Giannis Antetokounmpo ended the Milwaukee Bucks’ season saying he does not know what comes next for him or the team after a 32-50 finish that left them outside the playoffs for the first time in nine straight appearances.
The 31-year-old forward made the comments after the Bucks dropped their season finale to the Philadelphia 76ers, 126-106, on Sunday. He said he did not expect Milwaukee to be in this position a year ago and added, “If everything goes well, hopefully, if the Bucks want me here, why not? But if they don’t, okay.”
The numbers tell the story of a season that slipped away. Antetokounmpo played a career-low 36 games because of injuries, though he still averaged 27.6 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists. He said Milwaukee was “very bad” and described the team as being “the furthest away” it has been in the last few years, pointing to a season in which 32 wins left him staring at one of the lowest totals of his career. The only lower mark he mentioned was the 15-win season he endured in 2013-14, his first year in the league.
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Milwaukee won its first title after a 50-year drought with Antetokounmpo on the roster, but the franchise has now spent the past months trying to manage a far less certain present. Trade rumors linked him to the Golden State Warriors, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Miami Heat and the San Antonio Spurs, and the Bucks kept him at the deadline despite widespread belief he could be moved.
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That tension has not gone away. Antetokounmpo has sent mixed signals about staying in Milwaukee, saying at times he wants to remain and at others that it may be time to move on. ’s Shams Charania reported that a trade this offseason has become “inevitable” for the Bucks, a claim that now hangs over a team trying to recover from an injury-hit season and over a star who said plainly that he did not know what position Milwaukee would be in next year.
