Bucks' Doc Rivers Addresses Giannis Trade Rumors, Looking Forward to Day After Deadline

As the Giannis Antetokounmpo rumors continue to heat up, Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers is ready for the clock to strike 3 p.m. on Feb. 5.

That, of course, will mean the trade deadline has passed.

"Giannis has said everything that we need to hear, that he wants to be a Buck, he loves the city and that's all I can go by as a coach right now. Has it been difficult? Yeah," Rivers said during an appearance on ESPN's NBA Countdown. "Your players every day have to hear stuff. Every single day, about not just their best player but they're thrown in the mix as well. My favorite day of the year this year will be the day after the trade deadline. That'll be my favorite day. I think everyone will be here."

On Wednesday, ESPN's Shams Charania reported that Giannis is "ready for a new home ahead of the Feb. 5 trade deadline, as several teams have made aggressive offers to the Bucks, who are starting to listen."

He added that "multiple teams have received a sense that the Bucks are more open than ever to Antetokounmpo offers between now and the deadline, league sources said. However, Milwaukee has indicated to interested teams that the organization is not in a rush to complete a move and is willing to navigate Antetokounmpo's future in the offseason if its believed price point of a blue-chip young talent and/or a surplus of draft picks isn't met, sources said."

The Bucks are currently just 18-28 on the season and 2.5 games behind the Atlanta Hawks for the final Play-In Tournament seed. They've lost seven of their last eight games and Antetokounmpo is expected to miss several weeks with a calf injury. By the time he returns, the Bucks could be well out of the running for a playoff berth.

The team's long-term hopes of building around him also seem bleak. The Bucks incurred $22.5 million in dead cap space each season through the 2029-30 campaign when they used the stretch provision to waive Damian Lillard, and they don't have many appealing assets to use in the pursuit of another star to pair with Giannis and Myles Turner.

It's very possible that Antetokounmpo will hit free agency ahead of the 2027-28 season (he has a $62.7 million player option but would decline it if he was ready for a change in scenery). That has created a natural deadline for the Bucks to make a decision on trading him or trying one last gasp to build a contender around him, though the sooner he's dealt the bigger the trade demands the Bucks can make.

It seems likely at this point that Giannis will be dealt, either before this week's deadline or sometime in the summer. Expect plenty of rumors until it happens, much to the chagrin of Rivers.