Giannis didn't ask for a trade, but

Not your fault, Milwaukee. Fans, media, superstar, secondary stars, general manager, ownership group. Not to blame.

Ya had some slips. Kyle Kuzma, OK, woof. Coupla blown draft picks, I get it, but, still, not your fault. I will not write columns in 30 years detailing the Milwaukee Bucks biff of the Giannis Antetokounmpo dynasty.

Instead, we'll probably detail how the club proactively pointed its way toward the proper cast of championship-winning characters, until the day Milwaukee made one move too many. Incidentally, the same October Dame Day we applauded the marvelous Bucks the most. The Bucks didn't win with Lillard, but there were no biffs. Bling covers all that.

That there is smoke enough for us to see, and write about, informs the mood. It didn't feel like a fire until now, even if the eventual deal delays through June. The Bucks and Giannis have a chance to end this relationship grinning with the charm and wonder which marked its giddiest days, while it was growing, while it was winning. This is one of sports' great pairings, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Wisconsin, but sometimes greatness needs to move on to let a new set of seeds sprout.

It's called "rotating the crops," and it is a super easy task not only for farmers but ex-NBA championship teams as well, provided the Bucks replace one once-a-quarter-century human with another. And quickly, nobody likes a clouded rebuild. We're growing food, here, not salary cap flexibility.

Milwaukee hasn't run with its full complement in 2025-26, the healthiest Buck lineup will debut in two-to-four weeks when Giannis returns from his calf strain.

We should talk about calf strains.

I won't tell you to delete social media from your phone. But please, for the sake of the daily routine, execute all errands before League Pass sparks up each evening. Do not rush out in the middle of a few collected halftimes to buy cat food, Whatever Protein's On Sale, and seltzer.

Make sure you're at home, in front of every screen, on the chance something like a Giannis Antetokounmpo Calf Scare goes down. I checked social media as I was leaving my car, walked inside crumpled by the news, damn near cried in the kitty food section. Can't have that. Cry in the cat food section for the normal reasons, not sports.

Had I been home, had I shopped earlier, I'd be around for the immediate aftermath, the clip of Antetokounmpo walking into the locker room, word leaking that Milwaukee ruled out an Achilles tear, Doc Rivers disputing the injury's "non-contact"-designation. I would have been calm, a guitar in my hands. I have tuna cans, coulda given the cats some actual tuna.

Now every time I pull a handful of frozen shrimp from our freezer I'll think of when I bought the shrimp, how sad I was, how lame that I'll probably have to write another column about how the NBA and its current schedule are incompatible and that the league requires cutting travel and adding restful days and nights between performances.

Milwaukee is 9-8 with Giannis, a figure which, um, figures to rise when the Bucks return the full backcourt to strength.

Obviously I'm trying not to say the guy's name, but the Bucks have been healthy save for that guy, Taurean Prince, and Giannis.

This is not a crowded medical tent, five Bucks haven't missed a contest in 2025-26, Kuzma and Cole Anthony combined to sit three outings. Banking on a plus-.500 turn with a healthy Bucks group is a fair assumption, we've no reason to believe Myles Turner, A.J. Green, Gary Trent Jr., Bobby Portis and Ryan Rollins will falter when they've played every game so far.

Then again, the sun sets around 3:42 PM in Wisconsin these days, the stein could be half-empty. Each healthy Buck could be due for a pendulum swing into street clothes.

In four months, could this collection take three playoff rounds in a row? Absolutely, though with the qualifier that I wouldn't exclude anyone in the East's top ten from a bid for the Finals. The line stops at Chicago.

Yet there is no real historical movement behind a sub-average defense and offense, a group with a negative point differential, getting an act together and vaulting toward the title round. Even in the East: New York's 1999 Knicks at least boasted a top-four defense, and plus-two points per game.

The Knicks. As with Damian Lillard, Giannis' wandering eye alerts to a designated destination: Manhattan.

Milwaukee is under the same obligation to send Antetokounmpo to New York as Portland was to deliver Dame Lillard to Miami. Any Knick draft pick return would stink, the team would pick in the low-20s with Giannis Antetokounmpo, and it doesn't matter anyway because New York is out of picks. Do you not read The Post.

We've already moved on toward trading Giannis because we heard it from "the source," via Doc Rivers: Giannis Antetokounmpo "loves Milwaukee and he loves the Bucks."

Which is why the Bucks have to trade him from Milwaukee, right?

In most markets, I'd decline, but the East is wide-open, and front offices may turn rather desperate once Dec. 14 clicks over to Dec. 15, when teams can trade mistakes. Milwaukee can fill itself with mistakes and earn draft picks for the effort, keeping the club around .500 because the East is shyte. Even mistakes can win NBA games.

They say "Dec. 15" every December, though, as if imperative for NBA teams to lose certain players by Dec. 16. Do these players, even Jonathan Kuminga, actually exist?

Dealing Giannis sooner rather than later isn't some cynical bet against an Achilles tear, either, some anticipated body breakdown. Giannis has over 3000 playoff minutes to his credit, lots, but he's only averaged over 35 minutes per game once in his regular season career (32.8 minutes per game overall ). I've no reason to think he won't produce prodigious amounts through his 30s.

The next players Antetokounmpo passes in all-time minutes are Boris Diaw and Raymond Felton, and only my own excesses over Thanksgiving weekend will keep me from making this joke about "buttery rolls."

The best place for an Antetokounmpo deal is the offseason, when picks turn to people, contracts shave down to a final season. Technically, Giannis (a player option after 2026-27) is a free agent in 2027, with the ability to wield influence over his destination via contract extension.

Then again, Damian Lillard probably never thought he'd sign a contract extension with the Milwaukee Bucks this time three years ago, but surprises have a way of popping up and spreading joy when paired with Bird Rights and exceptional new teammates.

If a deal is made in winter, it should be because the Bucks cannot pass a chance to remake the franchise. Antetokounmpo loves the Bucks, Milwaukee, he'll want them to flourish in his absence. The Bucks need to make the sort of trade a candid Giannis can't help but agree with, I'd trade myself for all that, too.

And, outside Milwaukee, the Spurs or any other potential trading partner bears no burden to match Giannis' legacy and career and production with an outrageous array of picks and prospects and talents. The days of trading four future rookie contracts for a single, succulent 30-something taking up grandfathered max money, mid-30-something percent of your cap space? Gone.

The other team needn't flatter Antetokounmpo, Spurs studs Stephon Castle and even Dylan Harper are proven, future draft positions and resultant picks are not. If I am San Antonio I don't offer anyone but Harrison Barnes and Jeremy Sochan, and only because they play Giannis' position. Not even the expiring Devin Vassell nor a Castle nor a Dylan. Milwaukee may take the draft picks, not the players.

The Bucks are under similar obligation to ask for the Milwaukee Moon and Wisconsin Stars and everything underneath in exchange for a top-five NBA player (under current contract and the next one). Emotions should run high, this man won your city a championship, there is no reason to rush his removal for optics' sake. The NBA flips its front page every 48 hours, even after superstar trades, but history never forgets, only ignores.

Ask for everything.

NBA GMs probably aren't out to deny the Spurs a shot at Giannis like they'd sniff at aiding the hated Lakers. Giannis isn't an immediate champion in any setting, and this espoused ceiling is not a statement on Oklahoma City's superiority. The NBA is deep and talented and whoever trades for 31-year old Giannis Antetokounmpo must also strike their talent and depth to do so.

The Knicks plus Giannis can be ably toppled by what we've seen from Toronto and Detroit thus far, possibly Orlando and Boston if Baylor Schierman remains aflame, Cavs and Hawks probably, I could go on. Heat. Perhaps I underrated the game's third-best (at worst) player, but a game's a game, the team's the thing.

The West? Pretend OKC doesn't exist, even, and Giannis is no sure shot. Put him on the Nuggets, even ... what does Denver depart with?

With the Thunder as currently constructed? There's a shot if your team trades for Giannis, however slight.

BULLS

Would we doubt Sweet Lou?

Not I. This sounds like something a Bulls source would say to Lou Canellis. Just because you've seen Lou Canellis interview a very drunk Bill Wennington live in the locker room after Chicago's fourth title, don't assume it the source is Bill Wennington. Rather, some part-owner snorting something about how the Bulls are better than that.

They aren't. And they won't, like I would, swap Josh Giddey and (the out-for-the-season) Noa Essengue and Jalen Smith and Nikola Vucevic and Zach Collins and every pick the Bulls have for Giannis and Myles Turner.

I wouldn't trade Milwaukee every pick because I think that's the right deal, I trade them so Artūras Karnišovas can't use them.

HAWKS

The best way to rebuild is to benefit from one's own losses. Atlanta stands obvious because the Hawks own the rights to Milwaukee's 2027 first-round pick. Additionally, swap rights to (10-13) MKE or (3-20) New Orleans' 2026 first-rounder.

Atlanta will choose New Orleans' pick.

Milwaukee returning a potential top 2026 pick plus control over one's one pick the season following, good juice. As are the optics of adding Trae Young (to trade in February?) plus 2024 No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher to Milwaukee in exchange for Antetokounmpo and Gary Trent Jr. (apres le danged Dec. 15).

Jalen Johnson is a superstar but four years older, on his second contract, Risacher's future may be brighter than the shine of the ascendent Johnson. Ideally the 20-year old Risacher is perfect ultraroleplayer to pick and choose alongside Antetokounmpo, but if I'm I'm Atlanta I hold out to pair Giannis and Jalen. I'm probably wrong, but I'll always bet on "tall." One of the chief reasons I am inscrutable during poker games.

If I'm Atlanta I don't budge on any pick beyond NOLA's selection and Milwaukee's own in 2027. Giannis is 31 and owed a significant portion of my cap moving forward, he is no guarantee for even second round success among this lot. There is great value to walking away from a deal for Antetokounmpo, Atlanta keeping this impressive array of incoming first-round selections. There is a reason Milwaukee dials Atlanta first, control is imperative and the Hawks have it.

If Milwaukee doesn't want to be the team determining further value for Trae Young, I get it, deal Antetokounmpo for any number of other Hawk obligations. Get that pick back in 2027, and treat an immediate top pick in 2026 as the baseline.

The Bucks already spent it on a championship, the Jrue Holiday trade, might as well complete that circle.

OVERUSED PHRASES WE EMBARRASS OUR FUTURE SELVES WITH

"Vibes."

"Square that circle."

HOUSTON

Dealing Antetokounmpo for Alperen Şengün makes zero sense, even with Steven Adams on board, even with Giannis perhaps settling into center in his advanced age.

Alperen Şengün IS a center. Teams with great centers aren't supposed to deal them for greater forwards. Throw in the preponderance of good-to-great forwards already on the Rockets, and this feels like an uneasy, inessential upgrade.

NEW YORK

Why does Milwaukee have to trade Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Knicks? Why do the Bucks want Karl-Anthony Towns?

Say they do. Say they bow down. New York, who's your center? Because it ain't Mitchell Robinson.

GOLDEN STATE

Dealing 35-year old Draymond Green and his one working foot for Giannis Antetokounmpo, sure, let's just solve all those problems for Golden State and all at once.

Milwaukee finding value for the by-then 36-year old Green and his $27.7 million player option for 2026-27 at the trade deadline, sure, ESPN, hire a new writer (who knows better) willing to put his name on it, throw it on a chyron, make colleagues answer for it. I understand the argument – Bucks earn picks – please understand when I open my eyes widely and turn to walk away silently.

MOOD RING

When will people turn hip to Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band with The Rootettes?

Don't think I don't notice when everyone who re-posts my pleas for subscribers, is a subscriber. Or when longtime subscribers post and re-post my free columns. I appreciate everyone's help, and will tell everyone here when I get that first new subscriber since September. It is rough out there, people need every penny and I can't blame 'em, pennies are goin' out of style.

Been away due to some family time but I got to do some legendary things, with your support. For instance, I went to Best Buy on a Black Friday. Two decades ago, unthinkable, but not something I noticed until I was already inside, buying a $9 cord for a video game system when I know I have several of those cords, extra cords, in my garage. Still, someone's video game needed recharging.

Got to say "et tu, Forte."

Saw a Kia Forte go through a red light and it just came right out, hadn't even left the intersection and I'd gone Latin.

Speaking of this, what are we supposed to do coming out of tollbooths, in relation to the fellow emerging cars? Because I'm just flooring it.