Bobby Portis Discusses the Impact of Giannis Trade Rumors

Being involved in trade rumors is difficult for an NBA player. For most players, it means they might have to move their home, their family, and fit into what is essentially a new job. But it isn’t just the player involved in the rumor that can be affected. 

Trade rumors can affect entire teams and organizations. Take the Milwaukee Bucks for example. The success and trajectory of the Bucks’ franchise is fully tied to whether Giannis Antetokounmpo is playing in their jersey. With Giannis trade rumors happening all season long, the stress and confusion about Giannis’ status has bled into every corner of the organization. 

Bobby Portis, a long-time teammate of Giannis’ in Milwaukee, spoke about what it’s like to play with huge question marks surrounding your team’s star player. 

“I think there was so much pressure on our team this year, with so much outside media about Giannis leaving the Bucks—him requesting a trade—or people pushing that narrative, and it gets to the guys on the team. Guys feel that pressure, especially playing with the Bucks, playing with an all-time great. There are always narratives about winning—whether the guys around him are the right guys, and whether the organization is still the organization for him. So much goes into it…If we lost two games in a row, the talks intensified. If we lost three, four, five in a row, it got magnified: this might not be the team, these players might not fit, and he might not want to be here anymore. Once you log on social media or turn on TV, you see Giannis’ face circulating—maybe he’s going here—rumors with the Warriors, the Heat, the Timberwolves. You couldn’t duck it for a month and a half, six weeks. Every time you get on social, you see it. Every time you get on TV, you see it. It was a real thing.”

It isn’t just the big picture that is changed by trade rumors. Even the day-to-day of a team and its players can be greatly affected by all the rumblings.