Giannis Antetokounmpo already requested Knicks trade, report says

When it comes to Giannis Antetokounmpo's future with the Milwaukee Bucks, if you see some smoke right now, there's likely a fire somewhere.

Earlier this week, the 2021 NBA Finals MVP, two-time MVP, and nine-time All-Star had the internet in shambles when he curiously scrubbed his social media accounts. Some thought it pointed to an imminent exit from Milwaukee in general. Some believed it to be a sign he wanted to join the Los Angeles Lakers. As it turns out, per ESPN's Brian Windhorst, all of this social media hoopla was actually more or less meaningless.

Why, you ask?

According to Windhorst, the Bucks already explored an Antetokounmpo trade to the New York Knicks after the superstar said he wanted to go to New York. It's unclear when this discussion happened. Obviously, nothing came of that conversation (for now), and it seems like Antetokounmpo committed to at least one more Milwaukee season. Which, is going poorly with the Bucks sitting at just 9-13 at the time of this writing.

What is clear here is that Antetokounmpo's days with the Bucks are numbered, and he almost certainly wants to jump to a bigger media market while he's still in his prime. That likely won't happen until the summer at the earliest, though:

I'll be curious to see how this report goes over in Milwaukee, especially amongst the Bucks players, if they didn't already know Antetokounmpo's stance. Maybe his desire to leave the Bucks was the NBA's worst-kept secret. But it's still jarring to finally see that he's telegraphing a way to New York, that's for sure.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Giannis ready to leave Bucks for Knicks in trade