Giannis, MVP and champion to see the Bucks exit door

Milwaukee’s superstar went from leading his team to the NBA title in 2021 to fail in each new attempt.

This is ephemeral, now ephemeral, how time runs!

ICT … ephemeral tac, ephemeral lights, but I believe you.

No one is going to listen to your shirt – Patricio Rey and his Redonditos de Ricota

50 points to end a 50 -year -old drought without consecrating champion. That’s what he did Giannis Antetokounmpo on July 20, 2021 to give the title to Milwaukee Bucks In game 6 of the NBA ends against Phoenix Suns.

Just four years later, only four years later, Giannis See how your team fails once again. Eliminated in the first round of the East 4-1 conference playoffs by Indiana Pacers.

The shameful closing of game 5, in the Gainbridge Fieldhouse of Indianapolis, must be the end point of Antetokounmppo In the Bucks. The game escaped twice. And frustration became shove with the rivals and A discussion of the Greek face to face with Tyrese Haliburton’s father. The image of goodbye.

The Bucks They said goodbye to conference semifinals in 2022 against Boston Celtics and in the first round in 2023 in front of Miami Heatwith a couple of absences of Giannis For back pain.

“It’s not a failure; they are steps towards success,” he said Antetokounmppo Before a question at the press conference after elimination in the fifth match against the HEAT. “There are always steps. Michael Jordan played 15 years and won six championships. Were the other nine years a failure? That’s what you are telling me?” Giannis.

He did not like the reference to the failure by the journalist.

The Royal Spanish Academy says that failing is that a claim or a project is frustrated.

That is what happened to the Bucks Four years in a row, since they aimed to go further in the postseason and did not succeed.

In 2024, the Bucks They lost again in the first round of the playoffs, before the Pacers, without the Greek due to an injury to the left calf.

And in 2025, what was said: Indiana was his first and only rival in direct elimination series.

Antetokounmppo He received, he took over the ball, endured the double mark, turned, threw and failed. The fifth game went on a supplementary time when seconds before the Bucks They had the game in their hands, but the Greek failed a key free kick.

In the extension, Milwaukee took an advantage of 7 in the absence of 40 seconds and headed to extend the series. But not. The debacle again. Without ideas, without character, without answers. Andrew Nembhard, with a triple, and Haliburton, with a two plus one, shrinked at the minimum distance. Gary Trent escaped the ball from her hands. Haliburton took over the last offensive of the Pacers, attacked Giannis in the one against one and did not fail. There was no more time. Victoria 119-118 for Indiana. There was no other way to end another disappointing campaign of the Bucks.

Antetokounmppo He looked in the farewell game of the season: 30 points, 20 rebounds, 13 assists, 2 robberies and 2 caps. It did not reach.

In the four previous games of the series, Giannis It also shone: he turned 135 points, leader in the field in these playoffs and equalized Kareem Abdul-Jabbarin 1970, as the top scorer in the history of Bucks In the first four meetings of a tie. But his contribution was not enough.

The Bucks They said goodbye soon.

Before, in 2021, Giannis Not only was he the best but his teammates surrounded him well. Or, sometimes, he reached with the unipersonal of the Greek.

Since then, not anymore. Antetokounmppo averaged 30 or more points per game in each of the last three seasons, but Milwaukee He did not win a playoff series. Only two players had registered those numbers with that negative consequence in postseason: Oscar Robertsonbetween 1964 and 1967 and Adrian Dantleybetween 1980 and 1983.

From glory to failure in the blink of an eye. This is ephemeral, Giannis.

The Bucks de Giannis debacle after the 2021 title

Antetokounmppo averaged 35.2 points, 13.2 rebounds, 5 assists and 1.8 plugs per game in the Late 2021. The dazzling sixth game made him undisputed deserving of the MVP award.

I dreamed more, with building a dynasty. But the dreamlike faded.

The Bucks had four coaches in the last four seasons: Mike Budenholzer, Adrian Griffin, Joe Prunty and Doc Rivers. Only Sacramento Kings and Brooklyn Nets changed as much as they in that period of time.

In the Playoffs of 2023 Milwaukee It became the sixth first classified in history to lose against the eighth (Heat). There began the dance of technical directors and the search to improve the squad. Budenholzer left, Griffin arrived. He incorporated Damian Lillard through a transfer and the reborn illusion. Giannis He extended his contract until season 2027-2028.

The last campaign began excellently and ended, again, early.

Herein, Antetokounmppo He ran out of his partner Khris Middleton (exchanged by Kyle Kuzma) and closed without Lillard, who broke the Achilles tendon and will have a long time recovery.

Giannis He did everything, but he couldn’t. He was alone. Or badly accompanied. The Greek is the second player in the NBA history with consecutive elimination matches with at least 30 points and 20 rebounds (38 and 20 in the fifth 2023 match against Heat). The other? Wilt Chamberlain.

What will be the future of Giannis in the Bucks?

Antetokounmppo He did not give signs of wanting to leave Milwaukee. At least until now.

Brian Windhorst, colleague of AM850 In the United States, he said in the podcast The Hoop Collective that “Giannis It has not given any indication throughout this season that it is not 100% concentrated in maximizing what the Bucks have. “

A detail: the Greek did not expect to be eliminated again as soon. Nor Lillard’s serious injury or the scarce response of the rest of his teammates.

Is the time for Antetokounmpo deciding to change course? Yes, without a doubt. In the Bucks, he reached his roof. And the team does not present encouraging panoramas.

At 30 years, Giannis He is still a player who has a lot to offer. And any team with salary possibility would like to hire it.

How not to dream of a trio with Luka Doncic and Lebron James in Los Angeles Lakers? Why not imagine it in New York Knicks?

Large markets want to nurture stars. Giannis He says he doesn’t want to go, that he wants to stay. However, it was time to leave.

He says he doesn’t want to go, he wants to stay

(…) says he doesn’t want to speak, he wants to listen

He says he doesn’t want to be, he wants to try

He says he doesn’t want to hear, he wants to kick

He says he doesn’t want to be, he wants to start

He says not wanting to laugh, he wants to cry

(…) It is of no use if you don’t want to, if you are not going to deal with

But it doesn’t matter if it convinces others

His time came and it is not worth discussing