So…Giannis is Definitely Going to Demand a Trade Right?

[Quattro]

I hope OKC win the next 10 titles until all these fake "superstars" retire

[PushDaRock]

Giannis out 2-4 weeks with the calf strain, the timing couldn't be better for a trade lol now they have time to work one out while he doesn't need to answer questions every post-game.

[ConSarnit]

Luka would prefer the Lakers because it's one of the winningest and globally recognized franchises in professional sports. And I'm not even factoring in the lifestyle bump and business opportunities which is a whole other debate... Seriously, why the hell would one of the most popular basketball stars of this generation chose to hitch his wagon to a small market that can't attract any stars. Who is the best player that they've signed the last five years? Myles Turner?

Bucks lucked into Giannis and won a championship; I applaud them for that because that's no small feat but prior to his arrival this franchise was in dire straits for nearly two decades.

I will admit that the Lakers haven't had the had the greatest track record either since the bubble but I'm a firm believer that a lot of that has to do with guys being sick of playing in LeBron's shadow. I expect a lot more roster cohesiveness once he's out of the picture. End of the day, everyone here knows the lure of the Lakers, we might be down but it's never for long, every basketball fan knows this as does Luka. Heck, the last I checked the Lakers were the odds on favorites to land Giannis which should say something...

No GM with half a brain is going to trade Giannis to the Lakers.

The Lakers don’t have the assets to acquire Giannis. If the Bucks trade Giannis to the Lakers for a lackluster return how is that any different from Nico trading Luka? How did that work out for Nico?

No GM is trading their star to the Lakers in the next couple of years. The Lakers lack of assets means the return will be poor and no one wants to be the next Nico (a hated pariah who will never work in the NBA again).

Do you think Jon Horst wants to hear “fire Horst!” chants in Fiserv?

I've heard that for 50 years.

So you think that less than a year removed from the Nico disaster some GM is going to put his head in the guillotine and trade his star to the Lakers?

If the Luka trade never happened then sure, I could have easily seen Giannis to the Lakers. Now, no chance. Trading your star to the Lakers is effective blacklisting yourself from the NBA. The optics are way too bad for any GM to trade with the Lakers.

[Lalouie]

all these years of giannis flapping his gums and he's STILL with mil

mil, a top10 rated best cities to live in

Why don't y'all pay more attention to what giannis actutally DOES rather than lapping up all that media nonsense

What's that?

stay is what

giannis keeps mil out of the lottery, makes them a contender cuz he's so great, and then gets injured to keep them out of contention

when you step back,,, it's really all his fault

he keeps getting injured at the end of the year, mil gets rid of JRUE, lillard now gone, all because of the whims of giannis. he should blame his own self for Milwaukee

[druggas]

No GM with half a brain is going to trade Giannis to the Lakers.

The Lakers don’t have the assets to acquire Giannis. If the Bucks trade Giannis to the Lakers for a lackluster return how is that any different from Nico trading Luka? How did that work out for Nico?

No GM is trading their star to the Lakers in the next couple of years. The Lakers lack of assets means the return will be poor and no one wants to be the next Nico (a hated pariah who will never work in the NBA again).

Do you think Jon Horst wants to hear “fire Horst!” chants in Fiserv?

I've heard that for 50 years.

So you think that less than a year removed from the Nico disaster some GM is going to put his head in the guillotine and trade his star to the Lakers?

If the Luka trade never happened then sure, I could have easily seen Giannis to the Lakers. Now, no chance. Trading your star to the Lakers is effective blacklisting yourself from the NBA. The optics are way too bad for any GM to trade with the Lakers.

Wilt and Kareem were traded to the Lakers, so your argument isn't valid.

[Edrees]

No GM with half a brain is going to trade Giannis to the Lakers.

The Lakers don’t have the assets to acquire Giannis. If the Bucks trade Giannis to the Lakers for a lackluster return how is that any different from Nico trading Luka? How did that work out for Nico?

No GM is trading their star to the Lakers in the next couple of years. The Lakers lack of assets means the return will be poor and no one wants to be the next Nico (a hated pariah who will never work in the NBA again).

Do you think Jon Horst wants to hear “fire Horst!” chants in Fiserv?

I've heard that for 50 years.

So you think that less than a year removed from the Nico disaster some GM is going to put his head in the guillotine and trade his star to the Lakers?

If the Luka trade never happened then sure, I could have easily seen Giannis to the Lakers. Now, no chance. Trading your star to the Lakers is effective blacklisting yourself from the NBA. The optics are way too bad for any GM to trade with the Lakers.

I agree but not that they "wont' trade with the Lakers, more that teams will put a big asking price on any Lakers trade to avoid negative optics, to the point where it won't make sense from the Lakers side. Basically Reeves, Ayton, Laravia, Rui, multiple 1sts, etc. Lakers would have to gut the entire team besides Luka. They don't want to do that. So it's not going to happen.

[ConSarnit]

I've heard that for 50 years.

So you think that less than a year removed from the Nico disaster some GM is going to put his head in the guillotine and trade his star to the Lakers?

If the Luka trade never happened then sure, I could have easily seen Giannis to the Lakers. Now, no chance. Trading your star to the Lakers is effective blacklisting yourself from the NBA. The optics are way too bad for any GM to trade with the Lakers.

I agree but not that they "wont' trade with the Lakers, more that teams will put a big asking price on any Lakers trade to avoid negative optics, to the point where it won't make sense from the Lakers side. Basically Reeves, Ayton, Laravia, Rui, multiple 1sts, etc. Lakers would have to gut the entire team besides Luka. They don't want to do that. So it's not going to happen.

The Lakers don’t have the assets right now to overpay. At least for a star. Too many future picks tied up.

The Lakers will probably luck into some lopsided trade 5-6 years from now when the Nico thing has faded from memory. Right now, no way. Every GM has to know that any Lakers trade (especially a star trade) could cost them their entire career and make them a pariah in a city forever.

The Lakers best chance is keeping their free agent strategy open and hope that Giannis pulls a Kawhi and walks from whatever team he gets traded to. I would not rule out that type of scenario.

[ConSarnit]

I've heard that for 50 years.

So you think that less than a year removed from the Nico disaster some GM is going to put his head in the guillotine and trade his star to the Lakers?

If the Luka trade never happened then sure, I could have easily seen Giannis to the Lakers. Now, no chance. Trading your star to the Lakers is effective blacklisting yourself from the NBA. The optics are way too bad for any GM to trade with the Lakers.

Wilt and Kareem were traded to the Lakers, so your argument isn't valid.

You’ll notice that those players were traded 7 years apart.

Will the Lakers luck into someone 7 years from now? Sure. The memory of Nico will fade over time. Is it going to happen less than a year after the Luka debacle? No.

[Castle Black]

Read on Twitter

[Ayt]

It’s the NBA. Nothing is off the table in this fake ass WWE league.

Timing is wayyyy too convenient. Right after the Shams report? Sureeeee


Brain Sutterer MD, Conclusion: No specific event or action that concludes "injury"

Watch on YouTube

"I've never seen anyone look directly straight down in front of them"
"There wasn't a serious step or plant/push off that would make me concerned"
"Nobody examined him"

Watch on YouTube

Giannis having the same injury a year ago. Notice how the lead up and reaction look astonishingly similar.

This fake injury stuff is in really poor taste

Thanks for posting this. Even Bucks fans have been buying into the fake injury nonsense despite Giannis being a warrior who has played through countless injuries.

[Ayt]

He should seek for team on East, maybe not Knicks, but there are other teams as well.
On East he is best player, and with better supporting cast he will have kind a open path to finals every year for next few years.

If he goes West, OKC, Denver, Houston are all still actual treats to knock him out way before he reaches finals again.

Milwaukee is not going to trade him to an East team. He's going West for sure. Depending on what the Spurs give up to get him OKC and Denver will be their biggest threats.

milwauke is gonna do what giannis tells them to do. Dont get it twisted

Why?

[Ayt]

Everyone saw the writing on the wall, except Bucks fans who understandably chose not to... Giannis has been forcing the team into bad decision after bad decision in a poor attempt to emulate LeBron's decision-making control, he backed the team into the corner with his idiotic moves / demands and now here we are... He's going to jump ship like many a stars before him.

Hopefully Milwaukee gets a solid package for him and can strike gold in the draft, otherwise I don't like their long-term prospects as a viable NBA city.

You have no idea what you are talking about.

[Ayt]

PSA: Dylan Harper is not on the trading table.

Yeah, man. Who would ever trade a Dylan Harper for a Giannis?

[Ayt]

Some Spurs reporter is claiming he has big news on potential Spurs/Giannis trade he will report on later today. I think it's complete BS but I will say that he did call the Fox trade last year involving 3 teams and was one of the first to report on Fox's summer injury and allude to it being worse than just a minor strain which apparently was true given how long it took him to recover...we'll see what happens. Giannis on the Spurs would be cool but I would hate to part with Castle/Harper or even Fox

messing around with the teams timeline seems like a very shortsighted move, I don't see it happening

I agree. Giannis is one of those few players who might be worth it but with the way SA is playing while dealing with injuries all year and them having mostly all their own assets going forward, I don't think the juice is worth the squeeze. If he were 26 still, then for sure. But he's getting up there and seems like he's always injured when the team needs him the most

Giannis is the 2nd best player in the world behind Jokic. Add him to the frontcourt alongside Wemby and you have one of the best frontcourts in NBA history. As good as OKC is, they could be overwhelmed by the Giannis/Wemby frontcourt during a 7 game series.

[Ayt]

I hope OKC win the next 10 titles until all these fake "superstars" retire

You think Giannis is a fake superstar?

[Quattro]

I hope OKC win the next 10 titles until all these fake "superstars" retire

You think Giannis is a fake superstar?

No. I actually like Giannis. But if he pulls an "i want a trade and I'll only go to New York", all bets are off

[G R E Y]

PSA: Dylan Harper is not on the trading table.

Yeah, man. Who would ever trade a Dylan Harper for a Giannis?

I've seen some fantasy 'works in the trade machine' scenarios where we give up all our best rookies and all our best picks for him just because the financials match.

Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle are high talent rookies, just the kind you need to surround a 21 year old Wemby as we manage future cap flexibility.

I'm sure we'll kick the Giannis tires, but there are some non-negotiables and ceilings. Harper is in the former category.

[The Master]

Yeah, man. Who would ever trade a Dylan Harper for a Giannis?

First, Harper looks like a future star, second, with 2nd apron and current financial ramifications, having a future star on a rookie deal is priceless, so yeah, it makes lot of sense to make him non-tradable.

Giannis is awesome, but he'll be 31 in a day, was injured in the playoffs multiple times and Spurs have to prepare themselves for competing with OKC, and simultaenously build their team around Wemby, so long term projection is as important as short term.

Harper has been SENSATIONAL for a 19yo rookie so far in limited minutes he gets. And Spurs have several assets to fight for Giannis (Fox, Castle, fillers, draft picks) to fight for Giannis anyways.

[JRoy]

Read on Twitter

I also would like something great for my belly button lint.

[GiannisAnte34]

Yeah, man. Who would ever trade a Dylan Harper for a Giannis?

First, Harper looks like a future star, second, with 2nd apron and current financial ramifications, having a future star on a rookie deal is priceless, so yeah, it makes lot of sense to make him non-tradable.

Giannis is awesome, but he'll be 31 in a day, was injured in the playoffs multiple times and Spurs have to prepare themselves for competing with OKC, and simultaenously build their team around Wemby, so long term projection is as important as short term.

Harper has been SENSATIONAL for a 19yo rookie so far in limited minutes he gets. And Spurs have several assets to fight for Giannis (Fox, Castle, fillers, draft picks) to fight for Giannis anyways.

Fox and Castle are mid assets IMO

I'd take Scottie over either of them and I'm not high on him either