1 Ignored risky move the Milwaukee Bucks should consider before trading Giannis

If the Milwaukee Bucks are truly interested in saving their championship window with Giannis Antetokounmpo, they should trade Damian Lillard.

Ten games into the start of the 2024-25 NBA season, I’m not sure there’s any scenario where the Milwaukee Bucks could have gotten off to a worse start. The Bucks are 2-8, Khris Middleton has yet to make his regular-season debut as he continues to recover from offseason surgery, and the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade winds are starting to blow. As the temperature begins to heat up for the organization, this front office could feel compelled to make a potential championship window-saving move before it all blows up in their face.

While it may not seem likely, the moment Giannis demands a trade, it’s over for the Bucks. The hope is that it never gets there. But the argument could be made that we’re as close as we’ve ever been to Giannis asking out of Milwaukee. As the front office explores smaller-level deals that could help dig the team out of this early-season hole, I can’t help but wonder if there’s another panic button move that could be at play that nobody seems to be talking about right now. Trade Damian Lillard.

If the Bucks are truly interested in saving the Giannis championship, there’s no question that a bold move will have to be made. But I imagine the best chance the Bucks have to make a bold move involves trading Lillard, not Bobby Portis and Pat Connaughton. With all due respect to Portis and Connaughton, neither of those players is likely to return a needle-moving addition.

With how the Bucks have performed in the Eastern Conference over the past few seasons, it has become pretty clear that major changes are needed. Interestingly, the front office was hoping the move for Lillard would be the big change that would help the Bucks re-emerge as a championship favorite. At least through the first season-plus of the experiment, it didn’t solve any problems the Bucks had. It can only have magnified them.

At this point, the evidence suggests that trading Lillard may have been a massive mistake for the Bucks. If Milwaukee is desperate to save the building around Giannis, trading Lillard could be the next logical move. It’s definitely a big risk. Because if the Bucks trade Lillard and it fails, it likely spells the end of Giannis’ time in Milwaukee. I can’t imagine he will wait for another rebuild.

However, that may be a risk the Bucks may have to take. If they continue to spiral into irrelevance in the Eastern Conference, trading Lillard may be the only move that can extend Giannis’ dwindling championship window in Milwaukee. It’s certainly a huge risk, but the Bucks are getting closer and closer to the point where they may have no other options. It’s finally time to start discussing the real possibility of the Bucks trading Lillard. Not only to save the season, but maybe the franchise.