Every Monday, we catch you up on the happenings in the NBA. This week, Giannis Antetokounmpo made scathing comments about his team, then self-diagnosed an injury and provided a timetable for his return before undergoing an MRI. Are we basically at the end of the Giannis era in Milwaukee? Also, three teams are looking to right the ship. What does their week ahead look like?

We also have the extended version of the NBA Stock Report, a Monday staple in The Bounce. That’s our free NBA newsletter you can sign up for and receive every day in your inbox.

The Big Story: What does Giannis want?

We had a very odd week in the world of the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis. After Wednesday’s 122-102 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Giannis wasn’t happy with his teammates. He had 19 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists in 31 minutes. More importantly, he took just 11 field-goal attempts and six free-throw attempts. As Eric Nehm pointed out, that came in a stretch of six games during which the former MVP has taken his fewest shots of the season.

To say Giannis is frustrated would be an understatement. He believes his teammates don’t understand the benefits of giving him the ball.

“I’m not the guy that will yell and cuss his teammates out and demand the ball,” Antetokounmpo said when asked how he thought the Bucks could go about getting him more shots. “I’ve never done that in my career, but I feel like I’ve played with teammates that kinda understand the gravity that I can cause for our team and how I can create for my teammates or for myself and how I can help the team be more successful.”

He had a usage rate of better than 30 percent in five of those six games. That’s a pretty good indicator he has been heavily involved, but it doesn’t catch everything. And it’s fair to wonder if he’s getting the ball back in advantageous spots when he passes out of a double-team or away from the help and then re-establishes himself in a potentially better spot. Giannis is perplexed as to why.

“But maybe, for some reason — I don’t understand,” Antetokounmpo said. “Maybe because we’re young, maybe because we’re not playing well, maybe because guys think it’s their turn, they want to carry the team on their back and try to turn this around, but I really don’t get it. I really don’t.

“It’s not like I’m not trying to be aggressive. I’m really trying to be aggressive. At the end of the day, I have coaches, people that talk to me, they told me there’s this thing that’s called the white swan and the black swan. You gotta be the black swan and be more aggressive and demand the ball. Again, it’s something I’ve never done in my whole career, so maybe I gotta do it more.”

That last part is a reference to “The Black Swan,” a 2010 psychological thriller starring Natalie Portman. She’s an extremely talented ballerina on the edge of stardom, and she turns to a much darker persona to reach the elite, cutthroat level she needs to keep her competition at bay. In no way does that apply to Giannis, who has been dominating for years as a two-time NBA MVP and a league champion. We’re supposed to believe that Giannis hasn’t demanded the ball more, which is hard to do. He’s been the modern-day Shaquille O’Neal with his paint scoring the last couple of years — and that’s as he’s been pushed further and further away from competing for a championship.

We’ve seen Giannis shy away from the public perception that he needs something demanding. In 2023, when the Bucks, as the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed, were eliminated by Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat, he was asked why he didn’t switch onto Butler as Jrue Holiday was getting torched. His response essentially was that it was then-coach Mike Budenholzer’s call and Holiday’s call, which sounded nothing like the fierce competitor we’d heard and seen from Giannis for more than a decade. Fast forward, and the idea that he’s never demanded the ball doesn’t make sense.

This speaks to my theory that Giannis is really struggling with the idea of being the bad guy. It’s less about demanding the ball and more about deciding to leave a city and organization he loves because he knows they’re not competing for a championship any time soon. I can’t imagine anybody in Milwaukee would fault him for wanting to finally leave, but Giannis keeps making comments that he would never demand a trade and that he can’t control if the Bucks decide to move on from him. (Spoiler alert: They won’t.)

With the Feb. 5 deadline approaching, people around the league have wondered/hoped if Giannis might finally become too frustrated with the lack of title-contending to finally have his agent request a trade. A wrinkle was thrown in after Friday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets. Giannis injured his calf in the game, self-diagnosed the injury and gave himself a timetable for return.

“Probably the next steps will be, go to (an) MRI tomorrow. After the MRI, they’ll tell me, probably, I popped something in my calf, in my soleus, something. They’ll probably give me a protocol of four to six weeks that I’ll be out,” Antetokounmpo said after Friday’s game. “This is from my experience being around the NBA.”

Whether Dr. Antetokounmpo is accurate or not, this injury probably takes him out beyond the trade deadline. Not that it would prevent teams from trying to trade for him if he officially declared he wanted out (or had his agent request it). If he’s out for weeks, it almost assures the Bucks won’t even make the Play-In Tournament. This team stinks without him on the floor. The Bucks are 2 1/2 games behind the Atlanta Hawks for 10th in the East, and they’re only a game ahead of the Charlotte Hornets.

This summer, Giannis will have no choice but to finally decide where he needs to be. He’s extension-eligible in October, not June or July. He has a player option in 2027-28. For years, he’s put it out there that he could leave if the Bucks are not contenders. They’ve always responded with a bold move (the trade for Holiday, the trade for Damian Lillard, the waive-and-stretch of Dame after his injury so they could sign Myles Turner). They look to be out of bold moves. So, what does he want?

NBA Stock Report Extended

📈 Nuggets (31-15). Nearly a month ago, Nikola Jokić hyperextended his knee in a game against Miami. We were told he’d be out at least four weeks. The team was already dealing with injuries to Christian Braun and Cameron Johnson. Aaron Gordon was banged up and in and out of the lineup. And in the Western Conference, remaining in the top six is not only a feat, but a necessity. It’s going to be really difficult to end up in the Play-In Tournament in the West and set yourself up for a deep playoff run. The Nuggets were 22-10 and sitting third in the West at the time of Jokić’s injury, with the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves and more teams breathing down their necks.

Since then, the Nuggets have gone 9-5. During that time, Jamal Murray and Gordon have both missed four games, Jonas Valančiūnas has missed 12, and Braun and Johnson still haven’t found their ways back. Murray has been spectacular when he has played, averaging 28.2 points on 50.0/42.9/90.6 shooting splits and 8.4 assists per game. Peyton Watson has been brilliant, averaging 23.6 points per game. He’d scored 20 or more points in a game six times in his career before Jokić got hurt on Dec. 29. Watson has since done it eight times.

📉 Memphis Grizzlies (18-25). First and foremost, Ja Morant is hurt again, and that’s always going to be a bummer for the Grizzlies experience. He’s expected to miss at least three weeks with an elbow injury. That will put him out well past the trade deadline, which is a week and a half away. On top of that, the Grizzlies still have a bunch of other injuries (Brandon Clarke, Zach Edey, Ty Jerome and Scotty Pippen Jr.) that have left this team lacking, especially in the backcourt. Memphis is also starting to lose grip of the proverbial rope on the court.

The Grizzlies are just 3-9 in their last 12 games. The schedule has been pretty tough during the stretch, so you can’t blame them too much. However, they also lost games to the Washington Wizards and New Orleans Pelicans. With the Portland Trail Blazers and the LA Clippers surging, the Grizzlies’ hopes of making the Play-In Tournament are starting to fade away like Marty McFly failing to change the past. Their defense is struggling, and their offense isn’t consistent enough to make up for it.

📈 Hornets (18-28). We’ve nearly had as much winning basketball from Charlotte as we’ve had horrendous basketball from them this season. Yes, the Hornets are 10 games under .500, but the Hornets started a brutal 7-18, had a mediocre offense (18th with a 114.0 rating) and possessed a much worse defense (24th with 117.9 rating). Since then? They’ve gone 11-10 and have had the second-best offense in the NBA (120.0 rating) and the No. 13 defense (113.6 rating).

That’s a massive turnaround on both ends of the floor! Their top five scorers during this stretch have all been fantastic from 3-point range. The team is shooting 39.5 percent from deep during this stretch. Kon Knueppel (45 percent), LaMelo Ball (41.5 percent), Collin Sexton (41.5 percent), Brandon Miller (39.2 percent) and Miles Bridges (36.4 percent) have all been knocking down 3s with ease. Bridges is the weakest link of those five, and he’s still at league average. Charles Lee has this team embracing its potential on offense and finding some real fight and execution on defense.

📉 Wizards (10-34). You’re probably thinking, “Duh,” and you wouldn’t be wrong. The Wizards are still struggling a lot, even for them. Or, I should say they’re struggling for a team you’d hope would be finding more rhythm and development as the season moves forward. They’ve lost nine straight games. Washington has the second-worst offense and defense in the league. During this losing streak, the defense hasn’t been quite as bad, but the offense is even worse. Part of that could be sending out two efficient players like CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert for Trae Young, who hasn’t played for them yet.

The Wizards should try to get Young on the floor as soon as they can and build some chemistry between him and the young players. There isn’t much chance that he’s going to improve things in a way that costs them lottery balls. They’re still going to be one of the worst teams in the NBA, but they can create some needed development for the future.

Who knew Jusuf Nurkić had this in him? (Rob Gray / Imagn Images)

📈 Jusuf Nurkić. In the first 643 games of Nurkić’s career (including playoffs), he had one triple-double — back on Jan. 16, 2019. He registered 10 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, barely notching his first career triple-dip in a blowout victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.  He now has a triple-double in each of his last three games for the Utah Jazz. He’s gone full Jokić, and remember, Denver sent Nurkić out of town during the 2016-17 season because it wanted to give way to Jokić’s future greatness. Now Nurk is finding that triple-double flow.

His last three games have been a 16-point, 18-rebound, 10-assist effort against the Timberwolves, a 17-point, 11-rebound and 14-assist night against the San Antonio Spurs and a 17-point, 10-rebound and 12-assist performance against the Heat. We didn’t know he had that in him. Utah is just 1-2 in those games, but maybe Nurkić is playing this way to try to get him some trade interest by the deadline?

📉 Brooklyn Nets (12-32). I had the Nets locked in for this spot in the NBA Stock Report before they were entirely embarrassed by the Clippers on Sunday. Brooklyn has lost five in a row after showing a brief semblance of finding a groove. Toward the end of December, the Nets had an impressive three-game winning streak with victories over the Toronto Raptors, the Philadelphia 76ers and Minnesota. Since then, they’re just 2-13. That’s the worst record in basketball since Dec, 28. The Wizards have been better than Brooklyn during this stretch!

Seven of these losses have been by double digits, including a 54-point loss to the New York Knicks and a 37-point loss to the Clippers in two of their last three games. If they decide to move Michael Porter Jr. before the deadline, we may have seen the last of our watchable Nets games this season.

📈 Joel Embiid. I won’t say that Embiid is back or that we’re seeing the old Embiid, but he’s definitely finding comfort in what the 76ers are asking him to do. Over his last 13 games, Embiid has scored 30 or more points seven different times, including four straight games. During this 13-game stretch, Embiid is averaging 28.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists in 34.1 minutes. He’s also made 52.7 percent of his shots and 88.1 percent of his 9.1 free-throw attempts per game. He’s shooting the 3-ball poorly (32.6 percent), but we’re mostly seeing Embiid find his sweet spots on the floor.

The Week Ahead: Righting the ship

The Knicks, Cavaliers and Orlando Magic were all supposed to be contenders in the East. The Knicks have struggled lately, the Magic haven’t found their groove much at all, and the Cavs are hoping they’ve found their way out of a first-half funk. All three teams have big weeks coming up.

Knicks

Upcoming games: vs. Sacramento Kings, at Raptors (back-to-back), vs. Blazers, vs. Lakers.

New York hopes its last two games (a 54-point win over Brooklyn, a close win over Philly) are signs that the slump is over. The previous three weeks saw their offense and defense look pretty abysmal by their standards. The Knicks will get another gimme this week when they host the Kings, but then they’ll head to Toronto the next day. The Raptors just beat the Thunder, so they’re feeling great about themselves. The Knicks then have two potentially tough games at home with the Blazers and Lakers. Portland has been on a tear, and the Lakers will have Luka Dončić and LeBron James trying to show out at Madison Square Garden.

The Knicks need to go at least 3-1 this week.

Cavaliers

Upcoming games: vs. Magic, vs. Lakers, at the Phoenix Suns, at Blazers

Cleveland has won five of its last six, including two wins over Philadelphia and a win against Orlando. This is encouraging, as we wonder if the team we saw last season still exists in those uniforms. But whenever it feels like the Cavs might be breaking out, something brings them back down to earth. They’re getting better, but this is a middle-of-the-road outside shooting team. We want to see the confidence in the shot making from last season.

A 3-1 mark would make a lot of people feel like we’re finally seeing the old Cavs.

Magic

Upcoming games: at Cavaliers, at Heat, vs. Raptors, at San Antonio Spurs

Orlando still needs Franz Wagner back and at 100 percent to feel like things are starting to move toward their offseason hype. Jalen Suggs is back in the lineup, and Anthony Black continues to be a starter. The Magic would love to be in a situation where they have to make that tough call regarding bringing him off the bench. They’d also love to get some coherent offense going, which will be tough against these four teams this week. They’re definitely the weakest of the three mentioned here, but they have to reach this next level if they want to be taken seriously.

Going 3-1 would be huge. Mostly, I want to see them beat Cleveland and Toronto to show they’re finding their form.