Giannis trade official, he posts a farewell to the Bucks and a one-on-one interview with Jim Paschke.

Live look:

Like a lot of Bucks fans, I was starting to wonder where the, “thank you Milwaukee and Bucks fans and Strange Brew blog, best blog on the internet” post from Giannis was. It had been more than a week since the trade was announced, Giannis has always been someone to speak glowingly about the organization and the fan base, it just felt odd that he hadn’t said anything up until yesterday.

Well I guess both sides were simply waiting for the trade to become official, which happened yesterday. I was scrolling Twitter during lunch and saw that Giannis had posted something with the heart emoji, I watched the video, and I went on a feel trip. Even though Giannis leaving at some point was probably inevitable, the thing that stings the most as a fan is that the Giannis/Bucks fans relationship was SO unique. This destitute franchise had a unicorn drop in their laps in 2013, and we were able to watch him grow up. From gangly teenager to MVP. From a 15-win season to NBA Title. But our fan base also kind of adopted Giannis. He became the city’s son. And he returned the sentiment by adopting Milwaukee as his hometown. Maybe the Bucks will be good again faster than we think, and perhaps similar times aren’t that far away, but even if that’s true, the next era of Bucks basketball simply won’t have that same dynamic. And I think his video perfectly wrapped its arms around that idea.

Now Giannis also posted a VERY good one-on-one interview with Bucks TV legend, Jim Paschke. It’s lengthy, but well worth it:

Related: He is 100% coming back at some point. 6 years down the road, 7, whatever, I think he plays at least one more year in Milwaukee on the back end of his career.

Anyway, even though it took some time, I think both sides handled the “farewell” perfectly yesterday. On to the next era for both parties.

PS: Apparently Giannis is going to wear #7 instead of #34? SEVEN!

Double PS: It would appear at this point that we’re going to get at least half a season of Tyler Herro in Milwaukee, and that’s fine. He announced he’s going to wear #42. In honor of Vin Baker?? Nope. CHARLIE BELL:

Such a random pull. I had doubts that Herro ever actually cared about the Bucks despite growing up in Wisconsin, but a Charlie Bell reference is too deep. He had to watch the games.