Giannis Antetokounmpo isn't ripping off the bandaid, so Heat in waiting mode

O politikós.

That’s Greek for the politician.

Think of how many times you have wanted straight answers from your council members, and they wasted your time, vomiting a bunch of word salad. Was that not what it felt like when Giannis Antetokounmpo addressed the press about the noise surrounding him?

Unless you are knowledgeable of conversations through back channels, it’s hard to know where he stands.

This tiptoeing around doesn’t help anybody. The public wants to know if he’s out or if he still wants to be a Milwaukee Buck long term—two things he never said.

Which doesn’t make matters any simpler for any would-be white whale hunters who are looking to make an instant upgrade. For example, if the Miami Heat wanted to get involved, since they find themselves fizzling at 14-12 after a hot start, they might be forced to ride out with their team until there is clarity on his situation.

He was asked about his agent allegedly talking to management about his future, and said that if his representation “is talking to the Bucks about it, he’s his own person. He could have any conversation he wants about it. At the end of the day, I don’t work for my agent, my agent works for me.”

Later he was pressed about that and gave a false equivalency using not being able to stop his wife from going to Target.

Some talk, but nothing really said

Unfortunately, nobody got an answer to why his agent would be having any of those conversations if he was happy with the team and if he is satisfied with them. Although Antetokounmpo did say he is locked in on his comeback and on his teammates, which felt a whole lot like a politician, telling you, “We’re doing everything we can.”

It’s easy for him to say that they can’t be worrying about the rumors when he isn’t doing enough to stop them. No one will ever question his desire to win, but saying he wants to get healthy and they need to turn their season around in a bunch of different ways doesn’t make this cloud hovering over them go away because DUH.

Unless people are under a rock, those following the NBA know that Milwaukee is in the gutter. If it’s true that he’s 100% aloof from anything going on that isn’t basketball, then this drama could continue into the summer.

Even Antetokounmpo doesn’t think it will end, and he interestingly said that if he was an opposing executive, he’d “probably do the same thing. Eventually you’re going to break. We are going to keep on calling you… that’s what I would do in business.”

Maybe his point about winning curing all was an olive branch to the Bucks or a warning. Time will tell.