Giannis Antetokounmpo might end up being a lifelong member of the Milwaukee Bucks. Similar to what Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, and Kobe Bryant did in the 2000s with their teams and what Stephen Curry has done so far with the Warriors.
However, the temptation to always lure players like Giannis away from their team will always exist. It was at an all-time high as Giannis was coming closer to experiencing unrestricted free agency for the first time in 2021, but he chose to extend the second he was eligible in 2020 to send a message of loyalty to the Bucks. That loyalty paid off that very season with a championship.
Antetokounmpo has flirted with joining the Chicago Bulls before, proving he can be openly honest if he wants to be about which teams he wants to play for. That’s bad news for Toronto Raptors fans, as Giannis has unequivocally said he will not play for the Raptors when asked by Serge Ibaka.
Serge ibaka: “One day Giannis Antetokounmpo will play for the Toronto raptors”
Giannis: “False”
Goodnight, Toronto pic.twitter.com/HF9RGYiVuG
— DT (@DBucksFanT) November 14, 2022
Raptors GM Masai Ujiri has been a longtime admirer of Giannis’s play, desperately trying to draft him in 2013 for the franchise and failing. The Raptors also gave Giannis his worst professional moment by convincingly stopping him in the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals after a season of dominance by Milwaukee.
Will Giannis Antetokounmpo Retire As A Milwaukee Buck?
Giannis has a genuinely incredible bond with the city of Milwaukee. He came from nothing in Greece, so the midwestern city that everyone considers a ‘bad market’ is the city where Giannis changed his family’s fortunes from abject poverty to generational wealth.
The franchise has employed his brother and has given Giannis as comfortable a time as possible from a management and ownership point of view. Giannis has responded by giving them franchise glory they hadn’t seen in generations.
A natural splitting point could come where an older Giannis can see what lies for him around the league. But if he stays on the Bucks his entire career, it’ll be a very nice story of how small markets can convince all-time players to stay by just being a good franchise.
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