Antetokounmpo is not closing the door on a return someday.
Giannis Antetokounmpo spent thirteen seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks before Miami finally landed him this summer, sending Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis and a pile of draft picks back to Wisconsin.
The trade became official on July 6, ending a saga that dragged on for more than a year while Antetokounmpo weighed the decision.
Once the ink dried, he said what he had been carrying around, and leaving the only NBA home he had ever known scared him more than people probably expected.
The Fear Behind The Decision
Antetokounmpo made his first comments on the move during an appearance on ESPN's SportsCenter, and he did not dress up how hard it had been.
"I'm scared of change," he said. "I'm scared that the grass is not always greener."
He was putting up 27.6 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists across 36 games before a knee injury cut his year short in March, so the fear had nothing to do with what he could do on the court.
"People love me here, people respect me here, people allow me to be myself here in the city, and I'm scared that I might never find that ever again," he continued, which explains why it took him so long.
Miami Is Not A Finished Product
He also explained the other way.
"I see guys playing deep into the playoffs and I think I'm like okay maybe if I switch teams and I go somewhere else and have a better opportunity I can play deep in the playoffs I can go chase another championship because I really want that," he said.
Milwaukee finished 32 and 50 and missed the playoffs entirely, while Miami only went 43 and 39, so neither team looks like an obvious contender yet.
Miami gave up four rotation players and a stack of picks for him, and Pat Riley still needs shooting and size on the wing.
Bam Adebayo gives him a strong partner up front, averaging 20.1 points a game this past season, but the depth thins out fast past those two, and it is fair to wonder if Milwaukee might already be in a better spot than people expect given what it got back.
The Door Back To Milwaukee
"I'm scared that maybe if I don't take that decision that when I'm going to be 37, 38 years old hopefully I'm retiring I'm going to say why? Why you didn't take that risk?" Antetokounmpo said, closing on a heavier note.
In a separate farewell interview with longtime broadcaster Jim Paschke, he was told Milwaukee would always welcome him back, pointing to how fans still give Kevin Garnett a standing ovation walking into a Minnesota arena, and Antetokounmpo did not brush it aside.
Milwaukee even kept future first round picks from Miami in 2031 and 2033, the same years he turns 36 and 38.
New coach Taylor Jenkins already has a young core waiting, so if the Heat experiment runs its course, the door he walked through this summer does not sound closed behind him.
