiday, who helped them win the 2021 championship, and Lillard in 2020 and 2023, respectively, assisted the Bucks in convincing Antetokounmpo to sign multiple extensions at the cost of spreading their assets thin. They relinquished three first-round picks and four pick swaps in those moves, leaving them without the high-value tradeable contracts and draft picks to make a big move after their third consecutive first-round exit last spring.
It's why Antetokounmpo reiterated to the Bucks for a few months before the Feb. 5 trade deadline that he was prepared to be moved. He declined to publicize a trade request, but he made it clear to all parties involved behind the scenes that he felt both sides needed to move on immediately, as the franchise was not in position to compete.
"Giannis has wanted to handle this professionally by being very up front with the team," one source with direct knowledge of the situation said. "This could have been a happy resolution but instead might end up being a nasty breakup."
When reached by ESPN on Monday, the Bucks declined to speak on the record for this story.
Multiple league sources said Antetokounmpo and Saratsis took it a step further in pursuit of an amicable split. In late January, two weeks before the deadline, they met with team owners Jimmy Haslam and Wes Edens about how the Bucks should "do right" by Antetokounmpo. The player and agent recalled a handshake agreement that ownership and high-ranking officials made to trade him collaboratively should the time come, after Antetokounmpo signed contract extensions with the organization in 2020 and 2023.
Shortly after the meeting, Antetokounmpo and Horst talked at the team's practice facility, and Horst indicated he was working on trade negotiations, multiple sources said. Horst also told Antetokounmpo that he might not be on the Bucks' roster by the start of the 2026-27 season after the sides' recent dialogue with ownership.
With the trade deadline just under two weeks away, more than a dozen teams reached out to the Bucks. The Timberwolves, Miami Heat and Golden State Warriors were among the leading suitors for Antetokounmpo. League sources said executives from each of those teams believed that Horst was genuine in his conversations about moving Antetokounmpo in a proposal that met the Bucks' criteria of a young blue-chip talent and/or a surplus of draft picks.
For some teams, however, Horst and the Bucks took days responding to messages and calls, leaving those execs to believe that Milwaukee was not ready to pull off a franchise-altering move. For others, the Bucks' asks proved to be too high: Milwaukee wanted Evan Mobley from the Cleveland Cavaliers and VJ Edgecombe from the Philadelphia 76ers, in addition to other assets from both teams, as ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reported March 20.
Antetokounmpo's desires in all of the trade talks mattered, too. He has the 2026-27 season guaranteed in his contract before a player option in 2027. He becomes eligible for a four-year, $275 million contract extension Oct. 1 if he is not traded, or six months after being traded with a new team.
"One of two things will happen: Either he will be extended, or he'll be traded," Edens told Shelburne.
But no team would give up the necessary players and draft picks without knowing Antetokounmpo has a long-term plan to stay.
As deadline day grew close, Minnesota and Golden State began to sense that Milwaukee was keeping Antetokounmpo, and both moved on to completing other deals. Team sources said the Bucks seriously considered the Heat's offer, which centered on Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware, other players and multiple draft picks and pick swaps. Milwaukee contemplated moving forward with Miami on Feb. 4. Ownership, however, believed the best move would be to hold on to Antetokounmpo and receive better offers in the summer. The Bucks informed the Heat on the morning of Feb. 5 that they would not accept a deal.
The Bucks celebrated Antetokounmpo remaining with the team, even as they stood outside the play-in and had a player many inside the organization described as "distant" from the team at times. No one has questioned Antetokounmpo's on-court commitments. But management, coaches and players were exhausted by the discussion and dilemma regarding his future this season, creating a tense environment in the locker room, team sources said.
"The crux of the issue is feeling Giannis doesn't want to be here on any given day," one team source said.
At the time of the trade deadline, Antetokounmpo was out because of a right calf injury that eventually caused him to miss 15 games. Rival executives suggested the 20-29 Bucks' best course would have been to shut him down and attempt to secure a high lottery pick. Milwaukee will receive the lesser of its own pick and the one belonging to the New Orleans Pelicans in June's draft (the better pick will go to the Atlanta Hawks).
Antetokounmpo, Horst and Rivers all aligned on him continuing to play this season, though. Antetokounmpo wanted to push the Bucks to as many wins as possible after they didn't trade him. And the Bucks stood firm in their desires to make a postseason run and prove to Antetokounmpo that this roster could make noise.
Horst and Rivers maintained internally to players and staffers to stay the course, and the season would turn around. Players had urged coaches to hold them accountable and that they needed specific adjustments, but by the second half, everyone understood where the campaign was going.
THE MORNING AFTER the Bucks had turned a double-digit lead into a blowout road loss in Chicago on March 1, Rivers called for a team meeting. If the Bucks were to rally into a play-in spot, this week was the most critical. The Bucks next faced a short-handed Boston Celtics team in Milwaukee on a back-to-back set March 2 before a pivotal contest against the Hawks.
Rivers, who won an NBA title as coach of the Celtics in 2008 and will be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame later this year, started the meeting by imploring his players to look up his résumé, six people in the room told ESPN.
"I took teams to the playoffs and to the championship that weren't supposed to. I thought this was one of them," Rivers told players in the session. "Either you're with us or against us. If you're not playing hard, we're not playing you anymore.
Rivers showed clips of forward Kyle Kuzma's miscues in recent games. Kuzma was a DNP-Coach's Decision later that night in the Bucks' 27-point home loss to the Celtics. It was the first DNP-CD of Kuzma's career.
The session was among a number of instances that rubbed large parts of the locker room the wrong way and continued the theme of a season-long disconnect between Rivers and the players, according to team sources. When asked by ESPN to characterize his relationship with his team, Rivers declined to speak on the record.
The night before, the Bucks' coaching staff spoke up in the postgame locker room, directing a message to guards Ryan Rollins and Kevin Porter Jr. about selfish play and needing to bring out the best in the players. They had combined for just 21 points on 9-of-27 shooting against the Bulls.
Rollins, who is averaging 17.2 points, is a Most Improved Player candidate and already one of the Bucks' best young players. When Milwaukee pursued Memphis star Ja Morant during the season, the team declined to include Rollins in any offer, believing in the 23-year-old's potential, sources said. Porter, who signed a two-year deal in July to return to the team after being traded to Milwaukee last February, has averaged 17.4 points.
Rollins and Porter took the brunt of the responsibility to facilitate and manage the offense. Antetokounmpo had said in January that the Bucks' "chemistry's not there. Guys are being selfish, trying to look for their own shots instead of looking for the right shot for the team. Guys trying to do it on their own."
So on this night in Chicago, the coaches believed the onus should have been on their guards to lead the way.
The coaching staff's message was meant to be a rallying cry. It was also meant to empower Rollins and Porter to play as leaders, according to team sources. The messages did not seem to be getting through, and the team felt splintered in the postgame locker room, however, and that led to a players-only meeting.
The players made points to each other and called out one another to try to overcome their rut. Multiple sources said Kuzma told teammates, specifically Rollins and Porter, that they can't take what was said to heart, not to worry about the coaches and to be their best selves moving forward. Coaches learned of Kuzma's message over the next 24 hours, and Kuzma did not play in the following game against the Celtics. Rivers said after the game that it was a coach's decision, and sources said the two had a conversation later in the week to hash out the situation before Kuzma's return to the rotation.
Antetokounmpo sat on the bench for the first half of the Bucks' loss in Chicago, but he left the United Center at halftime and was not present for the players-only meeting. He returned from his calf injury for the game against the Celtics on March 2, but it didn't matter. Ultimately, the Bucks went 1-4 against the Bulls, Celtics, Hawks, Utah Jazz and Orlando Magic. Four of the five losses during the stretch were blowouts, dropping the Bucks to 27-36 and well out of the play-in race.
"Something feels off about this season," Antetokounmpo told ESPN sideline reporter Vanessa Richardson before the Bucks' 131-113 defeat to the Hawks on March 4.
Heading into the March 12 game against the Heat, the Bucks had lost three games in a row and seven of eight. NBA scouts noticed increasingly disjointed play from the Bucks. Several team sources wondered why Antetokounmpo had not been shut down after all of his injuries, and with the Bucks plummeting in the standings, they had come to the realization that it's best for the team and player not to risk injury.
"The leadership piece is missing, someone has to step up and do the right thing," a team source said the week March 9.
Ultimately, it took one more injury -- Antetokounmpo's fifth of the season -- and more losses for the Bucks to pursue sitting their superstar.
ON MARCH 15, Antetokounmpo suffered a hyperextended left knee in the Bucks' home win over the Indiana Pacers. He was diagnosed with a bone bruise in the knee. The Bucks asked him to shut down for the remainder of the season, according to sources, believing it benefited both sides as it preserved his health and allowed the team to prioritize a higher draft pick. The problem was, however, the sides were not on the same page -- again.
Antetokounmpo refused the Bucks' requests to shut down and told the team that he planned to return when he was feeling healthy enough to play. On March 17, multiple sources said he pushed to play against the Jazz and told the team he believed he was healthy. The Bucks overruled him, and their medical staff did not clear him to play. Antetokounmpo then told multiple people around the team that he hoped to play later in the road trip (March 21 in Phoenix, March 23 in Los Angeles, March 25 in Portland), but never returned to action.
On March 24, the NBPA released a statement, implying that Milwaukee was "tanking" and damaging the league's integrity by shutting down Antetokounmpo. The NBA launched an investigation and interviewed Antetokounmpo, his representation, Bucks officials and team doctors -- a probe sparked by Antetokounmpo's push to have the union and league look into his own team.
"For somebody to come and tell me to not play or not to compete, it's like a slap in my face," Antetokounmpo told reporters April 3. "I'm available to play, but I'm not in the game. I'm available to play today. Right now. I'm available.
Antetokounmpo said he wants to play again this season to share the court with his brothers, Thanasis and Alex. Giannis Antetokounmpo is making efforts to play in Friday's home finale against the Nets.
The Bucks and Antetokounmpo gave two different stories to the league during the league's investigation interview process, however: Milwaukee said he was not ready to return and didn't genuinely want to; Antetokounmpo said he was healthy enough to play, but the team would not clear him.
The Bucks told investigators that Antetokounmpo declined the opportunity to scrimmage as part of the return protocol from his knee injury.
"The investigation has found that the Bucks scheduled Giannis to work out ... in three-on-three scrimmages as part of his return-to-play process, but he declined to participate," an NBA spokesperson said April 4. "There is a disagreement as to whether the team requested that Giannis participate in a group workout earlier this week, and the league is continuing to monitor the situation."
In the hours before they were mathematically eliminated from the play-in tournament on March 28, Rivers told a few veteran players that ownership was monitoring whether they would play in the final 10 games.
According to sources, Rivers told a group of veterans, such as Kuzma and Turner, that ownership did not want them to sit because of illegitimate injuries. The expectation was made clear that no one would be shut down early. However, no such edict was delivered from the Bucks to Antetokounmpo. Multiple sources said the Bucks' decision to sit Antetokounmpo cost him a significant bonus in his Nike endorsement contract that would have been triggered if he played at least 41 games.
ANTETOKOUNMPO IS NOT the only Bucks mainstay whose future is in question this offseason. Rivers, hired to replace Adrian Griffin in January 2024 after the firing of Mike Budenholzer, has gone just 95-100 as the Bucks' coach. Though Rivers has another year left on his contract, Haslam and Edens will decide his job status in the next week, sources said.
Horst, who joined the Milwaukee organization in 2008 as the director of basketball operations and was promoted to general manager in June 2017, signed an extension in April 2025 and has multiple seasons remaining on his contract. Sources close to the Bucks said Horst and Antetokounmpo have had friction in their longstanding relationship since the trade deadline.
Multiple moves by the front office, both in roster building and rotations, failed to work out this season, including most recently the signing of Cam Thomas after the 24-year-old guard was waived by the Brooklyn Nets. Horst touted Thomas as a key piece to the team's playoff hopes and long-term contending ability, while Rivers compared him to two former elite scorers and Sixth Men of the Year he coached, Lou Williams and Jamal Crawford.
After averaging 24.3 points during a three-game win streak early in his Bucks tenure, Thomas' production and minutes began to dwindle as the organization soured on Thomas. After not playing in three of his final five games in a Bucks uniform, Thomas was waived to make room for the Bucks to sign two-way big man Pete Nance to a multiyear deal.
The Bucks also cut the guaranteed contracts of second-round picks Tyler Smith and Chris Livingston out of training camp to keep Amir Coffey, who spent most of the season out of the rotation and was moved at the trade deadline along with Cole Anthony, another offseason signing.
Now, Antetokounmpo faces a career crossroads this offseason. He has missed 42 games and is averaging 27.6 points, his lowest since 2017-18. Despite the injuries, he showed that he's still an All-NBA-level player when healthy. For the majority of the past year, the Bucks and Antetokounmpo have partaken in a high-stakes staredown, each side waiting for the other to blink.
Bucks ownership knows it has decisions to make with the franchise's leadership and then will discuss the most significant choice of them all: moving on from Antetokounmpo or keeping him to call his bluff on bypassing a $275 million extension and again trying to build a competitive team around him with three first-round picks to trade.
The Bucks will be open to trade talks regarding Antetokounmpo, and the highest levels of the organization have come to terms with the inevitability of a likely deal coming to fruition this offseason, sources told ESPN.
"This is as toxic of a team situation as any in the league," one source close to the team said. "They waited until the very end on Giannis, and now everyone knows."
