Kendrick Perkins didn’t hold back on NBA Today when talking about Giannis Antetokounmpo’s uncertain future in Milwaukee. According to the ESPN analyst and former NBA champion, Giannis may not be as comfortable in Milwaukee as he claims: he’s just not ready to admit it publicly.
Perkins believes Giannis has reached a crossroads. After a decade of carrying the Bucks to relevance and delivering the city its first NBA championship in 50 years, the Greek superstar is reportedly frustrated with the team’s recent struggles. Milwaukee has fallen short in back-to-back seasons, first with injuries derailing their playoff hopes and now with a retooled roster that’s still searching for chemistry.
“The quiet thing out loud is that to me, Giannis Antetokounmpo is just scared. He knows he don’t want to be in Milwaukee, he’s just afraid to say it. And on the other side of it, I feel like the Milwaukee Bucks, they know it, they’re just in denial.”
But calling Giannis “scared” might not tell the full story. This isn’t about fear of speaking out: it’s about loyalty. Giannis arrived in Milwaukee as a skinny teenager with little more than potential and a dream. The franchise raised him, his brothers, and even helped his family settle after years of hardship. Leaving that behind isn’t just a business decision, it’s personal.
Giannis has said many times that he wants to stay in Milwaukee as long as the team remains competitive. That’s the key line and the Bucks have struggled to live up to that promise. After Damian Lillard’s Achilles injury in last year’s playoffs, their title hopes vanished, and with him gone this summer via the stretch provision, Giannis finds himself once again surrounded by uncertainty.
Perkins thinks that uncertainty will soon become action.
“I’m by the hundred percent sure, and this is just me assuming, this is coming straight from Perk, no sources, that we will not see Giannis Antetokounmpo in a Bucks uniform at the end of the season. I believe that he’s given the Bucks an opportunity right now, probably before he goes public.”
“Now, if you ask me this a week ago, before my guy Shams did his reporting today, I would’ve said, ‘Nah, Giannis gonna be in the Bucks uniform.’ You know why? Because they signed his brother Thanasis back. But that was a signing of desperation to say, ‘You know what, Giannis, here, we’re doing everything we possibly can.”
He added that “the Bucks’ phones are gonna be ringing shortly,” especially after Shams Charania revealed that Milwaukee and the New York Knicks quietly discussed a potential trade over the summer. According to Charania, the Knicks were the only team Giannis was open to joining outside of Milwaukee, though the talks ultimately stalled.
Milwaukee’s front office has continued to insist Giannis isn’t available, but that hasn’t stopped the speculation. Re-signing his brother, Thanasis, was seen by many as an attempt to appease him, a symbolic move rather than a basketball one.
Now, with Giannis’ wife Mariah and their children permanently relocating to Athens, the optics are impossible to ignore. The Bucks are staring down what Perkins calls a “make-or-break season,” and the superstar’s patience is clearly thinning.
Whether or not Giannis is scared to ask out, one thing’s clear, he’s watching, waiting, and evaluating. If the Bucks stumble early, as Perkins predicts, his silence may finally break. And when it does, the entire league will be on the line to answer that call.
