Giannis Antetokounmpo remained with the Bucks through this season’s trade deadline, but it was known that they would revisit his situation in the offseason.
It was recently reported by NBA insider Shams Charania early last week that the Bucks superstar/former NBA Finals MVP could be dealt before the NBA Draft.
However, players were polled in recent months across the league, providing their input on what they think will be the ultimate solution between Giannis and the Bucks.
What did NBA players have to say about Giannis heading into this offseason?
A team of writers from The Athletic conducted an anonymous player poll that featured a variety of questions, in which 1/3 of NBA players gave responses.
One of the questions was centered around whether players thought Giannis would be traded this offseason.
Giannis has voiced many times himself that he loves the Bucks organization and that he’d like to stay there, but there have been other reports and observations made by the media that would counter that claim.
Out of the 151 players who were asked this question, 69 believe Giannis will stay with the Bucks heading into next season.
That’s 45.7% of players polled who think he’ll stay. Even though that’s under 50%, it shows how it’s still not a definite for Giannis to be dealt somewhere, even with reports indicating efforts from the organization to potentially get a deal done.
Giannis has missed chunks of time with injuries in recent seasons, but still has a lot of his prime/career to take advantage of. The longer Milwaukee goes without having a competitive roster, it feels that a Giannis departure seems more likely.
We’ve seen this story before, so there are no guarantees this will go either way, but it’s definitely a story that will be covered in depth over the next few weeks and potentially through the summer.