{"id":725269,"date":"2026-06-25T14:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T14:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/725269\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T14:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T14:18:10","slug":"owczarski-details-timeline-leading-to-giannis-bucks-split","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/725269\/","title":{"rendered":"Owczarski Details Timeline Leading To Giannis\/Bucks Split"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n By Luke Adams<\/a> |
\n at June 25, 2026 1:21 am <\/p>\n

Having spoken to more than 50 team and league sources about the situation during his time covering the team, Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel<\/a> (subscriber link) has provided a fascinating, in-depth timeline of the events that ultimately led to Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a>\u2018s exit from Milwaukee, outlining in detail how the relationship between the Bucks and their longtime star gradually frayed in recent years.<\/p>\n

While the trade isn\u2019t official yet, the Bucks agreed late on Monday night<\/a> to a blockbuster deal that will send Antetokounmpo to the Heat.<\/p>\n

It would be impossible to highlight all of the interesting tidbits that Owczarski shares in his report, but here are several of the most interesting items from the story:<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo didn\u2019t believe that former Bucks head coach Doc Rivers could push him or the team to the level that he wanted, but after having exercised his influence for past moves, including the trade for Damian Lillard<\/a> and the hiring of Milwaukee\u2019s previous head coach, Adrian Griffin, Giannis was wary of pushing for Rivers to be let go. Still, Owczarski suggests it\u2019s likely not a coincidence that rumors about Antetokounmpo potentially seeking a change of scenery began leaking last year once it became clear ahead of the 2025\/26 season that the organization was still backing Rivers.
\nEven if he hadn\u2019t torn his Achilles during the 2025 playoffs, Lillard likely would\u2019ve requested a trade out of Milwaukee last offseason, per Owczarski.
\nThe Bucks\u2019 leadership grew \u201cweary\u201d of what they viewed as \u201cdouble talk\u201d from Antetokounpmo and his representatives, according to Owczarski, who points to a December 17 media session as one example. Giannis told reporters that day that he hadn\u2019t spoken to ownership about his future with the team during the season, even though he had done so earlier in the month.
\n\u201cI have seen them make every decision with the foundational piece being, \u2018What will Giannis think of this?’\u201d one source said of the Bucks\u2019 decision-makers, per Owczarski. Those decisions included signing Giannis\u2019 brothers \u2013 Thanasis Antetokounmpo<\/a> and Alex Antetokounmpo<\/a> \u2013 to contracts, which bothered Rivers and other Bucks coaches, especially since having those players taking up spots that could\u2019ve gone to more productive players seemingly ran counter to Giannis\u2019 desire to contend for titles. \u201cGiannis said so many things,\u201d a former coach told the Journal Sentinel. \u201cIt stems from your actions, which is, \u2018My brothers have to be on this team.\u2019 Well then, are you about a championship? \u2018Cause they\u2019re not only not helping us win a championship, it\u2019s creating dissension.\u201d
\nAt one point when the Bucks and Giannis\u2019 camp were at odds earlier this year<\/a> about whether he was healthy enough to return from his knee injury, Antetokounmpo\u2019s agent Alex Saratsis and Bucks co-owner Jimmy Haslam had a verbal confrontation about the situation, says Owczarski.
\nAlthough Rivers insisted at season\u2019s end<\/a> that it was \u201c100%\u201d his decision to leave his position as Bucks head coach, Owczarski reports that the organization recognized he couldn\u2019t return in that role and Rivers was given the option to either leave the team or work as a special assistant to general manager Jon Horst.
\nAntetokounmpo cut off contact with the Bucks after the end of the season, Owczarski says, writing that Giannis didn\u2019t answer calls from the Bucks and didn\u2019t allow any members of their strength and conditioning staff to oversee his workouts in Milwaukee or in Greece, even though he was still under contract with the team.
\nIn March, a day after Bucks co-owner Wes Edens stated<\/a> that Antetokounmpo would be traded or extended, Giannis \u201cderisively\u201d referenced Edens\u2019 remarks with a senior team official nearby, stating, \u201cLet\u2019s see if they have the balls to trade me,\u201d per Owczarski. However, after making that comment, he looked down and said, more quietly, \u201cThey\u2019re gonna trade me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Luke Adams | at June 25, 2026 1:21 am Having spoken to more than 50 team and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[311969,173816,167401,5487,8261,359,82191,8264,99,245568],"class_list":["post-725269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-adrian-griffin","tag-alex-antetokounmpo","tag-alex-saratsis","tag-damian-lillard","tag-doc-rivers","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-jimmy-haslam","tag-jon-horst","tag-sports","tag-thanasis-antetokounmpo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}