The Milwaukee Bucks are reportedly seeking trade offers for Giannis Antetokounmpo as he becomes eligible for a contract extension in October. The NBA Draft is the preferred timeline for a resolution regarding his future.
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Is it real this time? Surely it's real this time, right? On Monday, ESPN's Shams Charania reported that the Milwaukee Bucks are seeking trade offers for star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo. The on-again, off-again trade cycle that has loomed over the NBA for the past year may mercifully be coming to an end.
Antetokounmpo will be eligible for a contract extension in October. Bucks owner Wes Edens has said that the team will either extend him or trade him, and fellow owner Jimmy Haslam has set the NBA Draft as the preferred timeline for resolution. If Antetokounmpo does not signal a willingness to extend in the coming weeks, the time for a trade has likely arrived. The draft order is set. The whole league is gathered in Chicago for the NBA Draft Combine. Let the rumors begin.
So, what are we looking for in a possible trade partner? Four factors stand out:
There are 29 potential destinations ranked for Giannis Antetokounmpo, reflecting the reshaped landscape following the playoffs.
The Bucks are seeking to either extend his contract or trade him, especially if he does not indicate a willingness to stay with the team.
Giannis Antetokounmpo will be eligible for a contract extension in October.
The Bucks are considering four key factors in identifying a suitable trade partner for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
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In a way, we're early in the process. The lottery just happened, and some of these teams are still playing. In other ways, well, you've lived through the first handful of Antetokounmpo cycles. We've done this before. We have a broad idea of what the market might look like. So for now, we're going to take stock of where things sit here as we prepare for what will hopefully be the final round of Antetokounmpo trade rumors.
There are 30 teams in the NBA. One of them is the Bucks. The other 29 would probably like to trade for Giannis. So we're going to rank all 29 of them by their likelihood for actually pulling it off.
It's an honor just to be nominated. How many of these lists do the Kings even make? Take some pride, guys.
It's further East than Sacramento. So that's something. Zion Williamson wouldn't be the worst consolation star for the Bucks.
They have nothing to trade. They control none of their own first-round picks until 2033. Devin Booker is a bad contract. Jalen Green is a bad contract. They're in the West. They're not a contender. Nothing to see here.
It was a fun concept when they had Jaren Jackson Jr. given how easily he and Antetokounmpo could've fit together. Now, the Grizzlies are full steam ahead into a rebuild. They're years away from appealing to a veteran star on the floor, and even if they could, they've never been able to sell stars on the Memphis market.
The Bulls are in the same boat as the Grizzlies. They're at square one. Antetokounmpo isn't looking for a square one roster. Good work getting out ahead of things though with an "actually, we're the ones who didn't want YOU" rumor last winter.
One of the few teams that falls into the "feasibly could, probably won't" category. The Spurs have the assets. Antetokounmpo would probably sign off on playing for them even in the West if winning is his true goal. But even Victor Wembanyama seems to be against this. "I know Brian (Wright) knows who we are and trusts the process. He should get Executive of the Year also for not making a move," he said after San Antonio's first-round victory. He's been consistent in wanting the Spurs to build internally and patiently. They have no reason to deviate from that course.
The same logic applies for the Thunder as the Spurs, with the caveat that if the Thunder lose to the Spurs, either now or later, it is feasible that they do something drastic specifically to prepare for future Wembanyama matchups. He's already beaten them four times this season. If he does so in the playoffs, that likely won't trigger an all-out panic in Oklahoma City, but it will raise enough eyebrows to get ideas like this to the table. It would just be so out of character for the Thunder to actually do this.
Could Dallas scrape together enough value with the No. 9 pick, first-rounders in 2031 and 2033, plus every non-Kyrie Irving veteran on the roster? That sounds like a stretch unless Antetokounmpo were to stick a thumb on the scale for the Mavericks, which he's unlikely to do given their conference alignment. Besides, the Mavericks have no need to rush. Nico Harrison is gone. They're operating on Cooper Flagg's timeline now.
It's a shame this team plays in Salt Lake City and not, say, Brooklyn, because the roster is more than ready to win with Antetokounmpo. They even have big shooters like Jackson and Lauri Markkanen, a necessity for him. But it's hard to imagine him choosing a small, Western Conference market, and even if he would, the Jazz just spent four years tanking specifically to get a prospect like the one they'll have access to at No. 2. Like Dallas, there's a timeline issue here. The Jazz are set up to win now, but the championship ceiling is tied to a teenage rookie who might not peak until Antetokounmpo retires.
Denver could make the money work on some sort of Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon for Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kyle Kuzma deal, but I'm not sure what that really accomplishes for anyone. The Antetokounmpo-Nikola Jokić pairing would be lethal, but the Nuggets would have no guards and minimal shooting, and with no future first-round picks available to trade and an enormously expensive roster, minimal paths to actually finding those things. Cool idea in theory. Not practical in reality.
Well, they don't have a lead basketball executive at the moment. That probably ends the conversation here and now. The Bucks were reportedly interested in VJ Edgecombe at the trade deadline, and the 76ers could compete if they landed Antetokounmpo, but a new GM will have the runway to wait out Philly's bad contracts and rebuild around Tyrese Maxey. There's not enough urgency for the 76ers to seriously pursue this.
Really, everything written about Utah applies, except the Wizards are in a more desirable Eastern Conference city. Lots of assets. Great luck in Sunday's lottery. Traded for veterans during the season. Probably view those veterans more as complements to the kids than as centerpieces for an immediate championship pursuit. Besides, Antetokounmpo wants to have the ball in his hands. Trae Young being as ball-dominant as he is makes him an iffy fit.
Paolo Banchero for Antetokounmpo has been bandied about as a possibly mutually beneficial solution for months now. Milwaukee gets a younger star under contract. Orlando solves its fit problems with Franz Wagner and potentially gets out ahead of its impending apron issues by consolidating salary in the deal. The hypothetical still relies on Antetokounmpo agreeing to stay in Orlando, and that seems far-fetched after the Magic's 3-1 playoff collapse against Detroit. It also assumes Antetokounmpo would be a better fit next to Wagner than Banchero is, which doesn't really make sense since he's an even more ball-dominant player who shoots even worse. This would require pretty substantial roster changes that Antetokounmpo likely wouldn't be all that eager to let them make.
The Raptors have all of their picks, but with Scottie Barnes almost definitely off-limits, they don't have a surefire star to put on the table. Collin Murray-Boyles shined in the playoffs, but he's not Banchero as a franchise centerpiece. Besides, there are fit issues with Barnes, too. Neither of them can shoot, and Barnes is at his best with the ball in his hands. The picks give Toronto a bit more flexibility to deal than Orlando, but neither team is good enough to entice Giannis.
Jalen Johnson's own agent, Rich Paul, has publicly suggested a swap for Antetokounmpo. It doesn't really make sense. The Hawks aren't good enough to trade young for old. They did however just get the No. 8 overall pick in the lottery. They wouldn't have dealt a top-four pick, but building a picks-based package starting with No. 8 might be a bit more palatable. Dyson Daniels would have to be in the deal to alleviate the shooting concerns Atlanta has, but of these three first-round East losers in the last three spots, the Hawks probably have the cleanest path to a deal and a possible extension. Atlanta is the most desirable city of the three, at least.
The East first-round teams aren't all that exciting, but this East Play-In team is where things get interesting. The Hornets have a huge draft pick surplus. Their balance sheet is relatively clean. They have three young stars who are all high-volume 3-point shooters, and what they badly need is rim pressure and defense. The basketball fit is perfect. The trade is easy enough to construct. The roster is just so young, and the market is so small. If the Hornets were two years further along their timeline and played in a slightly bigger city, they'd make the top five of this list. As it stands, Antetokounmpo probably isn't patient enough to play in Charlotte.
The Pistons are still alive in the playoffs, but it would be hard to say this postseason has gone as planned for Detroit. They got pushed to seven games by a Magic team that likely beats them if Wagner stays healthy, and now, they're even with Cleveland after four. A deal would presumably be built around either Ausar Thompson or Jalen Duren, whose fit is coming into question this postseason as the Pistons have completely failed to score with the two of them on the floor. Cade Cunningham is probably the best long-term teammate bet in the Eastern Conference, but the rest of the roster is light on shooting and already enormous. It's not overly likely. The Pistons believed enough in this roster concept to bring it into the playoffs without deadline upgrades. But no team with Cunningham and Antetokounmpo would have this much trouble scoring.
Rick Carlisle has hinted that the Pacers had a win-now contingency plan if they failed to keep their top-four pick in the lottery. Well, that pick is now gone. Might Antetokounmpo be that contingency plan? The Pacers are certainly an Eastern Conference contender. They made the Finals a year ago. They can build an offer around Pascal Siakam and their remaining draft picks -- only 2029 is still gone from the Ivica Zubac trade. It would be bolder than this franchise is used to, and it would require both sides to bury the hatchet on the rivalry that developed between them over the past few years, but it's a viable way for Antetokounmpo to factor meaningfully into the title picture again.
They're here because of Lakers nonsense. It's that simple. Star partnerships are often negotiated in smoky backrooms, and if Luka Dončić pushes for him hard enough, it's at least somewhat plausible that Antetokounmpo tells the Bucks "send me there or I'm signing with them in 2027 free agency." The Lakers only have three first-round picks to deal, and Dončić reportedly urged the Lakers not to include Austin Reaves in deadline negotiations. He's a free agent now, so he'd have to sign off on a sign-and-trade. That makes it unlikely, and it probably won't come up anyway. This is the sort of thing that either happens under laughably Laker-friendly terms because Antetokounmpo scares everyone else off, or it doesn't happen at all.
It's a bad fit given their shooting woes. It's a bad fit because they play in the Western Conference. It's a bad fit because Kevin Durant is 37, and it doesn't make sense to invest this much into the present for a team with so much youth. But the Rockets get listed here simply because they got embarrassed in the first round, and they have more than enough asset value to make a deal happen. This is a team that the Bucks want in the proceedings, because their mere presence drives up the price for other suitors. The Rockets are loaded with picks and young players. They have multiple viable centerpieces in Amen Thompson and Alperen Sengun. They shouldn't do this, but humiliating first-round losses can lead to poor decisions.
Getting the No. 5 overall pick cracked this door open very slightly for the Clippers. They technically still have their own first-round picks to trade in 2030 and 2032, though the Kawhi Leonard/Aspiration investigation could change that. If the Clippers are confident they aren't losing Leonard, they could try to trade all of those draft picks to get Antetokounmpo and pair him with Leonard and Darius Garland. Doing so would cost the Clippers pretty much all of their depth just in matching salary, but they've always been good at finding cheap help on the margins. Antetokounmpo doesn't want to go West, but would a market like Los Angeles change his mind? Probably not given Leonard's injury risks, but it's at least plausible at this point.
Look, I don't think Antetokounmpo wants to extend in Portland, and we've even gotten reporting suggesting as much. I'll just say that there are two pretty prominent Trail Blazers, in Jrue Holiday and Damian Lillard, who would probably be eager to pitch him on doing so given their former partnerships in Milwaukee. The Blazers have the unique ability to give Milwaukee control over its first-round picks back in 2028, 2029 and 2030, and Deni Avdija is a legitimate All-Star at this point. New owners tend to want to make a splash, and if Tom Dundon wants to send a message about his eagerness to spend (at least on the roster), splurging on Antetokounmpo would be a way to do that. If you were ever going to find a situation in which a team would trade for Giannis without the assurance of an extension, it would probably involve an overly excited new owner.
The Nets went all-in on an all-out tank that ended with their two picks dropping five combined spots. Now the dream of a homegrown contender may be shot, and the Nets have to at least consider a pivot. They're one of the most pick-rich teams in the NBA, owning three more Knicks picks, a Nuggets pick and a 76ers pick in addition to all of their own selections beyond 2027. They aren't nearly good enough right now to convince Antetokounmpo to play for them, but if they were willing to put everything on the table, they might be able to land a second star to pair with him. Would Donovan Mitchell still be in interested in moving to New York? Is Kawhi Leonard too old? Is there someone we're not thinking of? It's a narrow path, but a mildly realistic one in this market and conference.
The reporting has thus far suggested that Antetokounmpo is not nearly as enthusiastic about joining the Warriors as Golden State likely hoped. It's an older, relatively asset-poor team, after all, and while Stephen Curry would perhaps be his ideal teammate, the rest of the roster is far iffier. Still, saying no to Curry isn't exactly easy. The Warriors have all of their own first-round picks to trade, including No. 11 this season, and the allure of potentially recruiting LeBron James afterward could potentially make the Warriors a dangerous short-term team. They're outside of the top five at this point, but are at least on the periphery merely for having Curry.
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Our Western Conference "winner" on this list is, fittingly, a team that many expect to eventually move to the Eastern Conference if the NBA expands this offseason. There was reporting in January suggesting that Antetokounmpo would be interested in joining Anthony Edwards in Minnesota. The problem is constructing a deal. At the deadline, that meant trying to ship out several core pieces at once to a multitude of teams in exchange for the draft capital it would take to seal the deal. Jaden McDaniels has arguably grown into a viable centerpiece here after a very strong postseason, but Minnesota only has a 2033 first-round pick to include after trading for Rudy Gobert and Rob Dillingham. Maybe young players like Joan Beringer and Terrence Shannon Jr. could fill the void. For this deal to be possible, though, the Wolves have to put McDaniels on the table, and the Bucks have to either value him as a potential All-Star or have a third team lined up who would.
Antetokounmpo has been linked to Miami for years. The Heat tend to be alluring for stars, both for their market and their track record. But they've been a Play-In Tournament team for four years. Bam Adebayo is an All-Star, and he shares an agent with Antetokounmpo, but is he the sort of co-star Giannis would want? There's some positional overlap there, and at this stage of his career, it probably makes sense for him to play with a star scorer to manage his regular-season workload. Maybe Tyler Herro or Norman Powell could carry that burden. Miami owes out its 2027 first-round pick, but is free and clear otherwise. Lottery reform probably helps in this respect. The Heat are never at the bottom of the league, so their picks are better with flatter odds. Ultimately, though, the Bucks have to view Kel'El Ware as a future All-Star for this to make sense, because none of their other assets have centerpiece potential.
The Knicks have been atop the list since last offseason. Their players even look more desirable now than they did at the deadline, especially Karl-Anthony Towns, who's having an incredible postseason. But that's the issue... are the Knicks too good to make this sort of trade now? They've won their last seven playoff games by 185 combined points. They're favored to reach the NBA Finals, and they'll probably at least put up a fight once they get there. There's still a lot of basketball left to play. If the Knicks flame out in the Eastern Conference finals, they're probably still Antetokounmpo's top choice. But the more they win, the harder it will be to stomach a trade. That's especially since making a deal like this would require salary aggregation, which would hard cap the Knicks at the second apron. Given their present salary structure and impending bench free agents, that might not be tenable.
If the Knicks make the Finals, it means Cleveland didn't, and if Cleveland doesn't get there, pretty much everything is on the table. That's what happens when you trade a 26-year-old All-Star for a 36-year-old All-Star. It hastens your timeline. Donovan Mitchell can reach free agency in 2027, and if he demands a further win-now push to secure an extension, that's yet more pressure on the Cavaliers. There were talks at the deadline, and Milwaukee was reportedly interested in Evan Mobley. However, Milwaukee also wanted all of Cleveland's remaining draft capital. If Antetokounmpo pushes for the Cavaliers as his East contender of choice, they can probably make this deal without putting all of their extra stuff in it alongside Mobley. We don't yet know if Cleveland will be willing to part with Mobley. We don't know how a possible pursuit of LeBron James could factor into this, either. All we know is that anything short of the Finals is probably going to trigger some ambitious movement from Cleveland this offseason, and if Antetokounmpo wants to contend in this conference, it'd be hard to do better than Mitchell and all of the shooting that the Cavaliers have accumulated.
Giannis wants to play for an Eastern Conference contender. There is no more stable Eastern Conference contender than Boston. The Celtics have played in six of the past nine Eastern Conference finals. The Celtics can build a deal around Jaylen Brown and have up to four tradable first-round picks, including the No. 27 this year. Boston is near the top of the NBA in 3-point attempt rate every year, but badly needs rim pressure. Antetokounmpo's whole game centers around rim pressure. Boston lost in the first round this year, so the Celtics are likely more open to drastic change than they've been in the past. There has been reporting suggesting interest on Boston's end. Antetokounmpo has publicly expressed admiration for Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla. Cleveland might be more aggressive. New York might be Antetokounmpo's first choice. Other teams might dangle younger stars or more picks. But no team checks as many boxes as Boston. Right now, the Celtics make more sense for Antetokounmpo's pursuit of a second championship than any other team.
