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On the court, a calf strain has cooled off Giannis Antetokounmpo and kept him in street clothes.
Off the court, Dec. 15 is the day that 79 players who signed or extended their contracts last summer become eligible to be traded — it’s the unofficial opening day of NBA trade season. That, however, didn’t move things closer to an Antetokounmpo trade.
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Where do things stand with an Antetokounmpo trade? Let’s break it down.
Is Antetokounmpo willing to be the bad guy?
As of Dec. 15, the main thing holding up a serious Antetokounmpo trade market is Antetokounmpo himself.
Antetokounmpo has yet to actually demand a trade — if he doesn’t knock over the first domino, the others won’t fall in time for the Feb. 5 trade deadline. The league is still waiting for Antetokounmpo to make his move, something NBA insider Marc Stein noted in his latest Substack missive. Milwaukee is not going to trade the best player they have had since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar until he demands it (as Kareem himself did).
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While Antetokounmpo and his agent are reportedly meeting with the Bucks about his future, that is not a trade demand. At least yet. Antetokounmpo has come off as not wanting to be the bad guy in all this and force his way out of Wisconsin, but he is not getting traded at the deadline unless he is willing to be that guy. (Things change this summer, when if he refuses to sign a contract extension with the team, then the Bucks will be forced to make a deal or risk losing him for nothing.)
Knicks not all in?
If Antetokounmpo does demand a trade, the market for his services may not be quite as robust as expected, although some of that also could be posturing by teams.
Multiple reports have said Antetokounmpo wants to play in New York. While the details on the discussions between the Knicks and Bucks last August remain vague, what you believe happened says a lot about what you want to see happen in the future. The spin out of New York is that it made what it believed was a fair offer for Antetokounmpo. The vibe out of Milwaukee was that New York did not go all in on a trade.
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Why should the Knicks come harder…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nba-trade-rumors-2025-26-161636217.html
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Publish date : 2025-12-15 16:16:00
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