A potential trade for Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo could be picking up momentum ahead of the Feb. 5 trade deadline.
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Wednesday that Antetokounmpo “is ready for a new home at the Feb. 5 NBA trade deadline or in the offseason as several rival teams make aggressive offers to the Milwaukee Bucks for him.”
“The franchise is starting to listen,” according to Charania.
The New York Knicks and Miami Heat are expected to be among the teams “making aggressive offers” for Antetokounmpo, per SNY’s Ian Begley.
Antetokounmpo has averaged 28 points and 10 rebounds through 30 games this season for a Bucks team sitting 12th in the Eastern Conference with an 18-27 record.
He is currently sidelined by a right calf injury, and Bucks coach Doc Rivers said Monday there is “really no timetable” for his return.
NBA insider Marc Stein reported as recently as Sunday that there was “still no clear-cut indication that the Bucks are willing to entertain the prospect of an Antetokounmpo deal before draft time in the spring.”
Charania then wrote Wednesday that “multiple teams have received a sense that the Bucks are more open than ever on Antetokounmpo offers between now and the deadline.”
“Sources said Antetokounmpo has informed the Bucks for months that he believes the moment has come to part ways after 12-plus years together, making a trade increasingly possible,” Charania reported.
The situation might have worsened last week, when Antetokounmpo expressed frustration with his team’s lack of chemistry and “selfish” play after a blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
NBA insider Jake Fischer wrote Wednesday that “multiple sources” had described that loss and Antetokounmpo’s comments afterward “as a point of no return.”
“The phrase we’ve heard over and over ‘the writing is on the wall,’ from teammates and Bucks figures, all led rival teams to believe Giannis was in play before next Thursday’s deadline,” Fischer wrote.
The Bucks have still indicated the franchise is not necessarily set on moving Antetokounmpo by the deadline, according to Charania.
Milwaukee would wait until the offseason to trade the star unless a trade offer meets “its believed price point of a blue-chip young talent and/or a surplus of draft picks,” per Charania.
According to Charania, the Bucks have previously tested the trade market as a buyer by shopping Bobby Portis and Kyle Kuzma but had not landed on any deals.
Charania previously reported that the Bucks had discussed a potential trade for Antetokounmpo with the New York Knicks for multiple weeks last summer, and that the Knicks had “emerged as the only place Antetokounmpo wanted to play outside of Milwaukee.”
He wrote in October that Bucks sources indicated the Knicks “did not make a strong enough offer to continue even discussing a trade.”
ESPN’s Bobby Marks recently pointed out that the Knicks would be limited in any Antetokounmpo trade offers by a lack of draft capital and restrictions imposed by exceeding the apron.
Marks theorized the Knicks could potentially try swapping Karl-Anthony Towns or packaging a combination of OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges.
The Heat have more salary cap room, but Marks reported that a “sticking point” might be packaging the franchise’s moveable first-round picks in 2030 and 2032 alongside players in a potential trade.
Teams will have until 3 p.m. ET on Feb. 5 to work out an agreement with the Bucks before negotiations shift to this offseason.
Whichever team Antetokounmpo is signed with by this summer might then begin work on an extension. Antetokounmpo is currently signed just through 2026-27 with a player option for his age-33 season in2027-28, per Spotrac.