Draymond Green was just as shocked as the rest of us to hear that Giannis Antetokounmpo has been sidelined for two to four weeks due to a calf strain. This injury occurred on the same day reports about his questionable future with the Bucks were released.
Green recently recorded the latest episode of his podcast, ‘The Draymond Green Show,’ where he addressed his opinions on what lies ahead for Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks.
Initially, Green expressed his concerns about Antetokounmpo’s calf injury, which he suffered three minutes into Wednesday’s win against the Pistons on December 3. Subsequently, he points to the coincidence between Antetokounmpo’s injury and reports about his future.
“They are saying Giannis has a calf strain. Quite crazy that this happens the day that all these reports come out about his future with the Bucks and having conversations about trades and all these different things.”
“As Brian Windhorst reported that he requested a trade from the Bucks in the offseason. And I know all of the noise outside has been like ‘he’s talked to them, and he wants to try to figure it out,’ but that’s what’s been reported. And quite honestly, when I look at the situation, there’s obviously something brewing,” said Green.
The Warriors veteran first analyzed the Bucks’ current situation and whether they can still compete at the highest level. He believed that the Bucks’ 8-8 record when Antetokounmpo is healthy indicates that the Bucks are no different from the current Warriors, and that being a .500 team at this time indicates red flags in the respective franchises.
Furthermore, Green points out how waiving Damian Lillard to sign Myles Turner this summer has severely handicapped the Bucks’ ability to make major moves to contend for a championship.
“They did some funky stuff with Myles Turner this summer. Cut Dame, signed Myles Turner, and did some when I say funky stuff, I mean some loopholes within the CBA, but they don’t really have many resources to go out and actually improve the team.”
Therefore, Green believes that their front office’s questionable moves, combined with their inability to win, have contributed significantly to the circumstances under which the Bucks franchise is functioning presently.
“A lot of people made a lot of noise about him deleting all Milwaukee Bucks references from his Instagram account,” said Green while pondering why Antetokounmpo made the major move on social media.
“And what I will say about that is if you’re Giannis and you’re trying to press the team to do something, those are the types of things that you would do to make the team realize ‘I’m not happy, I’m off y’all. It’s going public now, y’all better figure it out, you know.’ And so you can apply pressure like that, and that could very much be Giannis applying pressure.”
“What I will say is it’s not the easiest to trade someone that makes $50 million because in most cases you usually have to deplete your whole team just to even make the salaries work unless you’re doing someone a very high salary um as well.”
“But it’s not as easy to trade that. So it almost limits the number of teams, unless you get a third or fourth team [into the trade], that Giannis can go to. Now you ask yourself the question: with all he’s done in Milwaukee, they’ll want to treat him right. They’ll want to help him get to where he wants to go.”
The Bucks franchise members currently seem to be in denial of the fact that Giannis Antetokounmpo is likely open to considering a future away from the team.
“At least I believe, I think Jon Horst may look at it differently. But I think a guy who brought a championship to Milwaukee, who’s been Mr. Milwaukee, stayed true to that city, true to that organization, I think they’re going to want to help him try to get to somewhere where he can contend,” Green further added.
The Knicks could have been a potential landing destination for the Greek superstar, who reportedly wanted to play in New York, but Green believes it is unlikely that the Bucks will let him join them.
“Usually, when you’re making a trade like that to try to help a guy get to somewhere contend, it’ll probably be in the Western Conference because you don’t want to face that guy three, four times a year. They know what Giannis is capable of. So where does that leave Giannis?” said Green as he explained why the Bucks are unlikely to let Antetokounmpo join an Eastern Conference competitor.
“I don’t know. I think he’ll have a list of clubs that he’d be comfortable going to that he’ll share with the team, and I think they’ll try to make it happen. I’m not one to really speculate what happens. I know the circumstances and what could happen, but we’ll see.”
“But I think that’s something that’s brewing. I think it’s something to continue to watch. But most importantly, I’m wishing Giannis a good, good health, speedy recovery from his calf injury, and fingers crossed hope that it’s nothing too serious.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo is currently averaging 28.9 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 6.1 assists while shooting 63.9% from the field. Still playing at an MVP caliber level, Antetokounmpo could instantly make a new team with a solid core into a championship contender.
Therefore, teams like the Lakers and the Spurs are expected to pursue Antetokounmpo if the Bucks are open to listening to offers from the Western Conference teams as well. It will be interesting to see where his future lies in the NBA because a move for the Greek superstar at this stage could be a league-altering move.
