Where there is smoke, there is usually fire, and things reached a boiling point on Wednesday, with Shams Charania of ESPN reporting that Giannis Antetokounmpo has essentially requested a trade. The exact verbiage Charania used was that Giannis and the Bucks have “started conversations” and are “discussing whether his best fit is staying or elsewhere,” and that “a resolution is expected within the coming weeks”.
So, in other words, Giannis has seen enough, and he wants out of Milwaukee. The Bucks are going to work with him to get him to a team he wants, while extracting as much value in return as possible. Obviously, nothing is official, but make no mistake, Giannis is getting traded.
That means, yet another superstar will be leaving the team that drafted them in this era of player movement and empowerment. The days of legends like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, and Dirk Nowitzki are a thing of the past, and a guy like Steph Curry has become more of an exception to the rule.
Look at modern icons like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, and others; they’ve all played for multiple teams and moved around throughout their careers. But if there is one elite superstar in his prime who feels destined to play his entire career with one team, it’s Nikola Jokic.
Jokic could be one of last superstars to stay with 1 team
Jokic is now 30 years old, has never made a peep about wanting to leave Denver, and has given every indication that he wants to sign another five-year, supermax extension this coming summer. Beyond that, the Nuggets have given him stability for his whole career, and now seem intent on maximizing the rest of his prime years.
The team is set up for now and the future, with the entire starting lineup being locked up long-term. Unlike Luka Doncic, we don’t expect Jokic to be blindsided by his franchise and a power-hungry GM in the middle of the night. And unlike Giannis, we don’t expect Jokic’s team to be so non-competitive that he feels a need to leave.
Instead, Jokic feels like an old soul and a relic of the past; a player who is truly loyal to the Nuggets, a team that took a chance on him in the second round, and Denver, a city that has embraced him as their own.
All Jokic has ever cared about is winning and doing his job, and there’s no reason to believe that will be happening anywhere but Denver. In a way, it’s sad to see, but it’s also a pleasant reminder to Nuggets fans of how lucky they are, and how appreciative they should be.
Surely, there will be others in the next era. Jayson Tatum, Devin Booker, and Anthony Edwards loom as possibilities. But it’s increasingly rare in the modern age, and Jokic is truly one of a kind.