The New York Knicks just put together their best playoff run in more than two decades during the 2025 NBA Playoffs, as they qualified for the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since the year 2000.
New York is looking to build upon that impressive playoff run and win the franchise’s third title ever in 2026, and making a move for a superstar player might be the easiest way for the Knicks to take that next step.
One elite player the Knicks reportedly have interest in is Milwaukee Bucks big man Giannis Antetokounmpo. Per The Athletic’s James L. Edwards III, New York has been “monitoring” Antetokounmpo’s situation in Milwaukee dating back to even before the offseason.
“It is my understanding that Leon Rose and company have been monitoring Giannis Antetokounmpo’s situation in Milwaukee very closely, even before the offseason started,” Edwards wrote. “Many around the league believe the Knicks are interested in star hunting, and while that opportunity hasn’t popped up yet, I certainly believe it’s in the cards if the right situation presents itself.”
The report from Edwards comes not long after ESPN’s Shams Charania claimed that Antetokounmpo still has yet to make a decision about whether he should stick around with the Bucks or ask for a trade.
"Sources tell me there's still nothing set in stone about whether Giannis Antetokounmpo will stay in Milwaukee or whether he will be leaving."
—@ShamsCharania pic.twitter.com/ouhenIqxMs
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) August 4, 2025
Antetokounmpo has spent the entirety of his NBA career up to this point as a Buck and even won a championship with the team in 2021, but Milwaukee has been eliminated in the opening round of the playoffs in each of the last three seasons.
Getting traded to the Knicks would almost certainly give Antetokounmpo a greater shot at winning a championship next year compared to if he continued his Bucks tenure. Star guard Damian Lillard is no longer a member of the Bucks after the team waived him earlier in the offseason, and the squad has a real talent deficiency, even though it has added big man Myles Turner to the fold.
Antetokounmpo looked as dominant as ever with the Bucks in the 2024-25 campaign, and he would instantly be the Knicks’ top player if they acquired him.
He averaged 30.4 points, 11.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game in 67 games played a season ago and earned an All-Star nod as well as a selection on the All-NBA First Team. Antetokounmpo finished in the top 10 in voting for the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year awards as well in his 12th season.
