(Original article published on May 28, authored by Rob Peterson of The Athletic website, the content of the article does not represent the translator's views)

In my childhood in Milwaukee, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was everywhere.

When the basketball superstar played for the Bucks in his hometown team, he was overwhelmed: he occupied the headlines of two major local sports editions, appeared on the cover of the magazine, and appeared in the game broadcast across the United States by ABC TV. Later in the sixth game of the 1974 NBA Finals, we saw him hit the "key win goal" against the Celtics on CBS TV.

But in my wild mind, the most symbolic of Jabbar's huge presence is the dazzling neon sign of an electrical appliance store near the old Capitol mall in northwest Milwaukee. The signboard has a wide top and narrow center, the middle part will shift to the left and right according to the viewing angle, and the bottom will shrink into an arrow pointing to the store.

For merchants, this is just a luminous sign to attract customers. But in my eyes, it was clearly the trembling appearance of the Milwaukee Stadium Nets after Jabbar hit the sky hook at the bottom line.

"Well, it really looks like." Once when I was passing by by car, I mentioned this association to my father, and he responded with a smile.

The fact that you can still remember this detail clearly after half a century just confirms the characteristics of a great athlete: ordinary stars may leave a glimpse, but superstars will be deeply engraved in your memory and imagination.

This is exactly why Bucks fans are worried about the rumors of Antetokounmpo's transfer. They know very well that this name is enough to illustrate what the superstar means. Antetokounmpo not only brought the Bucks NBA championship, but also the first Bucks player to win the championship since the era of Jabbar.

Therefore, I want to advise the Bucks management: I must keep this "Greek monster" even if I fight to the death. He must not be let go, even if the Mavericks are willing to take the No. 1 pick and multiple first round picks; even if the Rockets are willing to give up Shin Kyung and multiple first round picks; even if the Spurs are willing to give up this year's No. 1 pick and Castle and multiple first round picks. For Bucks fans, Antetokounmpo is their historical monument.

Take some radical measures, be sure to resist the urge to trade out the greatest players in the team's history, and don't naively think that hoarding draft picks and a few years of reconstruction can bring long-term benefits.

If the Bucks send Antetokounmpo away, the team may fall into an endless cold winter and miss the championship for decades.

Why are the Bucks fans so sure? Because they have experienced this despair in person. It is too cruel to ask them to endure this torment again.

Although Jabbar and Antetokounmpo are in different situations back then, history is always repeating itself with similar trajectories.

During the six years of playing for the Bucks, Jabbar not only became the best in team history, but also established himself as the greatest player in basketball history, both in college leagues and professional arenas.

He completed the NCAA three-game winning streak as early as the UCLA period. How terrifying is this No. 1 pick’s dominance? Look at the 1969 draft, Jerry Colangelo, then general manager of the Suns, looked out of his body when he lost the coin toss and missed the No. 1 pick. He instantly understood that this result would reshape the entire team and even the NBA.

The reason why Jabbar left an eternal mark in the hearts of Bucks fans in that era is due to his continuous refreshing professional achievements: the best rookie in 1970, the MVP of the 1971 Finals (the Bucks swept the Baltimore Bullets that year, setting the fastest sports record from the establishment of the team in 1968 to winning the championship in just three years), 1971&1972&1974 won the regular season MVP and the scoring champion of the 1971-72 season, and led the team to the finals again in 1974.

However, a year after the second finals trip, the superstar bid farewell to Milwaukee. As Wayne Embri, then general manager of the Bucks (now a member of the Naismith Hall of Fame), said to the Los Angeles Times in 1987: "We asked Jabbar if he was dissatisfied with the team. He denied this and just wanted to leave Milwaukee. He said his lifestyle was incompatible with the city."

Although this broke the hearts of Milwaukee people at the time, considering that Jabbar grew up in New York and studied at UCLA, this choice was understandable. The superstar officially submitted an application for leaving the team and stated that he would not renew his contract with the Bucks. Large market teams such as the Lakers and the Knicks immediately gathered on the shore of Lake Michigan like sharks smelling blood. Embrey, then general manager of the Bucks, revealed to the New York Times: "The Knicks asked about the bargaining chips for trading Kareem." The situation has forced the Bucks management to make a decision.

On June 16, 1975, the Bucks management turned their attention to the Los Angeles Lakers.

"This deal reshapes the landscape of professional basketball and may even change its future direction." New York Times reporter Steve Caddy wrote in the report, "The Bucks traded Jabbar to the Lakers yesterday."

Kiddy's prediction is insightful. The deal did rewrite the history of basketball, with Jabbar then winning three MVPs (a total of six record sets), adding five more championship trophys for the Lakers and maintaining the title of NBA historical scoring champion for 38 years. Among the four players the Bucks received, Brian Winters (No. 32) and Junio ​​Bridgeman (No. 2) were famous in Milwaukee and won the jersey retirement honor, but they were unable to lead the team back to the finals stage.

In this fare, the Bucks waited for 46 years before reaching the finals again.

But this does not mean that the Bucks have been in a slump in the past forty years. They had glorious moments and outstanding players, won the division championship many times, and entered the Eastern Conference Finals four times between 1982 and 2001, but they were unable to surpass Eastern Conference giants such as the Celtics and the 76ers.

After the root cause, although the team has all the All-Stars, there are no superstars of the level of Larry Bird, Moses Malone, Julius Irving and even later Allen Iverson (these players have won MVP).

Superstars can give fans hope to compete with the team, daunt their opponents, and completely change the team's destiny. This is the transformation brought to Milwaukee by the basketball boy from Greece more than ten years ago.

From the time of trading Jabbar in June 1975 to choosing Antetokounmpo in June 2013, the Bucks players only scored 40+ in a single game (only 11 between 1975 and 1989), and no one achieved the three seasons before the selection of Antetokounmpo. The Greek monster has now broken through the 40-point mark in a single game 54 times in his career, and has achieved 12 times in the 2022-23 season alone, which is equivalent to 1/3 of the Bucks' 40+ games in the previous 38 years.

Also during this window period, the Bucks only had 50+ score performances. Antetokounmpo rewritten the team history with three times this (9 times!), and set a team history record of 64 points in a single game in 2023. This is why the opponent always hesitates to build a defensive wall to stop him.

Not to mention Antetokounmpo's two MVP trophys, the first team selected for the All-Series for seven consecutive years, the nine All-Stars, the Best Defensive Player of 2020, and the most significant finals MVP. It was he who scored 50 points in the sixth game against the Suns, bringing Milwaukee a half-century championship.

Whether measured in terms of alliance honors, rival fear, business value or popularity, Antetokounmpo is a well-deserved superstar.

This is the world-famous Antetokounmpo. For the Bucks fans, they value the Antetokounmpo who is as friendly as their family.

At the 2013 draft, when the Bucks selected this 18-year-old, 2.06 meters tall but only 98 kilograms with the No. 15 draw, he was as uncertain as most rookies. The Bucks fans were still unfamiliar with this name. To be honest, most of the players in the team were unknown at that time.

"The Bucks' Choice of Antetokounmpo is like a home run bet in baseball," ESPN commented in 2013. "He is similar to Durant, able to control the ball, shoot three-pointers, and has an amazing arm span. But those legs as thin as cotton swabs and his background in the Greek amateur league make him look several years away from the NBA level. This is either a home run or a strikeout, and the answer will not be revealed in at least two or three years."

Antetokounmpo's precocious trait quickly captured the hearts of fans: his eyes widened when he first tasted the smoothie, he had no money to send money to his family in the rookie season and took a taxi back to the Bradley Center Arena (the Bucks' home court at the time), and could only run and train before the game until the kind couple let him hitchhike. When he took his parents to visit the stadium and looked up at the retired jerseys of Oscar Robertson, Sidney Moncliff and even Jabbar hanging on the dome, he naively asked if he could win this honor.

This teenager who was once ridiculed for "cotton swab legs" thrived in Milwaukee, and the team and fans also transformed together with him. The Bucks fans gave him unreserved love, and he also repayed it with sincerity.

Of course, without the support of the performance of the court, all this warmth will lose its meaning. Antetokounmpo always creates a miracle that fans have never seen before: take off and dunk from the free throw line, or directly jump to the opponent to complete a slam dunk during the game.

What is more important is the transformation of Antetokounmpo's temperament. He gradually showed the innate edge of a great player (as Richard Jefferson put it: "His default on the court is 'ready to go crazy at any time'"), a trait that has set the tone for the Bucks over the past decade. It is precisely because of this killer instinct that all teams covet, speculation about "Antetokounmpo's next stop" has become rampant.

The Greek superstar has always expressed his desire for a championship. However, since winning the championship in 2021, the Bucks have only won the next round of the series, and have been eliminated for three consecutive years since 2023. The injury wave (Middleton in 2022, Antetokounmpo in 2023, Antetokounmpo and Lillard in 2024, and Lillard in 2025, aging of the core lineup and slow growth of young players are all the crux of the problem.

Deeply aware of Antetokounmpo's desire for the championship (and fans), the Bucks management did everything they could to create a championship lineup. The Bucks have always ranked among the top in the league in the past five years: Zhu Holiday is the point guard in the trade in 2020. When Holiday is the second-in-command of the team, and Middleton's health has not improved, it is worthwhile to get Lillard, who is also eager for a championship and applying to leave the team in 2023. It should be wise to combine the two NBA history 75 superstars together.

But these operations almost exhausted the Bucks' future draft picks and had little salary space left. With Lillard likely missing most of the games next season due to a torn left Achilles tendon, and only four people, including Antetokounmpo and Lillard, will be extremely difficult for the Bucks next season, and the prospects for the championship will be even more bleak.

Faced with such a situation, looking back at everything he has dedicated to the team and the city, Antetokounmpo is fully qualified to say: "Yes, this journey is wonderful, but..."

Just like Jabbar's departure back then, such a decision is heartbreaking but understandable. Sports legends are ultimately built on champions, and the number of trophies directly determines historical status, and multiple championships are the only shortcomings in Antetokounmpo's resume.

As of now, the Greek superstar has not officially submitted a departure application to the management, although countless NBA fans, media and social media accounts have long been salivating about it.

Even if Antetokounmpo finally makes a deal request, the Bucks should think twice. With two years left in his contract and with a player option for the 2027-28 season, the Bucks don't have to act hastily. Maybe a transitional season is acceptable? After all, having Antetokounmpo's mediocrity may be far better than the chaos after losing him.

With Tatum's Achilles tendon injury and the Celtics' salary space is about to reach its peak, the eastern landscape has changed. Can Antetokounmpo and the younger lineup that won eight consecutive victories at the end of the season rekindled hope in the East? Moreover, under the current strict second-large tyrant line restrictions of the labor-management agreement, the league competition has become more balanced, and returning to the championship ranks may not require the long reconstruction period as before.

Although the era of super teams may end, the value of superstars will never be replaced.

This is exactly why legendary coach Greg Popovich (one of the greatest coaches in sports history) raises his glass to pay tribute every time he eats: "Thoto Tim Duncan!"

People cannot imagine how many beer glasses have been raised and collided for Antetokounmpo, because the bond between superstars and small market teams is always particularly precious, just as Popovich and all NBA coaches know that superstars can change everything.

When you have superstars, your home court will no longer be a playground for opponents to roam wildly...

...but a king is welcomed to take charge.

The Bucks management must ask themselves: Can they find players who average 30 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists per game and have a shooting percentage of 60%? No, because Antetokounmpo is the only player to achieve this and has done it for two consecutive seasons. Can they fill this vacancy with future draft picks and slim hopes? Relying on a young man who may also have thin legs but never stops pursuing progress? Even find a replacement with only half its strength? Can they get such a player who touches the entire city, ignites the enthusiasm of the whole state, and wins the eternal love of fans through the transaction? The answer is likely to be no, and this is exactly what the Bucks should answer to any trade offer.

Milwaukee and fans gave Antetokounmpo opportunities and love, and Antetokounmpo gave back with dedication, determination and championship. Just as the fans' heart-wrenching understanding: Once the bond between small market teams and superstars breaks, any bright future will be out of reach.

The truth does not require any flashing neon signs to remind you.

Original text: Rob Peterson

Compiled by: Li Taibai