The proprietor of this Substack revealed one of the loftier targets of Atlanta's search with his report Wednesday about the Hawks' interest in Toronto's Masai Ujiri ... but another interesting scenario has begun to circulate.
What if the Hawks don't end up making an additional hire?
They announced to the world on April 21 that they are searching for a president of basketball operations to take over the front office, but sources briefed on the situation have suggested that Atlanta could opt for making no additional changes to its management structure after promoting cap strategist Onsi Saleh to general manager.
The search firm Sportsology has arranged for the Hawks to interview a number of candidates to date and, as The Stein Line has reported, that includes the interest in both Ujiri and an unsuccessful pursuit of former Golden State Warriors lead executive Bob Myers as well as outreach to numerous player agents — including Antetokounmpo's longtime representative Alex Saratsis.
Cleveland's early exit has people talking, too.
What will be the ramifications for the Cavaliers after they led the East wire-to-wire during the regular season, racked up 64 wins and then lost in the second round to Indiana as the conference's No. 1 seed.
The Cavaliers did part with a lot in terms of draft capital to acquire Donovan Mitchell as the centerpiece of their deep roster, but their aggressive move at the trade deadline to add De'Andre Hunter from Atlanta was made with both the present and future in mind. Sorting out Caris LeVert's free agent future is now the Hawks' assignment; acquiring Hunter for LeVert and Georges Niang not only filled an immediate need for Cleveland on the wing but also enabled it to evade the luxury tax this season.
The Cavaliers are indeed trending toward being an apron team for several seasons, with the majority of their key players — apart from upcoming free agents Ty Jerome and Sam Merrill — locked into lucrative deals beyond this season. The financial savings in February were widely interpreted as a means to create as much financial flexibility as possible moving forward for needed roster tweaks rather than as a directive to cut costs.
The Cavaliers have often suggested that owner Dan Gilbert is comfortable absorbing luxury tax costs as long as the team is a legitimate title contender. It is presumed Cleveland still sees itself in those terms despite an early exit in which injuries certainly contributed to the disappointment of a 4-1 series score.
More clarity could be forthcoming Monday morning when Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman holds his end-of-season news conference.
On the flip side of Cleveland's woe, Indiana has reached the Eastern Conference finals for a second straight spring.
It's a momentous run that has been led by a not-so-overrated Tyrese Haliburton ... and which has left numerous rival teams with the strong impression that free agent-to-be Myles Turner is not going to be gettable this summer.
The rising expectation, league sources say, is that Turner will be extending his stay in the Hoosier State. The longest-tenued Pacer enjoyed quite a moment when he drilled a dagger triple to seal a Game 5 comeback and the series for Indiana in Cleveland.
Turner, of course, has been discussed in various trade frameworks for years. He recently wrote a piece in The Players Tribune this month in which he openly celebrated lasting a decade as a Pacer.
Signing Turner to a new deal would inevitably present some luxury tax concerns of their own for the Pacers to deal with, which has various teams anticipating roster-consolidation trade conversations in Indiana after this joy ride of a season to better position the payroll for Turner's re-signing.
How the Lakers address their need for a starting center is another leading topic here in Chicago.
With Turner seemingly destined to stay with the Pacers, Los Angeles' options in free agency would appear to be pretty limited in free agency beyond veterans such as Brook Lopez and Clint Capela.
The goal, of course, is to find a rim-running center to pair with Luka Dončić ... like the Lakers intended in February when they traded for Charlotte's Mark Williams and then rescinded the deal amid concerns about Williams' long-term health.
It would appear they'll have to go the trade route again to fill that need.
Chances are that Combine Week will end before we have clear-cut clarity on Antetokounmpo's future in Milwaukee.
Will he ask to be traded? And when?
Those have been popular questions all week ... while occasionally offset by observers who feel compelled to point out that Antetokounmpo has always been extremely loyal to the only franchise he's ever known and will surely find it difficult to take the step of actually asking for a trade.
At least two teams, though, have already emerged as proverbial teams to monitor as possible participants in multi-team Antetokounmpo trade frameworks.
New Orleans controls Milwaukee's draft capital for the next three summers starting with the Bucks' first-round pick this June thanks to the 2020 trade acquisition of Jrue Holiday, which contributed heavily to Milwaukee's title run in 2020-21 ... and the first of two Antetokounmpo contract extensions.
And Portland controls Milwaukee's top picks from 2028 through 2030 because of the Damian Lillard blockbuster trade before the 2023-24 season that led to Antetokounmpo's second contract extension.
So ...
Anticipation is already building about the Bucks trying to include either New Orleans or Portland in a theoretical Giannis trade to try to regain some of their draft capital.
Houston is a team routinely mentioned as a potential Antetokounmpo suitor and what happened Monday night is merely the latest spark for such dialogue.
The Rockets came away from Monday's NBA Draft Lottery with the No. 10 overall pick as conveyed by the Phoenix Suns. Given that Houston's choice at No. 3 a year ago — highly rated Kentucky guard Reed Sheppard — hardly cracked coach Ime Udoka’s rotation this season, rival teams are projecting the Rockets as likely to explore their trade options No. 10 for an injection of win-now talent.
Philadelphia has similar optionality after unexpectedly rising to No. 3 in Monday's proceedings. The 76ers can keep the pick to add another top young player on a similar timeline with promising rookie guard Jared McCain or field offers for veteran help to augment the Joel Embiid/Paul George/Tyrese Maxey trio.
We've already seen Duke guard Isaiah Evans withdraw from the NBA Draft to return to Durham, while former Arkansas guard Boogie Fland has likewise opted to go back to school and join Florida.
Some other notable first-round prospects whose decisions are eagerly awaited by NBA scouts include former University of Alabama-Birmingham guard Yaxel Lendenborg, who league sources say has an offer north of $3 million on the table from Michigan. Ditto for Miles Byrd, Cedric Coward and Karter Knox, who is the younger brother of former NBA lottery pick Kevin Knox. All three are known to have multi-million-dollar offers to stay in the college game.
For many players, without a guarantee of being selected in the first round on June 25, there is more money to be made in the NCAA next season in the NIL realm as opposed to the earning potential for a second-round NBA draft pick.
