MILWAUKEE — Thirty-seven. Thirty-one. Forty. The Knicks have a Giannis Antetokounmpo problem.
Forget for a second (but only a second) the rumors about the former two-time league MVP eyeing Madison Square Garden if the Bucks flame out early in the playoffs again. The Knicks have a more immediate concern: stopping an equal parts immovable object and unstoppable force from barreling his way to the rim when New York visits Fiserv Forum on Tuesday.
Antetokounmpo is, quite literally, built like that: 6-11, 250 pounds, a one-man freight train headed square into the chest of whichever defender Mike Brown dares to put in his path. He is averaging 36 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists to start the 2025-26 NBA season.
For the Knicks, this is the test of the night — and maybe the week — as they try to bounce back from their first loss of the season, a disappointing effort in South Beach on Sunday.
Funny enough, Antetokounmpo’s numbers against New York (28.6 points, 10.8 rebounds and six assists over his last 10 meetings) are actually below his usual averages. He’s the only player in the league to average at least 30 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists in each of the last three seasons.
But now the stakes are even higher. If the Bucks can’t win, and win big, Giannis will start looking elsewhere. And if the offseason rumblings are any indication, the next chapter of his Hall of Fame career could unfold in New York City.
Which brings us to the Knicks and whether they have the tools to keep him in check. Because if the Knicks ever do go after Antetokounmpo, the same players trying to stop him on Tuesday will be the ones dealt to get him down the road.
Antetokounmpo is in the first year of a three-year, $175 million deal. He’ll make $54 million this season and $58 million next year. Antetokounmpo holds a $63 million player option he’s certain to decline for a richer long-term contract.
The Knicks, meanwhile, are pressed against the second apron. After trading for Karl-Anthony Towns, extending Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges, and giving OG Anunoby the richest contract in franchise history, New York has little financial flexibility left. They’d have to match dollar-for-dollar in any trade and send out real talent, with few picks remaining after the Bridges deal cost them five first-rounders.
The two teams reportedly discussed a potential trade this summer, but New York balked at Milwaukee’s asking price. A dominant performance from Giannis — paired with a Bucks win — could give Leon Rose and company something else to think about.
And so, Tuesday night. Knicks-Bucks. Cream City. Elevated stakes.
Milwaukee waived Damian Lillard after his injury and lost much of its scoring punch in the process, but it added one of Madison Square Garden’s most current villains: Myles Turner, who joined the Bucks after leaving Indiana with a new contract in hand. They also signed New York native Cole Anthony, whose illness could keep him sidelined against his hometown team.
So how do the Knicks stop the league’s most unguardable player?
They don’t: not with one man, anyway. Brown knows this as well as anyone. It’ll take five defenders working in unison to slow Antetokounmpo down, and then second and third efforts once he kicks the ball out.
Much of that assignment falls on Anunoby, who earned his $212.5 million deal precisely for nights like this. He’s the rare defender who won’t back down from a challenge that makes most players look small. Bridges will have his back, length, instincts, and elite help defense ready to collapse on every drive.
Both have something to prove. Because if the Knicks ever do make a serious push for Antetokounmpo, one — or both —of them could be the pieces heading out in return.
So before any talk of trades or hypotheticals, the mission is simple: stop Antetokounmpo in his tracks first.
If Brunson and Towns are the anchors, the wings will have to prove why they belong beside them — not instead of them.
The wings aren’t the only names that could surface in a potential Antetokounmpo deal. Towns’ max contract, inherited from Minnesota, makes him the highest-paid Knick and one of the league’s priciest trade chips: $53 million this season, $57 million next, and a player option north of $60 million in 2027-28.
In a pursuit this big, with stakes this high, no one is safe.
Because if there’s one thing this front office has shown, it’s that it will trade almost anything — and anyone — if it means hanging a banner that’s been five decades overdue.
