SuperStars vs. Teams Pt. Infinity
Doc Rivers says Giannis Antetokounmpo is "negotiating through the media," as if there is any negotiatin' left.
The Bucks have not fielded Giannis Antetokounmpo since March 15. Milwaukee reported a turnt-the-heck left knee and bone bruise on March 17 and that Giannis would be reevaluated in a week. That reevaluation was on schedule but not to Giannis' liking, multiple outlets reported Milwaukee's insistence on sitting Giannis for the final 15 contests of Milwaukee's miserable season and Antetokounmpo's distaste for that diagnosis.
Weeks later, Giannis's sweats are still rankled. Milwaukee's lost eight of 10 since sitting Antetokounmpo. Held the same projected tenth spot in the lottery on the morning of March 16th as sits 20 days later. Giannis' prescribed absence did nothing for the club's already-slim chance at moving swiftly up the lottery ranks.
Milwaukee also eliminated the odds of Giannis suffering a career-altering injury, twisting something catastrophic in a contest which would not matter. This is not insignificant, they took a hit for us basketball fans.
The Bucks are also giving either side every excuse they need to move on from each other, Giannis to play for a better team, Milwaukee so it may spin into the fruitful rebuilding turn the community deserves.
Won't tell them to nip the "negotiating," either. We won't remember any of this in due time because the NBA turns over dumb storylines 22 times per day. Even if Giannis is on national TV 90-odd times in 2026-27, giddy in new trim, cleaning house with his new club, we'll remember the championship Bucks era in its fight-to-the-end totality. Not its miserable end, the parts where they did not fight, taking a knee to protect Giannis and Milwaukee's own future.
Milwaukee's fans will remember it, which is why it is probably time for the 30-47 team and its best player since Kareem to achieve consensus.
Less math, more rhyming: Milwaukee has but four contests after the Grizzlies visit on Easter afternoon. A no-good-for-legs back-to-back flown from Brooklyn to Detroit on April 7 and 8, followed by a no-fun-for-anyone flip from Milwaukee (hosting Brooklyn) on April 10 to Philadelphia on Sunday the 12th.
Suiting Giannis for dollops within Milwaukee's recent four-home-games-in-five-days stretch appears much easier, in armchair retrospect, than dutifully placing him in the remaining schedule. Bouncing from Brooklyn to Detroit to Milwaukee to Philly just to make roll call.
Each side is utterly and impeccably correct. For the sake of great NBA basketball throughout the rest of this decade and into the next, Milwaukee should shelve the 31-year old to ease his total mileage, exterminate any chance for injury. The season is over.
But, also, the season isn't over. Giannis is healthy and wants to play and knows his body and how to avoid calamitous leg injury. No player dances through the defenders' shoes like Giannis, and he'd like to impress that impressed rest is anathema to him.
