The clock is ticking until the NBA trade deadline, and one of the biggest questions remains unanswered: Will Giannis Antetokounmpo get traded this season? Antetokounmpo has been one of the headliners in trade talks despite his and the Milwaukee Bucks expressing no interest in parting ways.
There have been rumors that Giannis requested a trade at one point; however, both parties denied the rumors. Despite all that, teams are still looking out for the possibility of the Bucks finally deciding to pull the trigger on the trade. While a trade has yet to happen, a former NBA All-Star believes that Milwaukee should let go of the Greek superstar.
Gilbert Arenas Urges Bucks To Trade Giannis Antetokounmpo
The situation between Antetokounmpo and the Bucks is quite tricky. While many are speculating that both parties are ready to move on from each other, neither is entertaining the idea, simply because of the image they want to protect.
Antetokounmpo doesn’t want to be labeled the guy who left because he wasn’t winning anymore. Vice versa, the Bucks don’t want to let Giannis go because they don’t want to be seen as the team that let their superstar walk away.
Regardless of the situation, former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas thinks that the Bucks should consider trading Antetokounmpo before the trade deadline.
“Neither one of them wanna look bad,” Arenas said about Giannis and the Bucks. “That’s the problem here. Giannis doesn’t wanna demand a trade because he knows if he says ‘I want out,’ it hurts his stock and image from the media. We know how that game works. So he said ‘I’m here. If they trade me, y’all get more grace for a player who got traded versus a player who requested out.'”
We might have seen Giannis in a Milwaukee Bucks jersey for the last time 😥 pic.twitter.com/fQ8wPMKM0Y
— Gil’s Arena (@GilsArenaShow) January 27, 2026
“The team is like ‘You the city,'” Arenas added. “If we say ‘We trade you, now (the fans) gonna kill us. The season tickets gonna go down for a couple of years. We’re not trying to take that hit so we need (Giannis) to say you want out so we look better.'”
“(The Bucks) are gonna have to make a move,” Arenas continued. “You did what you did. You got everything you could out of (Giannis). So unless you gonna try one more shot at it, but at the end of the day I’d call his bluff.”
As of this writing, no one has made a major offer for Antetokounmpo, since the Bucks aren’t entertaining any offers. However, Bucks fans should still anticipate the possibility of the trade, especially given how the season is going for Milwaukee.
