As the NBA’s latest Giannis Antetokounmpo shockwave rippled across the league, one former Milwaukee player chose a single inflection point, and he didn’t use lowercase to make it.
Jae Crowder posted on X in response to renewed uncertainty around the Bucks’ future, writing that the decision to fire head coach Adrian Griffin in January 2024, and to eventually hire Doc Rivers, is
“WHAT STARTED THE AVALANCHE.”
Crowder added a reminder that has never stopped feeling jarring in Milwaukee: the Bucks were 30–13 at the time they dismissed Griffin.
WE WERE 30-13 BTW. TO BRING IN DOC. THIS IS WHAT STARTED THE AVALANCHE https://t.co/BGh2ZaulRx
— JAE CROWDER (@CJC9BOSS) January 28, 2026
Crowder’s timing is what turned a familiar coaching debate into something sharper. Earlier in the day, ESPN reported that Milwaukee has begun listening to “aggressive” trade offers for Antetokounmpo and that, according to league sources, the two-time MVP is prepared for a new home either by the Feb. 5 trade deadline or in the offseason. When the face of a franchise enters even the outer orbit of the trade market, everything in the recent past gets re-litigated, and Crowder’s post effectively nominated the Griffin firing as the moment the Bucks’ foundation started sliding.
The Griffin move remains one of the most scrutinized decisions of the decade because it blended winning with unease. Milwaukee cut ties with Griffin after 43 games despite having one of the league’s best records, a choice that ESPN reported at the time came with the intention to pursue an established veteran coach, with Rivers quickly emerging as a top target. Griffin had been criticized in-season for defensive issues, and the organization clearly believed the team’s championship ceiling required a different voice. But the optics, firing a first-year coach while sitting near the top of the standings, made the decision feel less like a tweak and more like a gamble.
Whether Milwaukee actually moves Antetokounmpo is still the sport’s biggest unanswered question, and “listening” is not the same as acting. But Crowder’s post lands because it speaks to how quickly championship urgency can curdle into anxiety. In Milwaukee, the Griffin dismissal has become a symbol, to some, of necessary ambition; to others, of panic disguised as boldness. On the day Giannis trade talk jumped from rumor-cycle noise to sourced reporting, Crowder gave that argument a timestamp, a record, and one last all-caps sentence meant to stick.
