Did the Milwaukee Bucks have any legit interest in sending their franchise player to the Houston Rockets? Houston’s general manager Rafael Stone made an appearance as a guest on ESPN Radio Houston, where he cleared the air once and for all.

Per the popular GM, Giannis Antetokounmpo was highly coveted by the Rockets, as Houston was absolutely willing to get a deal done. However, general manager Jon Horst ultimately said no and Antetokounmpo was not available for potential trade scenarios.

“I deal well with Jon Horst, I really like him,” Stone said. “Jon was very clear that they weren’t doing anything. So, that was that.”

Since the beginning of this year’s offseason, rumors have circulated throughout the league on the future of Antetokounmpo. The 30-year-old said he was willing to keep an open-mind and wanted to still compete for a championship, white reiterating his love for Milwaukee and not wanting to leave.

This spurred on rampant rumors and reports of potential trade packages, teams interested, and if he would ever request a trade out of Milwaukee. In the end, unless Giannis wants it, the Bucks have no plans to trade away the player who delivered them a championship back in 2021.

According to multiple reports, spearheaded by ESPN’s Shams Charania, the situation with Giannis Antetokounmpo and his future with the team remains uncertain.

“Sources tell me there’s still nothing set in stone about whether Giannis Antetokounmpo will stay in Milwaukee, or whether he will be leaving,” said Charania. “And so he’s continuing to evaluate his future. I reported it in mid May that he’s evaluating whether his best fit is in Milwaukee, or is it elsewhere? And that process is continuing.

‘”There’s been some very real conversations over the last week or so. The constant question that Giannis has, though, is: ‘Can I win a championship with this roster? Is this roster going to be the one for this upcoming year and 2026-27?’ He wants to win a second championship. So he’s asking that question over and over. There are multiple teams waiting in the wings, potentially, if Giannis this offseason still makes that decision.”

His future has been unstable since the team lost in the postseason and during their attempt of trying to reshape the roster to compete for a championship.

It’s unclear when he will make a decision about his future, but, for now, it remains very unstable without a clear ending.

Right now, Giannis Antetokounmpo has been reportedly more “open-minded” about leaving and then 100% committing to the team, as it flops back and forth each week.

Now, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the former NBA champ will be surveying the entire league to see what moves they make and how all the pieces fall during the offseason. He will be super vigilante on what Milwaukee will be doing and how they are making the team better around him.

“Giannis Antetokounmpo has been in Milwaukee for 12 years,” NBA insider Shams Charania said on Thursday’s episode of Get Up. “I reported during draft combine and lottery week that he was open-minded about seeing if there are better possible fits outside of Milwaukee. That is a due diligence process that he has undertaken—everyone around him has undertaken as well.”

Shams did stress that Antetokounmpo will not hold one week higher than the rest; that the veteran superstar will take the draft in a chunk, then free agency week-by-week in a chunk, and seeing if they’ll make any big moves.

“He’s going to remain open-minded,” Charania explained. “I don’t think his future is necessarily tied to this week—to free agency week. It’s going to be a process where you see how this team looks into July, well into July potentially, and then ultimately he will see how the Bucks look and how the chess pieces look across the league before reaching a resolution.”

“They don’t have the necessary tools because they have gone all-in multiple, multiple times, so you have to give that organization a lot of credit,” said Charania. “Will the loyalty factor—well, listen, if you’re staying this offseason for Giannis Antetokounmpo, you’re looking at yourself staying for the rest of your career. If you’re going to withstand this, you’re staying.”