Stephen A. POINTS OUT why Giannis should LEAVE the Bucks 👀 ‘There’s nothing there!’ | First Take

Stephen A. POINTS OUT why Giannis should LEAVE the Bucks 👀 ‘There’s nothing there!’ | First Take

out of the NBA after another early playoff exit. Buck star Giannis Antakmpo now open-minded about exploring a new home. What does this mean for Damen Lillard, who’s under contract for two more seasons, which includes a player option in 2026 2027? He’s owed more than $112 million over the next two seasons. All right, Wendy, how does this news impact Giannis’s running mate and Damen Lillard? What does it mean for Dame time? Dame was hit so negatively by this terrible incident where he’s coming back trying to lead the Bucks on a run and then he has this injury. Number one, he was eligible for a contract extension this summer. Now, I don’t know what the Bucks were prepared to do. Maybe it wouldn’t have happened, but it’s never good to to have this type of injury. Now, that contract extension is obviously not going to happen. his injury had to have played a role in Giannis moving to the next step here. I don’t believe anything possible. I’m sure he has nothing but good things to say about Dame, but the reality is the reality. And so, there’s a reasonable chance that Dame is going to be rehabbing in Milwaukee with Giannis not being there and the team in some sort of restructure rebuild. Um, his value is very low right now. With all due respect, his se, you know, again, we are in the apron era in the NBA. You cannot have a guy on your books at $50 million that is not contributing like a $50 million player. He will not contribute like a $50 million player next year. That’s no offense to him. He’s not going to be able to play a majority of the season. And how can you trade for him now knowing that you got to pay him another 50 60 million in two years not knowing what he’s going to have? So, I think if you’re dame, you’re like, man, did I get dealt a bad hand here? And now I’m going to focus on crushing my rehab so that I can prove a lot of things to a lot of people when I do eventually get back and potentially improve your situation. Jiannis should be open to exploring be, you know, best fits outside of Milwaukee because Damen Lillard is not going to be available next year in my opinion. He’s certainly not going to be the Damen Lillard we know and love, Dame Tom and all of that. you coming back from an Achilles, that’s a lot to ask, particularly for a guard, particularly somebody playing the sport of basketball when you’re running up and down the court and what have you. I think that’s a tremendous lot to ask when it comes to him and it’s just a damn sad thing. I think that he would have had a chance at an extension if Milwaukee had advanced and dare I say came out of the East, went to the NBA finals, and the Milwaukee Bucks would not have had a choice. Uh because obviously he would have delivered on his goods. Major props to his agent Aaron Goodwin. Yes, I like to give I ain’t apologizing, America. I like to give love to the brothers who are agents, okay? Because we don’t see enough of them. And so when you got guys out there doing what he does in terms of getting his clients money, give them love. Give them props. We give it to Rich Paul all the time, who deserves it, by the way. We going to give it to Aaron Goodwin. Having said that, you’re Giannis. If you’re Milwaukee and you’re Giannis, all you had was all you had was Dane. What else is there to compel you to want to stay? Kyle Kosma, Pat Coneton. You understand what I’m saying? I love Porters, don’t get me wrong. Porters could be on my team any day of the week. But you don’t have much that makes you say, “Let me stay in Milwaukee.” So Giannis has to be open to exploring. A matter of fact, I’ll go a step further. He has to insist on it. But like you said, Wendy, it’s the draft lottery comes up. You want to see how things manifest itself. what transpires, who’s going to have what pick, etc. But so you could see what you’re working with. Because Giannis has to treat this like, nah, y’all go out there and trade me. No, he has to treat this like I want to go here, wherever that here is. These are the two or three places I absolutely positively want to go to. Figure that out. It can’t be I’m just going to go to the thing to the situation that best suits Milwaukee getting equitable compensation. He has to be the guy in the captain’s seat in this. Jay, but is it a foregone conclusion that Dame stays with Milwaukee? Like, can he ask to get out Milwaukee? I mean, he he could ask to get out. I The hard he didn’t want to be there to begin with. He wanted to be in Miami. Miami. Exactly. I mean, the hard part though for me and and look, I hope he, you know, defies all odds here. But coming back from the Achilles injury, you know, when KD was able to do it, somebody who’s like a unicorn, right? KD can shoot over the top of people. He didn’t have a lot of quick side to side lateral movement. You think about Dame, the way he gets a lot of things off, side to side, burst of speed. For somebody who’s 34, say next year he takes time off. Yeah. Now you’re talking about trying to come back 35, 36. We all know how our body gets as we get older and older and older. So I can’t trade him. Look, what’ you say, Wendy? Nobody. How could you trade for a guy with $110 million on his contract with a torn Achilles? He’s I’m sorry, but that’s just a terrible run. You’re stuck with him. No, you’re stuck with Yeah, you’re stuck with him. But if you’re him, listen, when your body’s being taxed, you know this better than me, Jay, when your body is being taxed, right? Yeah. When you get injured, you got to recover from that injury. That’s true. But everything else is being rested. Yeah. True. So, when we look at KD, you got to take into consideration there’s a legit two years of KD’s career that he missed due to extensive injuries. So, he’s not as old as his birth certificate says. And I would say the same is applicable to Dame in this situation. But you still, like Wendy said, you still can’t trade for him because of the dollars on this country. Can’t trade for him.

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Jay Williams and Brian Windhorst discuss what Giannis Antetokounmpo exploring other teams means for Damian Lillard.
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