What does Giannis Antetokounmpo want? He wants to retire with the Milwaukee Bucks

• Giannis Antetokounmpo states his desire is to remain a Milwaukee Buck for his entire career.
• Antetokounmpo expresses deep personal and family ties to the city of Milwaukee.
• He voices concern about the team’s direction and the urgency to win another championship in his prime.

The word “Together,” perhaps fittingly, was positioned just over Giannis Antetokounmpo’s scarred left shoulder as he leaned against the wall that leads to the Milwaukee Bucks locker room.

In a short time, his teammates were about to take the court against the Chicago Bulls on Feb. 3. He would not, however, as he suffered a calf strain Jan. 23. He joked with onlookers. Would this be the last time he’d see them? He joked with teammates, too. He joked that after his wife, Mariah, was telling him he’s “everywhere” he asked which commercials did she see?

Between the jokes, he was posed a serious question: What do you want?

“You know,” he said. “What I want deep down in my heart is I want to be a Milwaukee Buck for the rest of my career and win here.”

He then outlined how he came back too quickly from his first calf strain Dec. 3 to play, only to get hurt again Jan. 23. He said the team told him to come out of the game in the first quarter.

“I said eff no, I’m not coming out,” he said. “I’m playing. Why do I play? Because I have something, I’m chasing something? Or because I love my team.

“I play because I bleed green. I play because I know what I’ve built here. For me, it’s a huge puzzle. It’s a huge Lego piece that I’ve built and I don’t like people taking out pieces from it. I want to keep on building as much as I can.

“What does that show? Does that show a guy that’s not gonna be here? Is that what my actions show? I could tell you whatever I want, but what does my actions show? That I want to be here. I want to be here with people that know what it takes to win.”

The joking had long stopped.

His dark eyes fixed, he had more to say in a pregame conversation with the Journal Sentinel.

“This is probably going to be the best story,” he began, “In 20 years, they’re going to be talking about this story right here.

“I came here when I was 18. A human being, when is the time they have their earliest memories? Around the age of what, 4, 5, right? So from 5 to 18 is 13 years. From the time I could remember. I came here from 18 to 31, which is 13 years. I’ve spent more time in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, than in my country.

“I’ve created more memories in this city than in my country. The only memory I knew from my country is sell stuff in the street, go to practice, live in fear, protect my brothers as much as I can and be a good kid, be a kind kid.

“So here, I’ll tell you what I’ve known here. I’ve known what it is to be an NBA player, what it is to make it to the NBA. I’ve learned what it is to be an all-star player. I’ve learned how to be a champion. I’ve learned how to be an MVP. I’ve learned how to be a father. I got married in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And also, legally, from the courthouse. And also, I’ve had my kids here. My father is buried here. So tell me you, when I open the passport of my kids and it says born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, my dad is buried here, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

“So people have the audacity to come tell me and say ‘this guy really doesn’t love Milwaukee.’ I don’t love Milwaukee? Not the people that know. The people of the city know how much I love them. This city has let me be myself, let me be father, have let me [be] a husband, have let me be my own, true, self.

“I’m walking in the street. People don’t bother me. But there’s gonna be the whole other people, because here’s 8 billion people in this world that have their own opinion. Opinions are cheap, that’s why everybody has one.

“They let me be myself in this city. And I ask for one thing. One. Thing. Only. To make, bring joy back. To. This. City. Because this city deserves it. We’ve been at the top and I know we can have down years but we have to continue to have the mindset. Period. OK. And if that’s not the case, then …

“I’ve seen the love of the people and what they wish for me. If it’s not the case, and people have different agendas within our own team, something gotta change. That’s all.”

Which brings him to where the conversation began. By all accounts, the Bucks are open to trading Antetokounmpo, either by the Feb. 5 trade deadline, or perhaps at another point.

When asked what his input into those discussions are, he responded flatly, “Zero. Zero. I’m not.”

But what brought him, and the team to this point.

The record, for one. The Bucks opened play against the Bulls out of the playoff picture at 18-29. The team is 3-14 without Antetokounmpo. He acknowledged that while the team is not mathematically out of the playoffs, it will be difficult for them to reach the postseason even if he returns.

So, now the crux of the matter. He’s 31. He’ll be generous and give himself five more seasons of prime play. That gives him maybe five more chances to compete at a high level to win a championship.

His biological clock is ticking.  

He insists he’s listening to Bucks ownership, led by Wes Edens and Jimmy and Dee Haslam, and general manager Jon Horst. He will not say he’s lost faith in their ability to build a contending roster around him.

“I always listen,” Antetokounmpo said. “That’s why I’m still here. I always listen and trust. But what I’m trying to say, how many chances do I have left to win a championship? So, you just gotta [be] more careful and more urgent in every decision that you make moving forward. It doesn’t change. I think I’ve listened since day one and that will never change. I have great respect, love and likeness for Jon and the ownership and that will never be different. Won’t change. But at the end of the day …”

He looked off and took a nearly 8-second pause.

“You gotta look.”

But does the recent past, winning the most games in the NBA from 2018-25, the huge trades for Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard show they can do it again?

“You cannot say,” he said. “I’ve always been, always, always, this is the NBA, I love watching it, I always make hypothetical scenarios. What if I play with LeBron [James]? What if I play with [Kevin Durant]? What if play with [Michael] Jordan? What if I play with Kobe [Bryant]? Everybody makes hypotheticals scenarios. What if you could get, blah blah blah. But at the end of the day, you have to commit somewhere, right? You have to commit somewhere. And I think for 13 years I’ve committed here more than anybody, any player, ever committed.

“If you ask me what do I really want, deep down in my heart? I want to be a Milwaukee Buck until I retire and win a championship here. End of sentence.

“If that is not possible to happen, and if then you realize maybe that’s not the case and maybe they’re looking elsewhere and that’s not what they’re trying to do, then automatically you have to be in the plans of what they’re trying to do or weigh the other options. It’s normal.”

READER POLL: Should the Bucks trade Giannis Antetokounmpo? Results of our reader poll

And now comes the crux of it.

For him, he’s not sure what course ownership has for the franchise in the near and long-term.

“I know what my goal is,” he said. “I don’t know what their goal [is]. I know that I talk to them but I don’t think that it’s fair that to share the conversations that I talk with them. They haven’t come to the game recently; we haven’t been so good. So they’re probably upset. I bet you can, like, talk to them. Ask them, what’s your goal? What do you want to do? They might want to reveal. They might even want to … sell. They might want to do some other things. Maybe, I don’t know.”

The Journal Sentinel reached out to the Bucks, who said they have no comment. 

But Antetokounmpo couldn’t just leave it at that.

A smile returned.

“My wife has said, she told me, ‘they said that you asked out!’”

They do say that, was the reply.

“I ask out every year!” he exclaimed. “It’s true! Every year. Not this year. It’s every year I’ve asked!”

But this? “This is the closest we’ve been to it?”

He grinned again. He reminded that every summer, he evaluates and re-evaluates where he and the team are at, and where they’re going.

“That’s what you’re supposed to do,” he said. “That’s what you’re supposed to do. I’ve committed. I’ve been 13 years here. Thirteen man. Do you really think I want to leave? Do people really think I want to leave?”

And with that, he darted quickly back into the Bucks locker room.

This story was updated with new information.