Kristian Winfield: Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard create a Bucks dynasty with an expiration date

The beauty in the Damian Lillard mega trade to the Bucks is it works whether or not Giannis Antetokounmpo decides to stay in Milwaukee when his free agency arrives in 2025.

Antetokounmpo’s future in Milwaukee has been the elephant in NBA room — that he will do some version of what Lillard, 33, attempted and flee small-market Milwaukee for a big city like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami or Boston. That after a decade of developing a raw prospect drafted 15th overall in 2013 into a two-time league Most Valuable Player revered as the most dominant player in basketball, the franchise cornerstone will walk for nothing.

Or do what Lillard did: sign a supermax deal, then turn around and request a trade.

So it has to be freeing for the Bucks to know they have done everything they can to put Antetokounmpo, 28, in position to win it all this season.

If Antetokounmpo is leaving as a free agent and there’s nothing the city of Milwaukee can do about it, why not push all the chips to the center of the table while holding a once-in-a-lifetime hand anyway?

The alternative is wasted time, sometimes a waste of an entire season due to the indecision to yank-off the bandaid early. The Trail Blazers, for example, kept the Lillard and C.J. McCollum tandem together when everyone except the Trail Blazers knew their team had no shot to make it to an NBA Finals — and they didn’t. The Warriors spent a season experimenting with D’Angelo Russell and Stephen Curry before trading Russell to the Minnesota Timberwolves for a more natural fit: Andrew Wiggins, who blossomed into an All-Star in Golden State. The Nets also wasted valuable time not sooner orchestrating the trade that sent James Harden to Brooklyn. The Nets spent training camp with a team full of placeholders who were eventually dealt for Harden at the deadline, then spent the rest of the season complaining about chemistry.

Well, here it is: Antetokounmpo complained that he and the Bucks needed to be on the same page, the Bucks one-upped him paragraph, sentence, word and letter. Milwaukee was already a championship favorite entering this season with a healthy roster after Antetokounmpo’s playoff injury led to a first-round exit at the hands of the Miami Heat.

Let us extend lukewarm condolences to the Heat, who have been rugged on Lillard trade rumors just like the rest of their fan base. Miami’s ticket to a repeat NBA Finals appearance just got rerouted to Milwaukee. They must now either re-focus their efforts on a deal for Harden, once again requesting a trade but this time from Philadelphia, or smooth things over with Tyler Herro, who must have a range of emotions now that Lillard has been traded elsewhere — when it was Herro who was on the first plane out of South Beach with any potential Lillard deal to Miami.

It’s one of those things you just hate to see — until you acknowledge the arrogance of it all. Every talking head with a microphone and a platform campaigned for Lillard to the Heat, labeled it a done deal, proclaimed there were no better offers for the Trail Blazers and that Lillard’s arrival in South Beach would usher in a new superteam era in Miami.

Sell that story to Coulda Been Records. The superteam era begins now in Milwaukee, home to an early-onset dynasty having paired two players from the NBA’s Top-75 Greatest Players List — even if the dynasty’s expiration date has been predetermined.

Or preordained.

Coincidentally Lillard’s age and contract aligns with Antetokounmpo’s pending free agency. Milwaukee needs no additional examples of small-market superstars yearning a change of scenery now that they have witnessed one such small-market star force his way out — and unintentionally end up on their roster.

Big fish crave bigger ponds, and Antetokounmpo is a massive catch for the city of Milwaukee. Like the Trail Blazers, the Bucks drafted and developed Antetokounmpo into a household name.

Antetokounmpo, however, has delivered in ways Lillard couldn’t. He delivered Milwaukee its first championship since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson were teammates in the early ‘70s. He delivered on his promise to the Bucks to dedicate his life to honing his craft, as evidenced by his two league MVP trophies and his massive development from a lanky teen once only craving an NBA job to a Greek god reimagined as a basketball legend on a quest for more championships.

Now the Bucks have made good on a promise of their own: For a player who needed clarity on the direction of the franchise, there is no more uncertainty.

Bucks leadership wants to win, and it will do whatever it takes, like put its entire defensive identity through a buzzsaw to pair Antetokounmpo with the best player he has ever had on his team. Lillard and Antetokounmpo are a pair made in video game heaven, but the Bucks now have deficiencies between the lines that must be cleaned en route to the Finals.

The Bucks may win or they may not win. The Nets, after all, assembled three of best players in NBA history and only won one playoff series before blowing it up. Antetokounmpo may decide to leave Milwaukee in 2025 anyway. He may opt into his player option (unlikely) or opt-out and re-sign for two years so his contract expires when Lillard becomes a free agent at age 36. He may re-sign longterm and agree to what will be the richest contract in NBA history when the league renegotiates its TV broadcast rights. History, of course, suggests star players in small markets eventually leave for the bright lights.

The Bucks can’t worry about what Antetokounmpo will or won’t do. Humans are fickle but win-loss records and championships are forever, and in acquiring Lillard, the Bucks have put themselves in position to do just that.

Win more games and win more championships, though sometimes wins and chips don’t compensate for one’s true desire to chase the bright lights.