Ramona Shelburne
Multiple Authors
THE HIGH-SPEED TRAINS passing by way of the Brightline station in West Palm Beach journey north and south between Orlando and Miami, creating a rumble that shakes the convention room on the second flooring.
It’s right here, at this crossroads in South Florida, that the 2 males with remaining say over one of the biggest stories within the NBA have come to debate the way forward for the face of their franchise, famous person Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Milwaukee Bucks co-owners Wes Edens and Jimmy Haslam informed ESPN in a joint 90-minute interview that they may resolve the trail to take with their two-time MVP collectively, and a very powerful issue will be whether or not Antetokounmpo indicators the four-year, $275 million extension he’s eligible to obtain on Oct. 1.
“Giannis is going into the last year [of his contract],” mentioned Edens, the group’s controlling proprietor till April 2028. “So one of two things will happen: Either he will be extended or he’ll be traded.”
“The likelihood you’ll let him just kind of play out the last year, we can’t afford that. It’s not consistent with what’s good for the organization. That’s not a Giannis issue. That’s any player that’s in their last year.”
Yet group sources, rival executives and league insiders query whether or not the scenario is that easy. Interviews with more than a dozen individuals with data of the scenario say what’s occurring in Milwaukee goes past a typical NBA franchise’s battle to keep up a profitable roster: A novel possession construction has made it tough for opposing franchises to establish who is definitely operating the group.
“This has nothing to do with Giannis and whether he asks out,” mentioned one supply with data of the group’s operations. “It’s about who’s making the decision on whether to trade Giannis, and I don’t think anyone knows that. I deal with them all the time and honestly it depends on the day.
“They’re not even near being able to make a determination like that.”
ANTETOKOUNMPO HAS FOR years said publicly he wants to stay in Milwaukee, but only on a championship-caliber team. Nearly every NBA team is waiting for Antetokounmpo to decide when those variables are mutually exclusive.
They are practically out of the playoff picture entirely this season, after three straight first-round playoff exits.
It’s a hedge sharp enough, and appealing enough, that his future is consistently one of the most tantalizing hypotheticals in basketball.
“It’s not an accident that groups just like the Lakers, Clippers, Heat and Warriors all have lined as much as have cap area in 2027 when Giannis can be a free agent,” one NBA executive told ESPN. “A participant like Giannis can tilt the stability of energy within the league for years to return.
“What nobody knows yet is whether they’ll really trade him before he gets to free agency — and how they’re making that decision.”
For almost half a decade, the NBA has dissected Antetokounmpo’s phrases to see if he would publicly demand what ESPN’s Shams Charania has reported on multiple occasions: that the 10-time All Star has privately knowledgeable the Bucks for months that he believes the time has come to half methods after 12-plus years collectively.
It was the one greatest subject of this winter’s trade deadline because the Bucks entertained meaningful trade offers for his or her 31-year-old famous person for the primary time. And it should stay so this offseason, because the Bucks have remained the 11-seed within the East regardless of Antetokounmpo’s return on March 2 from a calf injury that value him 15 video games. And now there’s friction over whether to shut down Antetokounmpo for the rest of the season after his newest harm.
“As of today, I’m a Milwaukee Buck and I’m committed to that,” Antetokounmpo said in mid-February. “Now what happens if things move and change in the future? That change, I can’t control that.”
Edens’ either-he-signs-or-he-goes assertion, nevertheless, suggests the opposite — that the choice is Antetokounmpo’s, and his alone.
Until then, the group will be compelled to reconcile its franchise participant’s mandate: Build a group worthy of me extending right here or discover me a new dwelling.
THE CONFUSION OVER who makes the selections in Milwaukee exists as a result of the Bucks have one of the uncommon possession constructions in skilled sports activities. Every 5 years, controlling governorship rotates between companions.
It is a construction that, prior to now, generated organizational chaos and competing agendas between the companions and will achieve this once more.
For the following two years, Edens is the controlling proprietor. After that, Haslam, who owns the NFL’s Cleveland Browns and MLS’ Columbus Crew, will assume the controlling place. All main selections require consensus between the 2 rotating controlling house owners and the third-largest shareholder, businessman Jamie Dinan.
Edens and Haslam informed ESPN this setup has labored effectively since Haslam bought a 25% stake within the group from Marc Lasry in 2023.
“The Jimmy partnership is unbelievably good,” Edens mentioned. “And that’s really, really important because … the likelihood is, just given the season we just had, the things we’ve got in front of us, we’ve got to make some hard decisions, and it’d be great to make hard decisions with somebody who you really like and trust.”
As Edens’ time period as controlling proprietor wanes, nevertheless, there are sturdy indications that Haslam’s energy throughout the group is rising.
In late January, the Bucks introduced that president Peter Feigin would be leaving his post after 12 years and turning the reins over to Josh Glessing, who works for the Haslam Sports Group and has beforehand run the Crew.
By all accounts, it was a peaceable switch of energy. But for individuals in Milwaukee, the transfer to interchange Feigin, 56, a widespread determine who was given a key to the city of Milwaukee by Mayor Cavalier Johnson on Jan. 29, marked a key energy shift from Edens to Haslam.
“The more time goes on, the more power Jimmy’s going to have,” the supply near the group mentioned. “And long term, it’s going to be his anyway, so he’s not going to let the guy that’s [passing controlling ownership on] eventually dictate what it looks like.”
Those who’ve executed enterprise with the Bucks, together with groups that inquired about Antetokounmpo earlier than the trade deadline, informed ESPN that Haslam was more concerned in selections than earlier than. One group proprietor even had direct negotiations with Haslam slightly than Edens about a potential deal for Antetokounmpo, a number of sources with data of the discussions informed ESPN.
“We mostly dealt with [GM Jon] Horst,” an govt with one of many groups that closely engaged with the Bucks informed ESPN. “But our impression was that Jimmy was really the one who would decide this.”
Said an govt with one other group that engaged in talks for Antetokounmpo, “There were clearly multiple owners there, but you just got that feeling that internally, Jimmy is driving more of that train.”
To the execs from that second group, it was clear that the Bucks didn’t wish to trade Antetokounmpo throughout the season.
“There’s no question they didn’t want to move him,” the chief mentioned. “Because it never reached a point in time, in any of our discussions with them, where they said, ‘We will do it if you do X.'”
Multiple sources throughout the league mentioned the Bucks’ asking worth was huge, with an govt from a third group describing the Bucks’ course of as “gauging the market” and their worth as “all our draft picks and good young players.”
The Golden State Warriors provide included 4 unprotected first-round picks in pursuit of Antetokounmpo, sources mentioned, however by no means appeared to achieve a lot momentum on a deal.
The gamers the Bucks did appear enthusiastic about had been youthful constructing blocks equivalent to VJ Edgecombe of the Philadelphia 76ers or Evan Mobley of the Cleveland Cavaliers, sources mentioned.
Edens and Haslam strongly refute the notion that there’s any confusion or distance between them, noting that they talked day by day in regards to the scenario with Antetokounmpo and different group enterprise and have all the time been capable of finding consensus.
“It was very, very, very easy because we just were completely united on this whole thing,” Edens mentioned. “If we’re going to do anything, it’s a very serious decision, so we’re going to take it seriously. And we try to get the best counsel we can on the player side from Jon Horst.”
Still, questions stay amongst different NBA house owners and Bucks minority shareholders who spoke to ESPN due to how the earlier partnership between Edens and Lasry deteriorated.
THE ORIGINAL OWNERSHIP development was created when Edens, Dinan and Lasry bought the group for $550 million in 2014. It labored effectively for the primary few years through which Edens held the controlling stake however began to fray in 2017 when Edens and Lasry disagreed over who ought to substitute John Hammond as common supervisor.
Eventually Edens promoted Horst to the place after an outdoor search had centered on two different finalists, then-assistant GM Justin Zanik and Arturas Karnisovas, who was ultimately promoted by the Denver Nuggets (and is now GM of the Chicago Bulls.)
The partnership between Edens and Lasry splintered after that, sources throughout the group mentioned, however remained intact by way of the NBA championship season in 2021 and till Lasry offered his shares within the group to Haslam in 2023.
There was a probability of ending the unusual setup of rotating possession when Lasry offered, sources mentioned. Lasry supplied Edens the possibility to purchase his shares, however Edens didn’t pursue it. Eventually certainly one of Edens’ high lieutenants, Sarah Watterson, linked with Glessing, certainly one of Haslam’s high lieutenants, and the deal was accomplished in April of 2023. Lasry departed with one yr remaining on his five-year time period as governor.
“I knew their relationship was bad,” one group supply mentioned. “But I didn’t realize how bad it was until I saw them at Giannis’ wedding [in 2024] and they wouldn’t go near each other.”
While the partnership between Haslam and Edens seems to be more healthy, the complicated possession construction — and potential for related discord — stays.
SO FAR, THE greatest strikes the brand new partnership have made collectively each concerned daring strikes round Damian Lillard. In September 2023, the Bucks traded Jrue Holiday, a key participant on their title-winning group, for Lillard in an try to increase their title window with Antetokounmpo.
While hailed for its boldness and potential on the time, not solely did it not work out as deliberate, it diminished the group’s belongings because the strain constructed to win with Antetokounmpo in his prime. To add insult to harm, Holiday ended up profitable a title with the Bucks’ Eastern Conference rival, the Boston Celtics, the following season.
Subsequently, sources informed ESPN that Antetokounmpo confided to Holiday how a lot he and the Bucks missed Holiday’s protection and management.
After Lillard tore his Achilles tendon final April, Milwaukee compounded the preliminary funding, stretching the 2 years, $113 million remaining on Lillard’s deal this previous summer, to signal free agent heart Myles Turner to a four-year, $107 million deal. That successfully meant the Bucks would carry $22.5 million in lifeless cash on their books for the following 5 years — an additional debt they figured was price taking if it salvaged the window to win with Antetokounmpo.
“Once we talked to Giannis in June and he reiterated he wanted to be here, we went to work building the team around him,” Edens mentioned at Bucks media day in September. “Rather it being a $120 million decision, it’s more of a $60 million decision. That’s still a lot of money, but you stretch that out over five years and kind of divide by five it’s a much more digestible number.
“So whereas it looks as if a big quantity, we would already spent the cash successfully. You’re dedicated to it and you’ve got a participant of Damian’s caliber who’s not going to play, that leaves a large hole. So it could look like a very dedicated transfer and it’s dedicated, but it surely’s additionally a very rational factor and we considered it very lengthy and onerous clearly.”
Those who’ve followed Edens’ business career point out that he has built a fortune in similar circumstances.
Following the 2008 financial crisis, Edens and Fortress Investment Group made billions buying distressed subprime mortgages and holding them long enough for the housing market to rebound, withstanding an uncomfortably long period in which Fortress’ stock price dipped under $1.
In 2015, The Wall Street Journal hailed him as “The New King of Subprime Lending” as his $124 million bet turned into $3.5 billion. In that article, Edens described the turnaround of Springleaf Holdings, Inc., a company that specialized in personal loans for individuals with subprime credit scores “the most important dwelling run” of his career.
On Tuesday, Edens’ company New Fortress Energy, with a market cap of $261 million, announced a deal with its creditors to restructure approximately $5.7 billion in debt in order to allow it to continue operations after the company saw its share price plummet nearly 99% in a year and was hit with massive credit downgrades last fall.
New Fortress Energy is a liquefied natural gas company Edens has owned since 2014. Its share price has cratered amid construction delays, regulatory setbacks and a liquidity crisis from a high of $63.06 on Aug. 25, 2022, to $0.87 on Thursday, costing Edens billions in shareholder value.
Forbes estimates that Edens’ net worth has declined by 40%, from $4.3 billion in 2023 to $2.5 billion in 2025.
BRINGING ANTETOKOUNMPO BACK into the fold and giving the Bucks another chance at title contention might just qualify as a bigger comeback.
So far, the Bucks’ play on waiving-and-stretching Lillard in order to sign Turner has backfired. Antetokounmpo has missed 32 games with various injuries, Turner has not been impactful, and the Bucks have struggled to find any consistency. After a season like this, multiple league executives made the case that the Bucks’ best strategy would be to trade Antetokounmpo for a haul of draft picks and strong young players rather than doubling down on this season’s failed experiment and offering him a massive extension.
“He’s nonetheless a sport changer, however he is 31 with a historical past of leg accidents,” a rival executive said. “And now you’d principally be buying and selling for a man on an expiring deal, so I’m undecided the affords they’re going to get this summer are going to be higher than what they already obtained.”
But by holding onto Antetokounmpo at the trade deadline, the Bucks have, once again, bought themselves time to restructure and maybe even salvage the relationship with their franchise icon.
Instead of looking to trade Antetokounmpo this summer, the Bucks could try to acquire new players — most likely other teams’ distressed assets — in the hope of convincing Antetokounmpo to sign the extension they can offer him in October.
“There’s nonetheless one other play,” one source close to the organization said. “Put a most contract extension in entrance of Giannis — and dare him to show it down.”
