Giannis open to playing for Bulls ‘down the line’ originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Close your eyes and imagine it, Chicago fans: Giannis Antetokounmpo — NBA champion, two-time MVP, perennial All-Star, All-NBA and All-Defensive team selection — in a Bulls uniform.
It’s a far off fantasy, to be sure.
But we’re here to tell you: There is a chance. Maybe. One day.
“I think anybody you ask that question that plays basketball, if he said no, he would be a liar,” Antetokounmpo said in a recent press appearance. “It’s (the Bulls) a team that won multiple championships. It’s a team that one of the greatest players — if not the greatest player — to ever play this game played for. So it’s a no-brainer. Everybody would love to play for Chicago.
“Down the line, you never know. You never know how life brings it. Maybe I’ll play for Chicago. But right now I’m committed to Milwaukee.”
At 27 years old, Antetokounmpo was a toddler during the Bulls’ second three-peat. But he clearly has a reverence for the franchise’s history centered on Michael Jordan and the six titles they claimed in the 1990’s.
And so a door creaks open, ever so slightly.
But the operative phrase from Antetokounmpo’s comments is “down the line.” Not only is he under contract on a supermax with the Bucks through 2026, Antetokounmpo recently eschewed a chance to enter unrestricted free agency by signing said deal ahead of the 2020-21 season — and immediately followed that commitment up by leading the franchise to its first title in 50 years.
Needless to say, Milwaukee is positioned to remain inner-circle contenders as long as he wills it.
Making Antetokounmpo’s rise all the more painful for Chicago fans is his continued dominance of the Bulls. Dating back to January 2018, Antetokounmpo has won 13 straight regular-season games against them, and in a five-game rout in their first-round matchup in the 2022 playoffs, he stuffed the stat sheet in typical fashion by averaging 28.6 points, 13.4 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.4 blocks.
“When I look at the game right now, the Milwaukee Bucks have been dominant in the East. Until you’re able to find an answer for Giannis, I think the Bulls will be a team that will be in the middle of the road, because he is the most dominant player in the game right now,” Bulls legend Scottie Pippen recently told NBC Sports Chicago. “Unfortunately for them (the Bulls), he plays in the East. He’s the target that they’ve gotta get around.”
What’s that old…