Beware who you offer to the Milwaukee Bucks for Giannis Antetokounmpo, for some resentment toward your organization is bound to build up if a deal fails to materialize.

“Just ask the [New York] Knicks, whose talks with the Bucks about Antetokounmpo last summer led to hard feelings with Karl-Anthony Towns that, per team sources, remain to this day,” according to The Athletic’s Sam Amick.

The Bucks and Knicks entered what was described as a weeks-long “exclusive negotiating window” on an Antetokounmpo trade in August, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. As Antetokounmpo and Milwaukee discussed his future in the summer, New York reportedly emerged as “the only place Antetokounmpo wanted to play outside of Milwaukee.”

No deal, obviously, ever came to fruition.

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However, the Knicks are still among “serious suitors” for Antetokounmpo’s services, along with the Golden State Warriors, Miami Heat and Minnesota Timberwolves, per Charania.

Any deal for Antetokounmpo involving the Knicks would almost certainly have to include Towns’ contract, which includes a $61 million player option for the 2027-28 season. As of now, the Knicks cannot offer a single unprotected first-round pick for Antetokounmpo, though they do own swap rights to any of their selections in 2026, 2030 and 2032.

Milwaukee is seeking “blue-chip young talent and/or a surplus of draft picks” in return for Antetokounmpo, according to Charania, and New York has neither to offer at the moment.

After the season, New York could attach a pair of first-round draft picks — their 2026 and 2033 selections — to Towns’ contract as enticement. That still does not explain why the Bucks would want Towns, a 30-year-old, as the centerpiece of their new rebuilding project.

There is another avenue the Knicks could take for Antetokounmpo. They could trade both OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges for young players and picks, and then turn that around to sell Milwaukee on a deal. Because that would require the participation of one or more other teams, it would be awfully difficult to make this happen by the Feb. 5 trade deadline.

That is not what Towns is focused on, though. He is reportedly convinced that the Knicks offered him in a deal for Antetokounmpo, and, really, what team would not make that offer?

“Hard feelings” still linger, though, when you are on the wrong end of a trade discussion.