"I Think The Next Guy To Keep An Eye On Is Probably Giannis" - Shams Simply Can't Help Himself And Is STILL Trying To Speak A Giannis Trade Into Existence

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By pretty much every metric, the Milwaukee Bucks are off to a great start this season. At 4-1, they sit in 3rd in the East and just 0.5 games back of the top spot. They own the 6th best offense, 10th best defense, and 8th best net rating in the league. Giannis is off to another MVP-caliber start while looking as dominant as ever, and they're even getting great production from some of their young guys like Ryan Rollins, who just lit up Steph Curry & Co for 32 points in a Bucks win last night (without Giannis).

And while their ceiling may be limited and there's still a lot of basketball yet to be played, I'd say for the most part, this has been about as ideal a start that Bucks fans, and most importantly Giannis himself, could have asked for. 

Which is why it should surprise nobody that, despite everything happening on the basketball court, it wouldn't be an NBA season without Shams continuing to try to speak a Giannis trade into existence. He can't help himself, and it's almost reached the point where I may have to start respecting the dedication to this bit? I would understand this approach if the Bucks had gotten off to a terrible start, the supporting players around Giannis all looked like dogshit etc. But.....that's not what has happened (so far). 

And yet.....

Listen, I am far from a Bucks fan. Farrrrrrrr from it. In fact, you could even put em into the Bucks hater camp to some degree. As a result, one would think I enjoy what Shams is doing here and has continued to do since last February. But this has gotten so out of hand that I'm not sure I can get there. It's annoying. 

I mean, we have Giannis on the court screaming about how MIL is his city

When this specific scenario was just brought up to Giannis a few days ago, he had this to say

Is he lying? Who knows. Perhaps it was a real thought for Giannis over the summer, and now that his team is off to a good start, he's changed his mind. Or, maybe it was never anything real to begin with. Part of me doesn't rule out the possibility that even if Giannis wanted to leave, he hates Shams so much that he'd stay in MIL just out of spite

Now to be fair, Shams didn't just focus on Giannis, he also listed guys like Trae Young and LeBron as potential trade options

but given their contract situations, I wouldn't even call that news. Usually, when you aren't extended and you could potentially leave for nothing in free agency, a team trades you instead of losing the asset for nothing. And while I do agree that Trae Young will have a market should he hit free agency, I'm not sure it's going to be at his $48M per player option price for next season. Not in this new CBA world we're seeing teams navigate through. When you look at the major cap space teams next summer, who is giving Trae Young that kind of money?

I guess maybe the Clippers in theory, but remember James Harden also has a $42M player option for next season that I imagine he's definitely interested in picking up, given he's 37 years old. Not to mention, with how close they are to the aprons, that feels like a stretch.

But back to Shams/Giannis. At what point do we think Shams finally falls on his sword and stops trying to speak this into existence? I'd say after the trade deadline, but we all know that's not true because he's been on this shit since last February. Maybe until Giannis signs another extension? He has 2 more guaranteed years before he could opt out in the summer of 2027, but he's eligible for an extension in October 2026. If he extends on that date, will Shams finally give this up?

I get the sense that Shams is just waiting for the first Bucks skid of the season so he can really put this into overdrive. But still doing it while they're 4-1 and have been one of the better teams in the league to start the year? To me, that comes off as being desperate and unwilling to admit that maybe, just maybe, there was never anything there in the first place.