They want a maximum salary of 390 million and a championship! The Bucks are forced to wait for reconstruction, the most helpless team in the NBA

We want a maximum salary of 390 million and a championship! The Bucks' 1-for-6 trade plan for Antetokounmpo is the most helpless team in the NBA!

The new NBA season has begun, and the Eastern and Western patterns are showing a clear differentiation trend. The Western Conference is fiercely competitive and balanced, with a total of 6 teams capable of winning the championship. In the playoffs last season, the showdown between the Nuggets and Thunder, and the Nuggets and Clippers was often a matter of just one thought. There is no absolute dominant team; while in the Eastern Conference, the core of many strong teams suffered injuries. The competitive landscape has been greatly simplified - the serious injuries to Haliburton and Tatum caused the Pacers and Celtics to withdraw from the championship early. The 76ers were troubled by core injuries and lost their competitiveness. Only the Knicks and Cavaliers still have the possibility of reaching the finals. Second-tier teams such as the Magic and Pistons are still immature. In such a league map, the Milwaukee Bucks have become the most special existence: while they are trying their best to retain the team's cornerstone Antetokounmpo, they have to face the cruel reality of "waiting for destruction and reconstruction", becoming the most helpless team in the NBA in the new season.

The Bucks' helplessness is rooted in the deep bonding and sharp conflicts between Antetokounmpo and the team's future. As a top three-level superstar in the league, Antetokounmpo has always maintained top-level competitiveness in the past six seasons. In the past three seasons, he has averaged 31.1 points, 30.4 points, and 30.4 points per game respectively. His sustained and efficient output is enough to prove that he is still one of the most dominant players in the league. However, in stark contrast to his personal performance, the Bucks have failed in the first round of the playoffs for the past three consecutive years, making Antetokounmpo the second player in NBA history to average 30+ per game but be eliminated in the first round for three consecutive years. Such team performance obviously cannot meet the needs of a superstar who aims to win more championships and is eager to improve his historical status.

In fact, Antetokounmpo's dissatisfaction with the team's competitiveness has long been apparent, and a series of developments during the offseason have brought this contradiction to the forefront. Famous reporter Charania confirmed that Antetokounmpo's team took the initiative to facilitate trade negotiations between the Bucks and the Knicks during the offseason. Although the negotiations were shelved because the Bucks were unwilling to let go of the core easily and demanded high prices, the signal behind it was already clear: Antetokounmpo is looking for more possibilities for his future. There are two key reasons why this negotiation came to nothing: First, the Knicks clearly sensed the Bucks' attitude of "not wanting to sell people yet" and were unwilling to waste chips if the other party was not sincere; second, Antetokounmpo himself hoped to closely observe the actual performance of the Bucks and the overall trends of the league through the first two months (quarter schedule) of the new season before making a final decision. It is worth noting that, as the local media in Milwaukee said, Antetokounmpo has always shown a "loyal" image. He will not force the team by actively applying for trades or creating public farce like Harden left the Rockets and Durant left the Nets. He would rather see "the team proves that it is indeed uncompetitive" and then go to a team with more championship prospects in an honorable manner - and the Knicks are the next team he has publicly expressed his preference for.

In order to retain Antetokounmpo, the Bucks did not make any moves during the offseason. After learning that Antetokounmpo might be interested in leaving, the team's general manager Horst made a special trip to Greece to interview Antetokounmpo, trying to stabilize his core emotions through sincere communication. Then he quickly completed the operation of "laying off Lillard and bringing in Turner", and signed a large number of ready-to-play players with cheap contracts, posing as a "full reinforcement" posture. But such a lineup adjustment is obviously not enough to constitute "winning competitiveness" in Antetokounmpo's eyes. At the media day, Antetokounmpo once again publicly reiterated his core appeal: "I hope to join a team that allows me to win a championship. This idea will never change." The implication is already clear - he is full of doubts about the Bucks' current lineup framework: Whether it is the Cavaliers' "Mitchell + Mobley + Allen" solid system or the Knicks' starting five with strong financial strength, they all have more championship potential than the Bucks' current lineup. The Bucks' reinforcements are more like "passive emergencies" rather than "actively building a championship puzzle", which makes Antetokounmpo increasingly less confident in the team's future.

What makes the Bucks even more passive is that even if Antetokounmpo chooses to leave the team, he does not need to make any compromises on salary, which completely invalidates the team's strategy of "binding the core with high salary". Antetokounmpo currently has three years left in his contract with the Bucks, with salaries of 54.13 million, 58.46 million, and 62.79 million respectively (with player options for the 2027-2028 season). If he chooses to renew his contract with the Bucks next summer, he will be able to sign a four-year maximum salary contract of 275 million, and the new contract will be covered in the first year. Covering the original player options, the salary in the next four years will be 61.71 million, 66.65 million, 71.98 million, and 77.74 million; and even if he is traded to other teams in the new season, he only needs to wait 6 months to sign an identical four-year maximum salary contract of 275 million with the new club. This means that no matter which team he plays for in the future, Antetokounmpo has locked in a maximum salary income of US$390 million in the next six years. For him, the difference between staying in the Bucks or leaving is only "whether he can choose between the legendary story of one man, one city and the honor book of hitting the championship" - and judging from the current situation, Antetokounmpo is obviously more inclined to the latter.

The Bucks' helplessness is also reflected in the realistic dilemma of "efforts but in vain". In order to build a championship lineup for Antetokounmpo, the Bucks have seriously overdrawn their future in the past few years: the first-round swap rights in 2026 belong to the Pelicans, the first-round pick in 2027 belongs to the Hawks, the first-round swap rights in 2028 and 2030, and the unprotected first-round pick in 2029 are all in the hands of the Trail Blazers or Wizards. The team's future draft assets have been basically exhausted. What's even more fatal is that Milwaukee, as a small ball market, lacks the attraction to top stars. Even if the Bucks are willing to pay chips, it will be difficult to attract other powerful stars to "play supporting roles for Antetokounmpo" - the transaction from Holiday to Lillard not only failed to improve the team's competitiveness, but further aggravated the deformity of the salary structure..

Take Lillard's contract as an example. The Bucks had previously paid a high price to introduce him, but now they have to face the embarrassing situation of "buying out Lillard will result in 22 million more dead money every year for the next five seasons." This is equivalent to "taking a step back 30 meters" in the competition with other teams. A batch of cheap contracts signed during the offseason seem to be "efforts to strengthen", but in fact they expose the team's financial difficulties - the Bucks do not even need to pay luxury tax in the new season. Such an investment scale is not at the same level as the Knicks and Cavaliers, whose total salary exceeds 220 million. You must know that in the Eastern Conference this season, the law of "you get what you pay for" is vividly reflected. The Bucks lack financial support and high-quality assets. Even if they force Antetokounmpo to stay, it will be difficult to build a lineup with the strength to compete for the championship.

Two major pieces of news recently exposed have made the Bucks' "retention plan" even worse. On the one hand, foreign media Tovima reported that Antetokounmpo's family has officially moved out of Milwaukee. His wife Maria and their four children have permanently moved to Athens, Greece. The family has moved into a futuristic apartment building customized for the family in Old Psikiko, Athens. The apartment not only reserves separate residences for each of Antetokounmpo's brothers, but also prepares an exclusive apartment for his widowed mother. This decision is the result of months of deliberations between Antetokounmpo and his family. Maria clearly chose Athens instead of Milwaukee, which means that the emotional bond between Antetokounmpo and Milwaukee is breaking. Currently, Antetokounmpo’s 5-year-old Liam Charles and 4-year-old Maverick Shai are studying in local elite private kindergartens in Athens. The reality that his family has settled in Greece for a long time will undoubtedly make Antetokounmpo more inclined to “go to a team that is closer to his family and has more hope of winning the championship” when deciding whether to leave the Bucks.

On the other hand, potential trade plans for Antetokounmpo have surfaced. The US media recently revealed the idea of ​​a 1-for-6 trade between the Knicks and the Bucks: the Knicks would send three immediate players, Anunoby, Mitchell Robinson, and McBride, plus three first-round picks, in exchange for Antetokounmpo from the Bucks. From the perspective of chip value, Anunoby is the league's top 3D wing, Mitchell Robinson can strengthen the interior defense, and the three first-round picks can provide key assets for the Bucks' future reconstruction. Such an offer is undoubtedly a very attractive option for the Bucks, who are on the verge of "reconstruction." For the Knicks, after acquiring Antetokounmpo, they will be able to form a championship lineup of "Antetokounmpo + existing core" to further consolidate their status as the top team in the Eastern Conference.

There have also been widespread expectations within the league for Antetokounmpo's departure. In ESPN's latest program, the famous reporter Windhorst said bluntly: "For a long time, the outside world has believed that Antetokounmpo's days with the Bucks are numbered no matter what. The only uncertainty is whether he will leave this year, during this season, or next summer." Ball commentator Perkins analyzed Antetokounmpo from the perspective of his character: "He knows very well that he does not want to stay in Milwaukee, but he does not dare to speak out out of 'loyalty' concerns. Go ahead and say it; and the Bucks actually know this, but they have been deceiving themselves and are unwilling to face reality. "

From winning the championship in 2021 with the Big Three lineup of "Antetokounmpo + Holiday + Middleton" to now being eliminated in the first round for three consecutive years, with core members wanting to leave, and future assets being emptied, the Bucks have experienced a violent decline from "championship favorites" to "helplessly waiting for reconstruction" in just two years. Today, they are caught in the dilemma of "keeping Giannis Antetokounmpo but not having the strength to compete for the championship, letting Giannis Antetokounmpo go will instantly collapse": Forcibly retaining Giannis Antetokounmpo may not only waste the peak period of the super giant, but also cause the team to miss the best opportunity to exchange the core for reconstruction assets; letting Antetokounmpo go, although it can obtain the chips needed for reconstruction, it means that the team will bid farewell to the "Antetokounmpo Era" of the past ten years and return to struggling at the bottom of the league.