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Giannis desperately doesn’t want to be bad guy with non-trade, trade request
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- Giannis desperately doesn’t want to be bad guy with non-trade, trade request
Giannis Antetokounmpo wants to have his cake and eat it, too.
As a franchise legend, Antetokounmpo wants to continue being beloved by the Milwaukee Bucks and their fans. But the currently injured two-time MVP also knows the Bucks are rudderless and probably won't help him compete for NBA championships anymore. As such, he understandably and very clearly wants a trade to a team more suited for title contention in the here and now. However, Antetokounmpo also wants his trade saga to be painless , so as not to alienate any relationships or connections he's made in the last decade-plus in Milwaukee. If we call it like it is, he doesn't want this situation to be a "saga" at all.
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For a player as exceptional as him, that, naturally, is an impossible balance to strike. His Bucks exit, whenever it inevitably happens, will attract a circus no matter what. It's something Antetokounmpo is learning very quickly.
But perhaps not quickly enough.
How else do you explain the bizarre (absurd) language in Antetokounmpo's latest non-trade, trade request?
You see, dearest readers, Antetokounmpo's camp isn't requesting a trade, per se, through ESPN's Shams Charania. No, no. If they wanted a trade, they would say it out loud. They are, however, "ready for a new home," which, crucially, has no mention of the word "trade" but also sounds like something you would write for a would-be adopted dog on the website of an animal rescue shelter.
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Antetokounmpo doesn't want to be traded, BUT he also wants to leave the Bucks in short order. This is a good reminder about the inherent damage and confusion you cause when you use euphemisms without being direct:
Newsflash to Antetokounmpo: Everyone (read: everyone ) in Milwaukee already knows he wants out. It well and truly is the NBA's worst-kept secret.
There is no nice way to say goodbye when you've become a franchise icon who brought an organization a championship. Someone will be rubbed the wrong way no matter what. If they aren't already, that is. And there's nothing wrong with that; it's just life. Plain and simple.
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By dancing around the obvious time and again, Antetokounmpo is only doing more damage to the psyche of his Bucks teammates. I'm not going to pretend that the Bucks would be that much better if Antetokounmpo were fully committed to their future and everyone knew it. That roster is awful with a capital A. But, with a bought-in Antetokounmpo, I find it hard to believe the Bucks would be 18-27, at the time of this writing, in a moribund Eastern Conference. Please note that record includes a recent 2-6 stretch with four double-digit losses .
The Bucks have flat-out quit.
Team morale matters. The Bucks' other players have to believe they're playing for anything of consequence in order to turn a disaster season around. Just look at how the injured and battered Denver Nuggets are staying afloat without their own MVP in Nikola Jokić and three other starters . For an even better example, look at how the Jayson Tatum-less Boston Celtics are battling this season. They're the No. 2 seed in the East! They're not throwing in the towel because they're still playing for something. Together. The contrast in competitiveness between the Nuggets and Celtics, and the Bucks, is quite literally night and day.
This constant, unsubtle trade waffling by Antetokounmpo and his people only serves to twist the knife for a reality each of his Bucks teammates is already prepared for. To say nothing of Bucks fans, who may have already proceeded through some of the five stages of grief in regard to losing an MVP-caliber superstar. Everyone knows he's gone. Everyone knows he will, eventually, leave to look out for his career. For all intents and purposes, Antetokounmpo is the only one holding onto this image of himself as this selfless, unnecessarily loyal franchise player. By dragging this trade nonsense out, he actually just looks selfish.
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It's time to finally rip the Band-Aid off rather than continue to toy with everyone's emotions.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Giannis really doesn't want to be bad guy to Bucks in trade talks
