Milwaukee Bucks general manager Jon Horst explained why he traded franchise superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat.
The Bucks and Heat agreed to a blockbuster trade sending Antetokounmpo to South Beach several weeks ago, but it was only made official on July 6, now that the NBA’s moratorium on roster transactions is over.
In exchange for Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis Jr., the Bucks received Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel’el Ware, Kasparas Jakucionis, rookie Nate Ament, two additional first-round picks, one second-round pick, and a pick swap.
Thus ends Antetokounmpo’s incredible 13-year run in Milwaukee, where he helped the team capture the 2021 NBA Championship, won two MVPs, and became arguably the greatest player in Bucks franchise history.
Bucks GM Explains Trading Giannis Antetokounmpo
On Wednesday, Horst spoke to the media and explained why he made the decision to trade Antetokounmpo to the Heat for a package of players and draft picks.
“No one’s sitting here today and saying that we’re a better team today after trading Giannis. He’s one of the greatest players to ever play, greatest player in the franchise history. We’ve had an incredible amount of success. “For us, it was just about the opportunity to build and to again, set a foundation. Can we set something in place with a new coach and take advantage of an opportunity to truly build from a place of strength on a roster that hopefully makes our city proud, our franchise proud and gets us to the place where we are competitive? And we can sustain that competition and that competitive level year in and year out,” Horst said (via ESPN).
Bucks Didn’t Have to trade Giannis Antetokounmpo
According to Horst, the Bucks were not forced to trade their best player. But they felt it was the right thing for both sides and pulled the trigger on the trade.
“This was not a ‘have to.’ This was, we truly believed we’ve found an opportunity which is unique. We might be right. We might be wrong. But an opportunity where this is what’s best for him and what he wants to pursue going forward, and this is what’s best for us and what we want to pursue going forward. And that’s why we made the decision. Ultimately, the only thing that mattered to us organizationally was to work to try to find a trade — if we were going to do a trade — to try to find a trade that we thought gave us the best path forward. And if we could do that and have it be a great opportunity for him, we would execute that,” Horst said.
The Bucks had a very bad year this past season as they missed the playoffs for the first time in a decade. They decided to let go of head coach Doc Rivers after the season and trade Antetokounmpo, so the team is going to look completely different this coming season as Milwaukee looks to carve a new path forward without its longtime franchise player.
Bucks GM Explains Giannis Antetokounmpo Trade