Did Giannis Antetokounmpo, hungry for something more on the back-end of his basketball life, change his breakfast order after all?

For anyone who has already forgotten — after all, it was a whole three weeks ago — the Milwaukee Bucks star told me on Jan. 8 that he would never ask for a trade out of Milwaukee.

“That’s … not … in … my … nature,” he said so emphatically on the loading dock of Chase Center after a loss to the Golden State Warriors.

More specifically, and comedically, the 31-year-old had compared this agonizing decision about his professional future to the choice that one faces every morning when pondering their first meal of the day.

“Just because I like my eggs scrambled today, I don’t have the opportunity to eat my eggs sunny-side up tomorrow?” he said with a smile. “We’re human, right? So it’s the same thing in basketball. But again, in my nature, I will never (ask for a trade out of Milwaukee). I will never. That’s not who I am.”

There was an inherent difficulty with that declaration, though. On the one hand, Antetokounmpo had claimed that a person’s view on their situation was always subject to change. On the other, he insisted in no uncertain terms that he would “never” ask out.

So when ESPN reported on Wednesday morning that Milwaukee had finally decided to listen to Antetokounmpo offers, with the Bucks’ big man said to be “ready for a new home” ahead of the Feb. 5 trade deadline, it was easy to assume that those sunny-side up eggs proved too good to pass up. Since our discussion, the Bucks not only lost six of eight games, but they lost Giannis (to a calf strain) in a loss against the Denver Nuggets last Friday. Add in the booing incident in an awful home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Jan. 13, when Antetokounmpo made it quite clear that he was more comfortable being the villain than previously believed, and one could start to see why he began having a change of heart about his eggs.

Upon further review, however, this might not be that simple.

As several rival executives agreed during a day of fascinating discussions about the Antetokounmpo saga — they were granted anonymity in exchange for their candor — this was the strongest sign yet that the Bucks,  as opposed to Antetokounmpo, truly want to know what the market looks like for their two-time MVP. Longtime general manager Jon Horst has privately claimed for years now that he’d demand a massive return if this unwelcome day ever came, and the fact that it appears to be here means it’s time for him to get clarity on what is — and isn’t — available both now and later (if Milwaukee decides to push this into the offseason).

In the eyes of many, this latest media messaging was a means to that end. The last thing the Bucks can afford here is for Antetokounmpo, who has a player option for the 2027-28 season, to dine and dash.

League sources confirmed to The Athletic that the Bucks are, in fact, fully engaging with interested teams. And the leading suitors, the sources also confirmed, are the Miami Heat, New York Knicks, Golden State and Minnesota. But for those teams and every other Giannis dreamer that comes Horst’s way, the public nature of it all means this is incredibly tricky territory to navigate.

Just ask the Knicks, whose talks with the Bucks about Antetokounmpo last summer led to hard feelings with Karl-Anthony Towns that, per team sources, remain to this day. That’s the double-doozy that every team seeks to avoid — the failure to land the player they’re pursuing that is followed by a step backward, relationship-wise, with the player who learned he was nearly sent packing in the process.

Case in point: the Atlanta Hawks.

In the hours that followed this latest development, some rival executives claimed the Hawks were in prime position to win the Antetokounmpo sweepstakes. But that sort of move would almost certainly require giving up 24-year-old small forward Jalen Johnson, the All-Star caliber talent whose place in their program was recently elevated by the decision to send Trae Young to the Washington Wizards. By the time the afternoon came, Hawks officials were sending the message that they weren’t, in fact, involved while emphasizing the plan to build with a long-term view in mind (a la Oklahoma City and San Antonio).

But not everyone has the luxury to wait. Least of all, the Warriors.

In terms of motivated parties, you’d be hard-pressed to find any team that could use Antetokounmpo more now than Golden State. Not only is the Steph Curry clock ticking, with No. 30 set to turn 38 a few months from now, but the season-ending ACL injury to Jimmy Butler (not to mention the loss of Jonathan Kuminga) has put them in the most precarious of positions.

So while the Warriors continue to signal that Butler or Draymond Green won’t be going anywhere anytime soon, their involvement in this latest round of talks is evidence enough on its own that they’ll do what it takes to up the odds of getting a deal done (outside of the Warriors’ walls, the belief is that everyone not named Steph is up for grabs). What’s more, the harsh reality is that the Heat — whose strong interest in Antetokounmpo is widely known — can access a treasure trove of first-rounders (up to four) in the summer and should thus incentivize Golden State to seize this current moment.

Can the Timberwolves convince the Bucks to send Antetokounmpo their way, thereby giving Anthony Edwards the sort of co-star he’s never had in the Twin Cities? It’s seen as a long shot at this point, but much could change in the coming days.

All in all, it’s a sordid situation, to be sure. Scrambled, one might even say. With an order of sunny-side up on the way.