Father’s Day weekend came and went without a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade.
Nevertheless …
The belief persists throughout the NBA that the Milwaukee Bucks won’t be able to drag out a saga that has consumed the whole league at various points for the past 13 months in a row for more than another day or two.
The NBA Draft arrives Tuesday night at 8 PM ET. The same NBA Draft that Bucks co-owner Jimmy Haslam, when no one was exactly pressing for a deadline at the early May introduction of Taylor Jenkins as the team’s new coach, voluntarily branded the “natural time” by which Milwaukee either had to ship Antetokounmpo elsewhere or commit to continue building around him. Haslam said so even though the 31-year-old is not permitted by league rules to sign his third contract extension with Milwaukee before Oct. 1.
“Because if Giannis does play somewhere else, then we ought to get a lot of assets … and it’s Jon Horst’s job to do it,” Haslam said of Milwaukee’s general manager. “If [Antetokounmpo is] here, then you build the team differently.”
Let’s take to an FAQ format to break down where things stand with Antetokounmpo trade talks as Sunday gave way to Monday on the East Coast and the “natural time ” — Draft Day — drew ever closer:
Who’s in the lead?
