As the Bucks continue to weigh possible trade options involving Giannis Antetokounmpo, the chatter about the Heat “remains louder than all the rest,” according to Sam Amick and Eric Nehm of The Athletic.
As Amick and Nehm explain, many agents, executives, and other sources around the league believe the star forward will ultimately end up in Miami after the Heat seemingly came closer than any rival suitor to acquiring Antetokounmpo at February’s trade deadline. Those deadline discussions were so advanced, league sources tell The Athletic, that Heat officials believed a deal would get done before Milwaukee ultimately opted to stand pat.
NBA insider Jake Fischer also stated in his latest rumor round-up for Bleacher Report (video link) that he views the Heat as the top team to watch in the Giannis sweepstakes.
Both Fischer and The Athletic’s duo note that Antetokounmpo has long been intrigued by the Heat, with Fischer suggesting that interest dates back at least five or six years, while Amick and Nehm say the two-time MVP is “impressed” by the team culture in Miami.
As Amick and Nehm outline, the Heat’s offer would likely include 2025 All-Star Tyler Herro, young center Kel’el Ware, and Sixth Man of the Year runner-up Jaime Jaquez Jr., along with this year’s No. 13 overall pick and two future first-rounders.
Given that Milwaukee has been on the lookout for a package that features either a “blue-chip” young star or a ton of valuable first-round picks, it remains possible that the Heat could be outbid by another team with interest in Antetokounmpo.
However, some of those clubs may not be prepared to part with the player necessary to get a deal done – the Cavaliers, for instance, appear unwilling to give up Evan Mobley for Antetokounmpo – while others may be reluctant to give up a massive package for a player who only has one year left on his guaranteed contract. The Trail Blazers, for example, are said to have interest in Giannis, but the belief, as Amick and Nehm confirm, is that he prefers to remain in the Eastern Conference, so it’s unclear whether he’d sign an extension with a team like the Blazers. That makes Portland a less likely landing spot, per The Athletic.
Fischer also expressed skepticism about teams like the Thunder, Timberwolves, Warriors, and Rockets being serious threats for Antetokounmpo at this time.
In their story for The Athletic, Amick and Nehm also explore the Celtics and Magic as potential landing spots for Giannis. While there are no concrete indications that either team is in active pursuit of the 10-time All-Star, Antetokounmpo is believed to be “very intrigued” by the idea of ending up in Boston, per Amick and Nehm, and Orlando’s new head coach Sean Sweeney is very familiar with Giannis, having previously spent four seasons as an assistant coach in Milwaukee.
A Celtics offer for Antetokounmpo would likely have to include Jaylen Brown, who might need to be rerouted to a third team. Paolo Banchero, meanwhile, would probably have to be the centerpiece of a Magic offer.
If the Heat do manage to land Antetokounmpo, there will be questions about the club’s depth, as well as Giannis’ fit alongside Bam Adebayo, Amick and Nehm point out. As good as an Antetokounmpo/Adebayo duo would be defensively, neither player really stretches the floor on offense, so playing them alongside one another create spacing issues. However, the Heat don’t seem overly concerned about that potential issue as they attempt to land a star player for the first time since acquiring Jimmy Butler in 2019.
At this point in time, it will dumb for the Magic to trade a premier team-leader like Paolo for Giannis (an older, injury-prone player) … as for the Heat, these three good but no superstar players + top picks is much more acceptable.
I’m going to disagree. Makes total sense for the magic.
They’ve already gone all in with the Desmond Bane trade and I’m not sure Banchero is all that.
From the Bucks perspective, they get a young star and from Giannis perspective, he’s still going to Florida.
I’d rather build around Banchero than try to retool on the fly with Giannis…
Giannis has already proven no one can stop him. Not so Paolo. Giannis won MVP and DPY and then went on to average over 33 ppg twice. Riley wants him. Enough said?
I remember not too long ago when all the experts, insiders and Heat fans all thought Dame to Miami was a done deal because that’s where he wanted to go.
I’ll wait until the ink dries on the trade deal before I believe anything. Not sure why Giannis would want to go to a gutted Miami team unless he really doesn’t want to go after another ring.
Heat tying to get a star on the cheap again. That offer is uninspiring. But hey, maybe this time it works.
The offers are going to be underwhelming unless he agrees to an extension with his new team. Why would anyone give up a good deal for 1 year of him?
East coast to Greece is a lot less trouble than the West coast of America. I think that’s a major factor for admirable Giannis to whom I believe family means a lot.
Giannis ruled out all west coast teams so it’s highly doubtful he goes west coast team.
There’s rumors that he prefers an Eastern conference contender but there’s no credible evidence that Giannis has ruled out West Coast teams and a few extra hours on a flight isn’t that big of deal if you’re flying across an ocean anyway, it’s going to be around a 15 hour flight give or take a couple hours.
If a contending West Coast team offers a max extension there’s no reason he wouldn’t take it.
The ball is in Giannis court which means he wants to go to a team that is top in their division that can compete for a championship. He did say he didn’t want to be on west coast and none of the teams are tops in their division.
I’ve flown across the pond 24 times. Some to Europe. Some to the Middle East. 4 hours additional definitely matters. It’s not just flights either. Time differences and not being able to talk to family when you want to etc
His family would have to make that flight too, over & over.
I just recounted. It’s 34 not 24.
no star looking to change teams would want to go the west for the next 5-10 years
If they live in Europe which you forgot to add
Miami Heat really loves slapping a superstar trade onto a poorly built and underwhelming roster and calling it a plan.
7 NBA final appearances in 20 years. I’d say the track record speaks for itself.
Riley knows what it takes to win titles.
Every year a playoff run. They might fall short but mostly every year they in playoffs literally 1-2 superstars away to building a solid squad
they’ve played in 7 NBA finals in the last 20 years… shoulda been 8 but the NBA literally stole the 2022 ECF from them….. in fact they’ve been to 9 Conference finals in those 20 years…. that’s pretty much the best track record in the NBA my dude lol
Why aren’t the Hawks and Johnathan Kuminga mentioned?
Nobody wants that scrub.
Kuminga is a “scrub” that “No one wants”
You aren’t bitter much.
Not bitter at all. Just calling em as I see em.
I will note though, that you’re insinuating here that a team will be glad to acquire him and pay for that privilege accordingly.
All good.
The Bucks weren’t interested in Kuminga when the Warriors were desperately trying to trade for Giannis. Why would they be more interested in him now that he is with the Hawks?
It’s sarcasm
The hawks sure did seem to find something with that lineup that had kuminga at the 4 and Johnson at the 3. If it was Giannis at the 4 instead of kuminga that would be a pretty scary lineup up. Bucks may not be thrilled with kuminga, but that 8th pick is a juicy one.
Kuminga was only effective coming off the bench.
Kuminga coming off the bench or starting has nothing to do with him never at any point in his basketball career being good enough to be the counterpart centerpiece in a Giannis trade. It’s another unrelated, silly misdirection by Giants74. Who could instead just admit he was incorrect.
Right now, there is talk in Atlanta of the Hawks declining Kuminga’s team option and signing him at a lower rate. Kinda hard to make him a centerpiece in a trade when you are lowering his value…Oh, he only started one game in Atlanta.
Seems like a pretty big step down to go from Mobley-Brown-Paolo headliners to the Heat package. But not surprising the Heat narrative is getting pushed into high gear, the league loves having their superstars in Miami and LA.
Well those other teams aren’t actually offering those packages. Those are just packages the media has made-up.
The Magic can pretty easily beat the Heat’s offer even without Paolo included.
If Miami is such a “preferred” place… why are their players last picked for things like All-Star games or season awards, and why did the NBA literally steal a conference title from them by taking points off the scoreboard? Spo is considered (by almost literally everyone) the best basketball coach on earth.. yet he’s never won coach of the year. Bam Adebayo is considered a top 20 NBA talent by his peers… yet has only been to 3 all-star games…. make it make sense for me lol
I might be wrong about this, but I believe the answer to your question is that the heat organization is really a much greater sum than if you took the total of the individual parts.
An 8 value player becomes a 10 value player. Three 5 value guys on the bench become 7 value guys with the Heat.
I don’t know if that makes sense but it’s the only way I can explain it right now.
I just think the synergy is greater in Miami then some other places. So you’re looking at an individual and say, “yeah whatever,” but in that environment, the position that player covers results in success more often.
That probably doesn’t make any sense, but it’s how I see it
What are you talking about? Miami doesn’t have anyone good enough to win any season awards or have any all star level players right now.
Bam is the closest thing but he’s borderline depending on the season, and there’s no chance he’s a top 20 player in the league. That’s just pure bias.
The only US all star Bam maybe had a case over was Jalen Duren, but at the time of the ASG Duren had better numbers. Bam is a better defender but he’s nowhere near the top 5 type defender the media or he pretends he is.
Are you seriously suggesting the NBA is actively working to keep the Heat players off of the all star game and end of season awards? LOL.
I have no idea what conference finals you’re pretending got stolen, but whatever makes it easier to deal with I guess.
The Heat are constantly talked about as some great organization, which is just a BS narrative. Since LeBron left, the Heat have finished the following places in the Eastern Conf. Regular Season Standings:
10th, 3rd, 9th, 6th, 10th, 5th, 6th, 1st, 8th, 8th, 8th and 10th. That’s 11 seasons, with only 2 of those 11 being above average. Yet somehow the narrative the league and the media keep pushing is that this is some great organization. They get more prime time games than most teams despite being pretty bad. It’s clearly a destination the league wants to spotlight.
bam was a starter for Team USA at the last Olympics and was the 6th man on the previous OLY team…. what are you talking about? I think you’re the one with the bias on him…
As for the ECF… the Heat and Celtics went to game 7 in 2022… in the middle of the 3rd quarter the NBA head office called into the game to REMOVE 3 points from the Heat’s score… even though no ref requested a review, no challenge was made… some office crony called in and decided Max Strus was out of bounds on a shot (photos later proved he was not)… The game came down to a last second shot by Jimmy Butler.. with the Heat down 2 with a few seconds left… When I said the NBA literally stole the title from the Heat.. THEY LITERALLY STOLE THE TITLE… I have never seen a case before or since, where the NBA called into a live game to remove points without a referee calling for an official review (which they commonly do rather than pause the game for a floor review)… for context De’Aaron Fox stepped out before scoring against OKC in their game 7… it was blatant…. the points were never taken away.
I don’t know how on earth it could possibly work but I’d be very ok with Jaylen Brown being re-routed to the Wolves. I’d love to see him and Ant together even if we had to give up some assets.
You remember when Tibs was GM and he was so pissed that KAT got outplayed by Clint Capela that he wanted to trade Towns and Wiggins to the Celtics for Kyrie Irving and a young Jalen Brown?
No?
Jaden would have to be involved somewhere, and obviously more. But a JB-ANT pairing could be nice.
That can’t happen. Wolves don’t have the draft picks or good young players to pull it off, which is what the Bucks would presumably want.
Yeah, it would be extremely unlikely it would happen. Multiple teams would have to be involved. We’d probably have to give up McDaniels and probably one of our other young guys like Terrance Shannon Joan Beringer. Again, very unlikely just fun to dream. :)
MIA’s package is beyond underwhelming. I’m not sure I would want Herro on his contract if he came for free. MIA apparently isn’t either; they’ve put off extending him. At his best, he’s a 1 dimensional player (offense) and injury prone.
MIL has very little leverage (with Giannis being able to opt out after this year, and the owner suggesting the deal will be done by the draft). But merely getting two middling young rotation players, and a few middling FRPs, for a superstar at 31 isn’t a great way to start a rebuild. I’d pass, and wait up until the deadline. I mean they can get better FRPs for sure.
That Heat offer is hot garbage. Unless Giannis is pushing to only go to one team of traded, how can they not do better than this?
He’s been pushing for it for 5 years.. just too polite to do it publicly … after the Heat blew the Bucks out during the season all Giannis would talk about is “heat culture” after the game
also.. an all-star from your hometown, and 2 prospects with all-star talent along with picks is bad…. why? Tell me which team could up the offer…. outside of Boston giving them Brown and White (which they won’t) with multiple picks.. this is a better offer than anyone can give them…. the idea the Bucks would trade him for Jimmy Butler and Podz was batcrap insane.
Raptors can offer better young player and more picks. Herro is negative value now. Moving a franchise player cannot have negative players in the return. Jacquez is more of a trade to 3rd team type.
a 26 year old all-star that brings 25-5-5 on a nightly basis is…. negative value? lol.. his only drawback is he can’t be lead dog… he also has insane playoff experience no one else on that team has… and you clearly never watched either Ware or Jacquez play with that insane comment…. if the bucks flipped jaime they would be utter morons as he might literally be better than herro in 3-4 years.. which is why I don’t want him in any deal
17 PER and negative defensive value with a terrible contract. He’s negative value.
LOL … by that logic Hassan Whiteside shoulda made the HOF (check those same states on him)… Herro is instant offense and very.. very clutch.. go watch the video of him in high school doing a consecutive 3pt shot bet.
Bro nobody in the league thinks Herro should be the anchor of a trade for a generational talent.
List of names the heat said NO to for Herro over the last 6 years….. Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Paul George, Kyle Lowry (2 years before getting him), Donovan Mitchell……
I guess some teams did think he was worth being the “anchor” for a star
you’ve also ignored “who could offer more” you said Toronto… Giannis isn’t signing an extension with them… who you gonna say next.. Atlanta? Charlotte? how about a realistic team… Boston, New York, either LA, GSW, and Miami.. ie the teams he would sign his extension with (although reports are saying he is telling everyone he would only extend with Miami now)
If I’m Milwaukee I’m sending him for best package. That’s not the Heat. Even if a team doesn’t get a guaranteed extension they’d still give up more than an empty calorie, volume scorer with zero defense.
you don’t live in the real world lol.. no team is giving up a massive package without an extension in place
You can keep up voting your own posts if you want but it doesn’t make you right. Like a team has never traded a big package for a rental a good as GA in the past. Raps gave up a better player than Herro in DeRozan, a good young big man at the time Poeltl and a draft pick for exactly one season of Kawhi. Oh they also got a ring.
Also it might be better than to be locked in to a big man likely leaving his physical prime
LOL you think i voted my own posts? hahahahha wow that’s special
a point on the “best package”… 1) the bucks were on the opposite side of this 3 years ago when they snatched Lillard at the 11th hour (ironically from the Heat)… how’d that work out? 2) Someone made the Kawhi point… fair point.. they had him for 1 year and cashed in big time… they got a ring… almost any team would have done this… but a) how many teams are giannis away from a title for a single year? b) the raptors mortgaged and destroyed the next 5-6 years for that trade.. they lost Powell, OG, Ibaka, and even Lowry as domino effects of Kawhi telling them not to trade for him and doing it anyway. The Raptors have still not recovered from it.
If the heat give up Jaime in that deal they are overpaying…. I do not want to see that happen.. I wouldn’t want to see Jovic in the deal.. but he would make more sense than Jaime because of salary matching…. the Herro / Jaime / Ware / picks deal doesn’t make sense without other teams because the salaries don’t work.. pretty sure its Jovic not Jaime as he makes 20 mill which would salary match Giannis (herro 30, Jovic 20)