When everybody talks about the trade that took place in June between the Miami Heat and the Milwaukee Bucks, all eyes were on the future Hall of Famer Giannis Antetokounmpo, and rightfully so. He’s a top-five player when healthy, won two MVPs, brought a championship to the Bucks after 50 years and is a player who can clearly change the trajectory of a franchise.
However, there is another piece in that trade that joined Antetokounmpo in Miami: Bobby Portis. In November of 2020, Portis signed a two-year, $7.43 million contract to join the Bucks after spending one season in New York playing for the Knicks.
That first year in Milwaukee, turned out to be a special one as the Bucks would go on to win the NBA Finals in 2021 against the Phoenix Suns, with Portis playing a crucial role in bringing a championship to Milwaukee.
Chants of “Bobby, Bobby, Bobby” will always be remembered from that playoff run where he stepped up in crucial moments and brought the energy to help achieve the goal of winning a championship. He spent six seasons in Milwaukee, spending majority of his career playing for the Bucks and statically, had some of the best seasons in his career.
However, like his teammate, Portis’ time in Milwaukee was up, and he was part of the trade that sent both of them to Miami. Now on a new team, Portis has expressed his excitement for a new start with the Heat after a disappointing season with the Bucks
“It suddenly hit me not playing with Milwaukee no more after playing with them for 6 years, felt like a breath of fresh air coming to an organization that’s all about the right things, that has a winning culture, a winning mentality, that’s what I want to be apart of. I’ve been a winner my whole life so coming to this franchise was a blessing.”
He also mentioned that the breath of fresh air has a lot to do with going to an organization that is all about the right things, rather than trying to shut it down mid season and tank for a high draft pick.
After years of being a top-5 seed in the Eastern Conference, the Bucks finished 32-50 on the year and secured the No. 10 pick in the draft after the NBA Draft Lottery. The fall from contender to a 50-loss season had an impact on Portis.
“It was tough, bro,” Portis said. “Tough in the sense that we were a 60-win team for so long, a 55-win team for so long. You go last year, it was just like a lot of highs and lows. I would say it was like a dark cloud. Obviously, with every day, we heard about where Giannis is being traded. Every day, do these guys fit with him? Is this a team that can, you know, be a part of the future or whatever.”
Portis and Antetokounmpo were two of last dominoes that remained from that championship team as key veterans such as Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton who were traded, and Brook Lopez who left in free agency. That group of veterans were able to block outside noise and power through adversity while a younger team in his finals years weren’t, which was felt in the locker room.
“Like it was just like a lot of chatter, and we had a young team too,” Portis said. “Years before, we had older teams that could block out the noise and not worry about social media. Last, we had a younger team, so they’re reading everything and they’re believing everything. You know what I’m saying? So it was kind of tough.”
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