End of an Era: Giannis traded to Miami.

Me doomscrolling NBA Twitter for the past 7 days:

I can’t believe it’s over. I mean I can, the last 15 months of the Giannis Era kind of felt like a TV show in Season 9 that should have ended after Season 8, but it’s still hard to believe we’ve reached the finale. How did 13 years go by so quickly? From saying, “WHO???” on draft night in 2013, to practicing saying his name, to watching him grow and develop into a star, to winning MVP’s, to dropping 50 points in a title clinching win while fulfilling the “Bucks in 6” prophecy. It felt like a blink.

And the Giannis off of the court was as fun as Giannis was on it! The Instagram live videos where Mariah had to consistently slap him on the side of the head, strolling through State Fair and trying all of the excess that is Fair Food, livestreaming at Chick-fil-A the morning after the title. It was a pleasure for this Midwest fan base to adopt a rail-thin kid from Greece and watch him genuinely take joy in adapting to American and Wisconsin culture. It’s like he was an alien that randomly got dropped into the lap of the most moribund fanbase and franchise in the NBA, and his talent, charisma and charm breathed life back into our organization.

So now that we’re at the end, as a diehard fan of this team since 1992, I’m just feeling sad. I realize people will say a 42 year old man(child) shouldn’t be sad about a player leaving his favorite sports franchise, but here I am, sad all the same.

And I’m sad for a variety of reasons, but I’m mostly sad because if you’re a diehard like me, and you’re around my age, Giannis gave us things that we NEVER thought we’d see. I wasn’t alive in the 70’s when Oscar and Kareem made two runs to the Finals and won a title. I wasn’t alive for the first half of the 80’s and I was barely cognizant of the world for the second half of the 80’s when the Bucks were really good, but not quite good enough to get past the Celtics or Sixers.

My Bucks were the Bucks led by Todd Day, Eric Murdock and Marty Conlon. I grew up watching Mike Dunleavy feud with Glenn Robinson, and Chris Ford mismanage Vin Baker. We got a brief breath of fresh air with George Karl and “The Big Three” of Robinson, Cassel, and Ray Allen. But even that ended with the NBA screwing the franchise in the 2001 Eastern Conference Finals, and then with George Karl inexplicably convincing management to trade Ray Allen (in his PRIME) to the Sonics for broken down Gary Payton and The Cowboy, Desmond Mason.

They got another lottery gift in 2005 by landing the #1 overall pick, and took Andrew Bogut. He was FINE. But in his best season in the NBA, with the team playing well, his arm snapped in half on the Bradley Center floor. My buddies and I were there. It was GROTESQUE. He was never the same.

The point is, as a fanbase, we got a few glimpses of fun (2001, Brandon Jennings 55 points game, Bango moonsaulting off of a gigantic ladder), but it was mostly a terrible product. Bad free agent signings, terrible draft picks, trading away the few stars we got. The franchise felt cursed.

We never dreamed we’d see a Hall of Fame player in a Bucks jersey. A 10-time All Star, 2 time MVP, Defensive Player of the Year. A top 30(ish) player all time! In a BUCKS jersey??? And he’s going to sign MULTIPLE contract extensions?? We’re going to play half of our games on national television, be featured on the Christmas Day slate and Sunday afternoon games??? He’s going to put together one of the best games in a championship closeout that the league has ever seen?? A parade down Wisconsin Avenue??? Hah! Impossible!

But it happened. It almost feels like a fever dream. I don’t think this is one of those Andy Bernard, “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days, before you’ve actually left them,” because every diehard fan I know cherished every moment. Every game I could watch, I watched. Every game I could go to, I went. I was at an NBA Finals game! In Milwaukee! I’m still paying that credit card off by the way. Worth every cent, plus 16.9% interest.

Now the question: Does him leaving hurt his legacy in Milwaukee? I guess that depends on who you ask. For me? Absolutely fucking not. Yeah, I suppose some of the things he said during the last 15 months look a bit performative now. The Wolf of Wall Street, “I’m not leaving!” video he posted after the trade deadline passed, the “Legends don’t chase, they attract” post, those seem a bit empty today. But, again: I never thought I’d see the things he brought to us as Bucks fans. And more plainly stated: He’s the reason we still have a franchise. Fiserv Forum is literally the house that Giannis built. There’s not a doubt in my mind that if this unicorn doesn’t land in Milwaukee, the city never backs a stadium, the NBA eventually buys the franchise and moves it to Seattle, or Nashville, or anywhere else. Herb Kohl deserves some credit too, Wes Edens and Marc Lasry as well, John Hammond for drafting him, but if the Bucks don’t luck into a marketable superstar like Giannis, the team would have been gone a decade ago.

So for those reasons, I’m not mad at him. Bummed, sad, sure. But I’m not mad. If people want to hold the, “loyalty is in my DNA” quote against him now, fine. That’s every individual fan’s prerogative. But circumstances change, and the best intentions don’t always play out the way we want them to. I wanted him to be like Duncan, or Kobe, or Dirk and play his entire career in one city. And I honestly believe that’s what HE wanted as well. But it rarely works that way. The title window is closed, and it was probably time for both entities to move on. Favre left, Rodgers left, storybook endings are few and far between.

In closing: Goodnight sweet Prince.

PS: We’ll break it down more on the podcast, but I don’t hate the haul. Nothing is going to feel like we got enough when it comes to Giannis, but we got two super young players with nice upside (Ware/Jakucionis), a decent role player in Jaquez, a former All Star in Herro, and a bunch of picks, including #13 in one of the deepest drafts in recent memory. Herro is the one part of this deal that I wonder what they do with. He’s entering the final year of his deal, and I don’t think paying him $35-$40 million a season makes much sense with where we’re at right now, wouldn’t shock me if he’s traded tonight.

Double PS: I think there’s a 10-15% chance Giannis plays a season or two in Milwaukee at the end of his career. Until then: