WT: Giannis Antetokounmpo's Future With Bucks 'The Elephant In The Room' In NBA

[Paradise]

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The Bucks asked for Cam Thomas at the trade deadline but he was injured and wasn’t able to be traded anyways.

Y’all could have him. I am very indifferent to this but it’s real and it looks like it’s really possible.

I hope the raptors put together an offer or something because the Nets are legit quietly targeting Ja Morant and Giannis. Joe Tsai isn’t going to allow a WNBA team to win a title in Barclays before the Nets for too long.

I just wanted a really quiet and solid rebuild. The raptors have to get a top 3 pick or else if we do, I’m afraid we will go hunting for a Luka level deal with Memphis, Milwaukee or New Orleans for Zion, Ja, or Giannis.

They are open to either option if they don’t get Flagg or Harper.

[douggood]

The Bucks asked for Cam Thomas at the trade deadline but he was injured and wasn’t able to be traded anyways.

Y’all could have him. I am very indifferent to this but it’s real and it looks like it’s really possible.

I hope the raptors put together an offer or something because the Nets are legit quietly targeting Ja Morant and Giannis. Joe Tsai isn’t going to allow a WNBA team to win a title in Barclays before the Nets for too long.

I just wanted a really quiet and solid rebuild. The raptors have to get a top 3 pick or else if we do, I’m afraid we will go hunting for a Luka level deal with Memphis, Milwaukee or New Orleans for Zion, Ja, or Giannis.

They are open to either option if they don’t get Flagg or Harper.

bkn can offer cap relief, they have enough cap room to take him into cap space.
plus they have an arsenal of picks from the knicks (bridges) and some remanent of the suns(durant) trade.

hypothetically they can do a monster trade that involves both lillard and giannis. trade one player into cap space, trade players for the other.

lets say its claxton, cam johnson + 3-4 1sts, for giannis and lillard
that would make the bucks owners drool over how much cash savings that is.

but the problem remains for giannis the bkn wont be much better situation for him, not exactly title contenders.

rocket make most sense, followed by spurs.

[CazOnReal]

Giannis had said - publicly I might add - he will not every play for the Raptors. I see no reason for him to change his mind, and I think it's silly to pretend like Masai's connection to him is strong enough to somehow overlook the reality of the situation: He didn't want to be here in 2020 when we still had a solid enough core to put around him.

When did he say this? I believe it, I have just never heard about this.

I think Caz is referring to this clip on Serge's show at 16:36. Keep in mind, though, this was when Giannis was trying to get a max extension with the Bucks, so I wouldn't read too much into it. He also didn't want to say "false" in case the Raptors ever offered him a contract and he'd have to go back on his word.

Also props to Serge for trying to recruit for us years after leaving Toronto.

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This was it - and it's worth noting Bobby had actually structured the extensions given to guys like Fred specifically so they would have maximum cap space to sign Giannis in 2020's offseason. Or at least that is what I recall for the then-current cap situation.

[Pointgod]

San Antonio can offer Castle, Sochan, Johnson, Barnes, and a bunch of 1st rounders. That's matches salary with Giannis, and probably can outbid whatever other teams would be willing to give up. San Antonio should definitely try to do this.

Wembanyama
Giannis
Champagnie
Vassell
Fox

That's really good. They'd also be able to use the MLE to try to get an upgrade on Champagnie for the starting lineup, could bring back Chris Paul, and find some veteran minimum ring chaser types to round out the bench.

God damn Vassell as a fourth option on a championship team is baller. Envious of how the Spurs have setup their future.

[hyper316]

Send Giannis to the west

[Godaddycurse]

San Antonio can offer Castle, Sochan, Johnson, Barnes, and a bunch of 1st rounders. That's matches salary with Giannis, and probably can outbid whatever other teams would be willing to give up. San Antonio should definitely try to do this.

Wembanyama
Giannis
Champagnie
Vassell
Fox

That's really good. They'd also be able to use the MLE to try to get an upgrade on Champagnie for the starting lineup, could bring back Chris Paul, and find some veteran minimum ring chaser types to round out the bench.

God damn Vassell as a fourth option on a championship team is baller. Envious of how the Spurs have setup their future.

vassell was bad this year

[OhCanada]

The Bucks asked for Cam Thomas at the trade deadline but he was injured and wasn’t able to be traded anyways.

Y’all could have him. I am very indifferent to this but it’s real and it looks like it’s really possible.

I hope the raptors put together an offer or something because the Nets are legit quietly targeting Ja Morant and Giannis. Joe Tsai isn’t going to allow a WNBA team to win a title in Barclays before the Nets for too long.

I just wanted a really quiet and solid rebuild. The raptors have to get a top 3 pick or else if we do, I’m afraid we will go hunting for a Luka level deal with Memphis, Milwaukee or New Orleans for Zion, Ja, or Giannis.

They are open to either option if they don’t get Flagg or Harper.

bkn can offer cap relief, they have enough cap room to take him into cap space.
plus they have an arsenal of picks from the knicks (bridges) and some remanent of the suns(durant) trade.

hypothetically they can do a monster trade that involves both lillard and giannis. trade one player into cap space, trade players for the other.

lets say its claxton, cam johnson + 3-4 1sts, for giannis and lillard
that would make the bucks owners drool over how much cash savings that is.

but the problem remains for giannis the bkn wont be much better situation for him, not exactly title contenders.

rocket make most sense, followed by spurs.

Its not up to the Bucks. Its up to Giannis. A team is not going to offer a huge deal if he doesnt resign. It would likely be a deal similar to the one that net Toronto Kawhi.

[Merit]

I would also look to move Lillard and Kuzma. It would be the start of a full teardown.

Lillard is literally not tradeable.

Kuzma has negative value and would need assets attached.

Yep. Lillard's out next year, then he's a 36 year old expiring (I'm assuming he takes his PO) in 26-27. Maybe the Bucks get lucky and get something back for him at the deadline if he can show he's healthy and productive. But just trading for his $58m contract will be hard enough salary wise, so what kind of assets can they really hope to return for a old mercenary? Maybe a single 1st round pick equivalent plus expiring salary? I don't know who'd pay more than that.

And yeah with Kuzma, I think the Bucks would need to attach him to any Giannis trade just to get him off their books. It's bad.

My point is that trading Giannis is a full team tear down. They’re where we were two years after our chip.

I can’t be bothered where they move and who they move. My only concern is the raps. You can say what you’d like about them not getting Giannis, and I’m fine with criticism of me as a homer. The raps aren’t going to gut their team to acquire Giannis because doing so prevents them from winning - which is precisely what they’re trying to do.

On the other hand, the bucks need to be moving into a full scale rebuild. Would combining Kuzma and/or Dame in a larger scale trade make sense? Absolutely.

[Merit]

I'm still very confused by this idea that "trading for Giannis doesn't make us the title favourites (or contenders) so we shouldn't do it."

I'm not convinced a player currently on the roster will ever win a playoff series as a member of the Raptors, let alone a championship. What exactly are we risking?

Getting a Giannis is the hard part. If Masai is such a genius, he'll get him a supporting cast. That part is a lot easier than getting a team built around Barnes or Ingram to the second round and beyond.

(As an aside... can we just be a HCA team with the best player in the conference? Would that be such a bad thing? This isn't about not having patience for a rebuild, it's about not having faith in the "rebuild" that seems to already be finished, if it ever really started.)

We should trade for Giannis without gutting our team.

You appear not to be a fan of the raptors by your statements, or at least a very negative human overall.

Who said the rebuild was done? They’re still rebuilding, just pivoting from tanking to trying to win.

I guarantee we win a playoff series with players currently on the roster. If you were such a genius you’d come up with some suggestions on how to improve the team instead of crapping on it incessantly. Maybe find yourself a different team to be a fan of.

For all the talk of me being a homer, this is swinging way in the other direction.

[Scase]

Hoop collective pod

Last 10 Bucks playoff games:

Record = 1-9

Giannis averaged 30pts, 16reb, 6asts over 50% fg

If that doesnt tell Giannis then i dont know what will. If he stays he truly is loyal i just dont see it happening. He delivered a chip. Stars are aligning for him to leave

This conveniently ignores that the last 10 bucks playoff games, Giannis only played in 5 of them. Dude missed the entire playoffs last year, and missed 3 of 5 the year before that.

[Merit]

Just to throw some cold water on this topic - Giannis may be considering the Raps but he can take one look at Ingram right now who's under his own significant recovery process and see deja vu alarms lighting up like with the Dame situation. Scottie and picks very likely outgoing means that Giannis has to bank on his co-star/robin being healthy enough to make any waves in the '26 postseason, and Ingram is probably an overall downgrade from Lillard.

I think he goes to Houston, personally.

I struggle with Houston as a destination. They have little offense, and would have to give up a bunch of what they have to even get Giannis. It doesn't seem like a good destination for him either.

Yeah I thought that too, but if they choose to move sengun in a trade for Giannis and also get KD - they move their chips in for a chip.

[WuTang_CMB]

Hoop collective pod

Last 10 Bucks playoff games:

Record = 1-9

Giannis averaged 30pts, 16reb, 6asts over 50% fg

If that doesnt tell Giannis then i dont know what will. If he stays he truly is loyal i just dont see it happening. He delivered a chip. Stars are aligning for him to leave

This conveniently ignores that the last 10 bucks playoff games, Giannis only played in 5 of them. Dude missed the entire playoffs last year, and missed 3 of 5 the year before that.

The point is their outlook will be even worse with dame at 35 and out all next season and no future assets.

[Pointgod]

San Antonio can offer Castle, Sochan, Johnson, Barnes, and a bunch of 1st rounders. That's matches salary with Giannis, and probably can outbid whatever other teams would be willing to give up. San Antonio should definitely try to do this.

Wembanyama
Giannis
Champagnie
Vassell
Fox

That's really good. They'd also be able to use the MLE to try to get an upgrade on Champagnie for the starting lineup, could bring back Chris Paul, and find some veteran minimum ring chaser types to round out the bench.

God damn Vassell as a fourth option on a championship team is baller. Envious of how the Spurs have setup their future.

vassell was bad this year

Irrelevant when he’d be a 4/5th option if Giannis comes on board.

[Godaddycurse]

God damn Vassell as a fourth option on a championship team is baller. Envious of how the Spurs have setup their future.

vassell was bad this year

Irrelevant when he’d be a 4/5th option if Giannis comes on board.

No im saying he shouldnt be more than 4/5th option on any teams given his play this year. Hes overpaid for his production. He shouldn't be the reason you're envious of the spurs

[tsherkin]

Yeah I thought that too, but if they choose to move sengun in a trade for Giannis and also get KD - they move their chips in for a chip.

Maybe. They've barely got anything now, so they'd be praying that they could get Giannis AND the kind of help Giannis doesn't have in Milwaukee, all based on what they have now. Which doesn't really seem feasible to me.

[Tha Cynic]

There are 2, at most 3 (if dude hits the gym) players in the league who are better than Giannis. He will be 31 in the next season, so you would have to think he has at least 4-5 superstar level years left in him if you look at recent history with aging superstars. Now injuries have been a concern in recent years, but i think this is a player you have to risk that with.

Every team in the league should be looking at all their secondary or best players in a trade to get this guy. He can dominate both on offense and defense. Heck Boston should be looking at trading Tatum for him as Giannis will actually make them even better. OKC should be first up (especially if they don't win this year) and everyone other than Shai should be on the table. This is the type of trade Presti has never been willing to pull the trigger on and why his teams have never won a championship. Houston has a bunch of role players and have no legit superstar, and this would be the trade that truly makes them a legit contender.

Raptors should do whatever they can to get him if it means they still have a competent basketball team left, and this is where the development this year and having all their picks becomes huge. There are teams who can outbid them, but at the end of the day, the GM also has to have the guts to make that trade, which some don't.

[WuTang_CMB]

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[WuTang_CMB]

There are 2, at most 3 (if dude hits the gym) players in the league who are better than Giannis. He will be 31 in the next season, so you would have to think he has at least 4-5 superstar level years left in him if you look at recent history with aging superstars. Now injuries have been a concern in recent years, but i think this is a player you have to risk that with.

Every team in the league should be looking at all their secondary or best players in a trade to get this guy. He can dominate both on offense and defense. Heck Boston should be looking at trading Tatum for him as Giannis will actually make them even better. OKC should be first up (especially if they don't win this year) and everyone other than Shai should be on the table. This is the type of trade Presti has never been willing to pull the trigger on and why his teams have never won a championship. Houston has a bunch of role players and have no legit superstar, and this would be the trade that truly makes them a legit contender.

Raptors should do whatever they can to get him if it means they still have a competent basketball team left, and this is where the development this year and having all their picks becomes huge. There are teams who can outbid them, but at the end of the day, the GM also has to have the guts to make that trade, which some don't.

It will be a clearer picture once the lottery is complete. If Toronto somehow wins #1 or even #2, they all of a sudden have power and options for better packages. Same with San Antonio

Everything should be on the table for Giannis and this FO has shown to bid appropriately in the past for stars

[MiamiSPX]

Spurs have that new shiny ROY to offer up.

I know his wife went to university in Houston, and is from California. Coupled with the fact they are awesome places to live (keep in mind she is American) and nothing will dissuade me from thinking those teams have the inside track (Cali and TX teams).

[WuTang_CMB]

Spurs have that new shiny ROY to offer up.

I know his wife went to university in Houston, and is from California. Coupled with the fact they are awesome places to live (keep in mind she is American) and nothing will dissuade me from thinking those teams have the inside track (Cali and TX teams).

Lurking Bucks board, they need more than Castle and picks. Selfishly I want them staying at 8 lol.