The Bucks traded four first-round picks — two outright, and two pick swaps — to the New Orleans Pelicans for Jrue Holiday in 2020. They fired Mike Budenholzer, who led them to that 2021 title, after Milwaukee was shocked in the first round of the 2023 playoffs by the eighth-seeded Miami Heat, led by Jimmy Butler.
Milwaukee replaced Budenholzer with Adrian Griffin, whom Giannis Antetokounmpo advocated for. And the Bucks traded Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers later that summer to acquire Damian Lillard, even though many around the league had “Dame Time” penciled in for Miami.
Griffin started the next season 30-13. However, the Bucks fired him, as the team’s stout defense collapsed (no duh) with Holiday gone. There’s no evidence Antetokounmpo demanded Griffin’s ouster. But, similarly, if the team’s star player stands up on a table and says, “Don’t do this,” it usually isn’t done.
Lillard didn’t provide the bump necessary to put Milwaukee back on top, either, culminating with the Achilles injury he suffered in last year’s first-round playoff loss to the Indiana Pacers. Milwaukee last summer ate the $113 million — $113 million! — remaining on Lillard’s contract via the waive and stretch provision to sign Myles Turner to a four-year, $107 million contract.
So, let’s not get it twisted. Antetokounmpo served the Bucks exquisitely. But the Bucks served him well, too. You notice how people rarely use the word “amicable” unless it’s followed by the word “divorce.”