Key Highlights
- All the Bucks players were frustrated.
- Milwaukee went into training camp believing internally they could be a force in a down Eastern Conference this season, but there they were on Wednesday morning at 9-13, having not only lost four in a row while Antetokounmpo was out with a groin strain, but they had lost on Monday night with him to a struggling Wizards team. That's when the report dropped that Antetokounmpo and his agent would meet with Bucks management to discuss his future with the franchise.
- That report sparked countless conversations — from front offices around the league to media broadcasts to barstools in New York City — about what an Antetokounmpo trade might look like. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWednesday night, the Bucks players, as well as Rivers, pushed back on all that talk on a number of fronts:• The most impressive was a win without Antetokounmpo — who left the game with a calf strain two minutes in and now reportedly will be out 2-4 weeks — beating the top team in the East, the Detroit Pistons.
- That's the Bucks' best win of the season and met with Antetokounmpo's approval, according to Bobby Portis."What's so crazy is Giannis is the first person texting in the team group message, 'Good job, fellas, way to get one,'" Portis said, via the Associated Press.• Kevin Porter Jr.
- had maybe the best summation of where the Bucks locker room stands, seeing everything as outside noise until Antetokounmpo himself talks to the team, with the quote via Eric Nehm at The Athletic. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"I'll just say this: There's a lot of outside noise, that's just what comes with it," Porter said.