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

[AkelaLoneWolf]

We can put together one of the best packages. Scottie jock riders running a bit scared right now.

Honestly, I don't see the Bucks trading him, but in the recent past we saw:

Rudy Gobert trade package:
Utah got Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro, No. 22 pick (Walker Kessler) plus four unprotected FRPs in 2023, 2025 and 2027 and a top-five-protected pick in 2029.

Donovan Mitchell trade package:
Jazz got Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji plus FRP 2025, 2028, plus 2026 and 2028 pick swap
2026 pick swap
2027 first-round pick
2028 pick swap
2029 first-round pick

IMO those guys are not even close to Giannis-level tier.

Teams like the Spurs, Nets, Rockets all have better assets to get a deal done because they have combos of picks and young players that are interesting. Toronto has drafted poorly outside of Barnes, and only offers its own picks to chip in which if the team is planning to be Giannis-level good become devalued to 20-30 FRPs.

/edit I didn't even add in OKC who can really acquire almost any player because of the current players and future draft assets they have.

Mikal Bridges trade package:

4 unprotected picks from the Knicks and 1 pick swap
1st round pick from the Bucks
Bunch of salary fodder

Kevin Durant package:
Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, 4 first round picks, 2 pick swaps

You’re seeing even second tier superstars go for massive pick packages and young talent. Giannis is a top 3 player and the Bucks all rightly ask for alot

suns and knicks overpaid for their talent.
otherwise its usually filler plus picks.
if we give up barnes and rj to salary match, we shouldn't have to give up 2 picks and maybe 2 swaps at most.
edit: okc does scare me; they can put together a fantastic package without disrupting their core.

[Pointgod]

Honestly, I don't see the Bucks trading him, but in the recent past we saw:

Rudy Gobert trade package:
Utah got Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro, No. 22 pick (Walker Kessler) plus four unprotected FRPs in 2023, 2025 and 2027 and a top-five-protected pick in 2029.

Donovan Mitchell trade package:
Jazz got Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji plus FRP 2025, 2028, plus 2026 and 2028 pick swap
2026 pick swap
2027 first-round pick
2028 pick swap
2029 first-round pick

IMO those guys are not even close to Giannis-level tier.

Teams like the Spurs, Nets, Rockets all have better assets to get a deal done because they have combos of picks and young players that are interesting. Toronto has drafted poorly outside of Barnes, and only offers its own picks to chip in which if the team is planning to be Giannis-level good become devalued to 20-30 FRPs.

/edit I didn't even add in OKC who can really acquire almost any player because of the current players and future draft assets they have.

Mikal Bridges trade package:

4 unprotected picks from the Knicks and 1 pick swap
1st round pick from the Bucks
Bunch of salary fodder

Kevin Durant package:
Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, 4 first round picks, 2 pick swaps

You’re seeing even second tier superstars go for massive pick packages and young talent. Giannis is a top 3 player and the Bucks all rightly ask for alot

suns and knicks overpaid for their talent.
otherwise its usually filler plus picks.
if we give up barnes and rj to salary match, we shouldn't have to give up 2 picks and maybe 2 swaps at most.
edit: okc does scare me; they can put together a fantastic package without disrupting their core.

This is hilariously naive. Please go propose that trade package on any board and you’d get laughed off it. It would be Scottie, filler and at least 3 picks if not more considering our picks the first few years will be bad (from Milwaulkee’s perspective). The one thing that could change this is if we move up in the draft and grab a to 4 pick. A high lottery pick is more valuable to a rebuilding team than 2 picks in the 20’s.

[AkelaLoneWolf]

Mikal Bridges trade package:

4 unprotected picks from the Knicks and 1 pick swap
1st round pick from the Bucks
Bunch of salary fodder

Kevin Durant package:
Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, 4 first round picks, 2 pick swaps

You’re seeing even second tier superstars go for massive pick packages and young talent. Giannis is a top 3 player and the Bucks all rightly ask for alot

suns and knicks overpaid for their talent.
otherwise its usually filler plus picks.
if we give up barnes and rj to salary match, we shouldn't have to give up 2 picks and maybe 2 swaps at most.
edit: okc does scare me; they can put together a fantastic package without disrupting their core.

This is hilariously naive. Please go propose that trade package on any board and you’d get laughed off it. It would be Scottie, filler and at least 3 picks if not more considering our picks the first few years will be bad (from Milwaulkee’s perspective). The one thing that could change this is if we move up in the draft and grab a to 4 pick. A high lottery pick is more valuable to a rebuilding team than 2 picks in the 20’s.

rj is more than filler though. that will negative the need to give significant amount of picks; 2 picks plus 2 swaps will be good enough.
and fans always overestimate return for an all star/superstar player. bucks will get less than full value and that package will be one of the best on the market. only okc and maybe the spurs can beat it.

[Pointgod]

suns and knicks overpaid for their talent.
otherwise its usually filler plus picks.
if we give up barnes and rj to salary match, we shouldn't have to give up 2 picks and maybe 2 swaps at most.
edit: okc does scare me; they can put together a fantastic package without disrupting their core.

This is hilariously naive. Please go propose that trade package on any board and you’d get laughed off it. It would be Scottie, filler and at least 3 picks if not more considering our picks the first few years will be bad (from Milwaulkee’s perspective). The one thing that could change this is if we move up in the draft and grab a to 4 pick. A high lottery pick is more valuable to a rebuilding team than 2 picks in the 20’s.

rj is more than filler though. that will negative the need to give significant amount of picks; 2 picks plus 2 swaps will be good enough.
and fans always overestimate return for an all star/superstar player. bucks will get less than full value and that package will be one of the best on the market. only okc and maybe the spurs can beat it.

Spurs, Rockets, OKC can pretty easily beat that package. Hell even New Orleans and Portland could beat the package considering they own Milwaukee’s picks over the next couple of years. There are a couple teams that could realistically offer a Scottie and RJ level player plus their own picks. Unless Milwaukee really likes our assets there’s nothing that puts us in a higher tier than some other teams

[AkelaLoneWolf]

This is hilariously naive. Please go propose that trade package on any board and you’d get laughed off it. It would be Scottie, filler and at least 3 picks if not more considering our picks the first few years will be bad (from Milwaulkee’s perspective). The one thing that could change this is if we move up in the draft and grab a to 4 pick. A high lottery pick is more valuable to a rebuilding team than 2 picks in the 20’s.

rj is more than filler though. that will negative the need to give significant amount of picks; 2 picks plus 2 swaps will be good enough.
and fans always overestimate return for an all star/superstar player. bucks will get less than full value and that package will be one of the best on the market. only okc and maybe the spurs can beat it.

Spurs, Rockets, OKC can pretty easily beat that package. Hell even New Orleans and Portland could beat the package considering they own Milwaukee’s picks over the next couple of years. There are a couple teams that could realistically offer a Scottie and RJ level player plus their own picks. Unless Milwaukee really likes our assets there’s nothing that puts us in a higher tier than some other teams

Giannis won’t play on young teams. Our team with iq and Ingram and Poeltl is ready to compete from day one. We have a young bench but it’s easy enough to acquire vet players.
Like I said okc scares me and possibly spurs although I have my doubts about wemby Giannis fit.

[mdenny]

We can put together one of the best packages. Scottie jock riders running a bit scared right now.

Honestly, I don't see the Bucks trading him, but in the recent past we saw:

Rudy Gobert trade package:
Utah got Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro, No. 22 pick (Walker Kessler) plus four unprotected FRPs in 2023, 2025 and 2027 and a top-five-protected pick in 2029.

Donovan Mitchell trade package:
Jazz got Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji plus FRP 2025, 2028, plus 2026 and 2028 pick swap
2026 pick swap
2027 first-round pick
2028 pick swap
2029 first-round pick

IMO those guys are not even close to Giannis-level tier.

Teams like the Spurs, Nets, Rockets all have better assets to get a deal done because they have combos of picks and young players that are interesting. Toronto has drafted poorly outside of Barnes, and only offers its own picks to chip in which if the team is planning to be Giannis-level good become devalued to 20-30 FRPs.

/edit I didn't even add in OKC who can really acquire almost any player because of the current players and future draft assets they have.

Mikal Bridges trade package:

4 unprotected picks from the Knicks and 1 pick swap
1st round pick from the Bucks
Bunch of salary fodder

Kevin Durant package:
Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, 4 first round picks, 2 pick swaps

You’re seeing even second tier superstars go for massive pick packages and young talent. Giannis is a top 3 player and the Bucks all rightly ask for alot

The Bridges trade is an egregious example though. I think there's a wide consensus the knicks overpaid.

An often overlooked aspect of these trades is that our possible top 5 pick is probably equivalent to 3 first round picks from the knicks given that they've fully bought into a solid roster that is stacked and relatively young. I think it's a reasonable expectation that the knicks pick will be in the 20s for the next 5 years.

So suppose we get the third overall pick in the lottery. Would we trade that pick for the 22nd 23rd and 24th pick? Obviously depends on the draft class but I would doubt it more often than not. So alot of these trades are misleading when you consider the likely selections they yield.

We never really see these packages include an immediate top 5 pick. It'd be interesting to see how they are valued but it never seems to happen. Mostly because teams going for the superstar are rarely that low in the standings.

But I bet if we land the third overall pick....i think it would have a higher percieved value than the cavs 2025/2027/2029 picks + 2026/2028 swaps. Cavs are young and already second overall.

For some reason....the only example I can think of is Kevin love for Wiggins.

[Pointgod]

Honestly, I don't see the Bucks trading him, but in the recent past we saw:

Rudy Gobert trade package:
Utah got Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro, No. 22 pick (Walker Kessler) plus four unprotected FRPs in 2023, 2025 and 2027 and a top-five-protected pick in 2029.

Donovan Mitchell trade package:
Jazz got Collin Sexton, Lauri Markkanen, Ochai Agbaji plus FRP 2025, 2028, plus 2026 and 2028 pick swap
2026 pick swap
2027 first-round pick
2028 pick swap
2029 first-round pick

IMO those guys are not even close to Giannis-level tier.

Teams like the Spurs, Nets, Rockets all have better assets to get a deal done because they have combos of picks and young players that are interesting. Toronto has drafted poorly outside of Barnes, and only offers its own picks to chip in which if the team is planning to be Giannis-level good become devalued to 20-30 FRPs.

/edit I didn't even add in OKC who can really acquire almost any player because of the current players and future draft assets they have.

Mikal Bridges trade package:

4 unprotected picks from the Knicks and 1 pick swap
1st round pick from the Bucks
Bunch of salary fodder

Kevin Durant package:
Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, 4 first round picks, 2 pick swaps

You’re seeing even second tier superstars go for massive pick packages and young talent. Giannis is a top 3 player and the Bucks all rightly ask for alot

The Bridges trade is an egregious example though. I think there's a wide consensus the knicks overpaid.

An often overlooked aspect of these trades is that our possible top 5 pick is probably equivalent to 3 first round picks from the knicks given that they've fully bought into a solid roster that is stacked and relatively young. I think it's a reasonable expectation that the knicks pick will be in the 20s for the next 5 years.

So suppose we get the third overall pick in the lottery. Would we trade that pick for the 22nd 23rd and 24th pick? Obviously depends on the draft class but I would doubt it more often than not. So alot of these trades are misleading when you consider the likely selections they yield.

We never really see these packages include an immediate top 5 pick. It'd be interesting to see how they are valued but it never seems to happen. Mostly because teams going for the superstar are rarely that low in the standings.

But I bet if we land the third overall pick....i think it would have a higher percieved value than the cavs 2025/2027/2029 picks + 2026/2028 swaps. Cavs are young and already second overall.

For some reason....the only example I can think of is Kevin love for Wiggins.

I mean we can say the Knicks overpaid for Bridges, but they didn’t give up a single player of value in a trade for a borderline allstar. And the way Bridges has been playing in the playoffs shows why you make that move even if it’s an overpay. But it goes to show you that you have to pay for talent in this league.

The broad consensus is that any team trading for Giannis will at least have to give up a valuable piece, so that means for Houston Sengun or Thompson, Spurs Castle, OKC Chet or J Dub and Raptors Scottie plus multiple picks and pick swaps. If we land a top 3 pick, I think all that means is that instead of trading all our future picks we trade less future picks or keep an asset like Gradey Dick. The biggest problem for us is that we don’t have the assets to go over the top and “overpay” like other teams can and Milwaukee has a lot of options if we don’t have the offer they want.

This could potentially be the Gobert/Mitchell/George trade on steroids if Milwaukee plays this smart, that’s if they even trade him at all.

[TGM]

You can’t cheap out for Giannis, the price is what it is. He will cost a massive haul and regardless you do it.

I think comparing past deals aren’t always the most accurate.

Mitchell was entering his prime when traded to the Cavs.

Bridges was on a super friendly contract and had several years left. He was also putting up like 20 plus a game.

Giannis will cost us two of our top 4 players and a bunch of picks plus probably 2 young players.

If somehow you can do a deal of Walter, Mogbo, RJ and IQ plus 4 unprotected firsts. You go for it.

That leaves us with Barnes, Ingram, Jakob, Dick, Shead, Battle as our core.

[CPT]

I know the true cost won’t be seen for a few years, but all of those deals seem varying degrees of fine so far.

Cleveland and Minny are unlikely to still be playing without those moves. New York paid the biggest price, but Bridges helps solidify their identity and will be a big reason they make the ECF (if they do).

Somewhat ironically, the Durant one looks the worst, despite Phoenix having been in the most “push your chips in for a title” situation of them all.

The cost for Giannis will be steep, but the team that gets him will likely be satisfied with having paid it.

That said, there’s definitely truth to the idea that Scottie and the 8th-ish pick this year is considerably stronger than 5 conditional picks in the 20s years from now.

[mdenny]

suns and knicks overpaid for their talent.
otherwise its usually filler plus picks.
if we give up barnes and rj to salary match, we shouldn't have to give up 2 picks and maybe 2 swaps at most.
edit: okc does scare me; they can put together a fantastic package without disrupting their core.

This is hilariously naive. Please go propose that trade package on any board and you’d get laughed off it. It would be Scottie, filler and at least 3 picks if not more considering our picks the first few years will be bad (from Milwaulkee’s perspective). The one thing that could change this is if we move up in the draft and grab a to 4 pick. A high lottery pick is more valuable to a rebuilding team than 2 picks in the 20’s.

rj is more than filler though. that will negative the need to give significant amount of picks; 2 picks plus 2 swaps will be good enough.
and fans always overestimate return for an all star/superstar player. bucks will get less than full value and that package will be one of the best on the market. only okc and maybe the spurs can beat it.

Strongly disagree with you here.

If bucks trade giannis they are tearing it down and rebuilding. Rj is pretty much useless for a team doing that. He's like a third option for a team looking to get better. Not a guy you want to start a rebuild with. So for the Bucks....I think he has negative value. Not a promising young guy who could take a leap. Not good for tanking for a couple years. They just have no use for him.

It's scotty or no trade in my opinion. And i dont think any trade makes sense for the raps unless we hit on our pick.

If we hit on this pick and get a promising player that is already starter quality.....i could see scotty plus rj plus 3 picks/3 swaps sometime after Jan 2026.

Iq
Pick that hits
Ingram
Giannis
Poetl

I just don't see why any rebuilding team would want to start with IQ and RJ. Barnes and IQ I could see. Barnes and RJ I could see.

Plus...I think Barnes and Giannis would be horrible together anyways. But I've been lower on scotty than most of this board has been.

[YogurtProducer]

I know the true cost won’t be seen for a few years, but all of those deals seem varying degrees of fine so far.

Cleveland and Minny are unlikely to still be playing without those moves. New York paid the biggest price, but Bridges helps solidify their identity and will be a big reason they make the ECF (if they do).

Somewhat ironically, the Durant one looks the worst, despite Phoenix having been in the most “push your chips in for a title” situation of them all.

The cost for Giannis will be steep, but the team that gets him will likely be satisfied with having paid it.

That said, there’s definitely truth to the idea that Scottie and the 8th-ish pick this year is considerably stronger than 5 conditional picks in the 20s years from now.

They also were paying for the cheap bridges contract which can’t be ignored

[navyblue]

I know the true cost won’t be seen for a few years, but all of those deals seem varying degrees of fine so far.

Cleveland and Minny are unlikely to still be playing without those moves. New York paid the biggest price, but Bridges helps solidify their identity and will be a big reason they make the ECF (if they do).

Somewhat ironically, the Durant one looks the worst, despite Phoenix having been in the most “push your chips in for a title” situation of them all.

The cost for Giannis will be steep, but the team that gets him will likely be satisfied with having paid it.

That said, there’s definitely truth to the idea that Scottie and the 8th-ish pick this year is considerably stronger than 5 conditional picks in the 20s years from now.

They also were paying for the cheap bridges contract which can’t be ignored

And the whole villonova squad thing they had going, plus getting bridges maybe helped in getting brunson to extend then(thus a little cheaper) then him extending for Uber Max nmthis summer

[mdenny]

I know the true cost won’t be seen for a few years, but all of those deals seem varying degrees of fine so far.

Cleveland and Minny are unlikely to still be playing without those moves. New York paid the biggest price, but Bridges helps solidify their identity and will be a big reason they make the ECF (if they do).

Somewhat ironically, the Durant one looks the worst, despite Phoenix having been in the most “push your chips in for a title” situation of them all.

The cost for Giannis will be steep, but the team that gets him will likely be satisfied with having paid it.

That said, there’s definitely truth to the idea that Scottie and the 8th-ish pick this year is considerably stronger than 5 conditional picks in the 20s years from now.

They also were paying for the cheap bridges contract which can’t be ignored

This is an excellent point i kinda overlooked. In fact....I'd say the contract is probably 2 picks. If he was maxed out the knicks probably send 2 picks instead of 4.

You could say that his contract gives you the addition of a 20 milly per year player (ie Josh hart). So at the rosk of being overly abstract....one might even say that the trade was Bridges + 2 years of Hart (who you could otherwise not afford without apron concerns) for the package.

[YogurtProducer]

I know the true cost won’t be seen for a few years, but all of those deals seem varying degrees of fine so far.

Cleveland and Minny are unlikely to still be playing without those moves. New York paid the biggest price, but Bridges helps solidify their identity and will be a big reason they make the ECF (if they do).

Somewhat ironically, the Durant one looks the worst, despite Phoenix having been in the most “push your chips in for a title” situation of them all.

The cost for Giannis will be steep, but the team that gets him will likely be satisfied with having paid it.

That said, there’s definitely truth to the idea that Scottie and the 8th-ish pick this year is considerably stronger than 5 conditional picks in the 20s years from now.

They also were paying for the cheap bridges contract which can’t be ignored

This is an excellent point i kinda overlooked. In fact....I'd say the contract is probably 2 picks. If he was maxed out the knicks probably send 2 picks instead of 4.

You could say that his contract gives you the addition of a 20 milly per year player (ie Josh hart). So at the rosk of being overly abstract....one might even say that the trade was Bridges + 2 years of Hart (who you could otherwise not afford without apron concerns) for the package.

Yep. The contract bridges was on was a huge reason why they paid so much.

It’d also why the NBA should introduce salary retention like the NHL. It would make trading between teams so much more interesting and would allow teams with ample cap room to trade guys, retain salary, and receive picks.

Literally everyone wins.

[JB7]

This is hilariously naive. Please go propose that trade package on any board and you’d get laughed off it. It would be Scottie, filler and at least 3 picks if not more considering our picks the first few years will be bad (from Milwaulkee’s perspective). The one thing that could change this is if we move up in the draft and grab a to 4 pick. A high lottery pick is more valuable to a rebuilding team than 2 picks in the 20’s.

rj is more than filler though. that will negative the need to give significant amount of picks; 2 picks plus 2 swaps will be good enough.
and fans always overestimate return for an all star/superstar player. bucks will get less than full value and that package will be one of the best on the market. only okc and maybe the spurs can beat it.

Strongly disagree with you here.

If bucks trade giannis they are tearing it down and rebuilding. Rj is pretty much useless for a team doing that. He's like a third option for a team looking to get better. Not a guy you want to start a rebuild with. So for the Bucks....I think he has negative value. Not a promising young guy who could take a leap. Not good for tanking for a couple years. They just have no use for him.

It's scotty or no trade in my opinion. And i dont think any trade makes sense for the raps unless we hit on our pick.

If we hit on this pick and get a promising player that is already starter quality.....i could see scotty plus rj plus 3 picks/3 swaps sometime after Jan 2026.

Iq
Pick that hits
Ingram
Giannis
Poetl

I just don't see why any rebuilding team would want to start with IQ and RJ. Barnes and IQ I could see. Barnes and RJ I could see.

Plus...I think Barnes and Giannis would be horrible together anyways. But I've been lower on scotty than most of this board has been.

If they trade Giannis, they are rebuilding, just not through losing and the draft. They don't control their own picks until 2031. No incentive to tank for higher picks, so they will need to build back up with trades for players, and hope the draft picks they get from teams might turn out to be decent.

[PushDaRock]

rj is more than filler though. that will negative the need to give significant amount of picks; 2 picks plus 2 swaps will be good enough.
and fans always overestimate return for an all star/superstar player. bucks will get less than full value and that package will be one of the best on the market. only okc and maybe the spurs can beat it.

Strongly disagree with you here.

If bucks trade giannis they are tearing it down and rebuilding. Rj is pretty much useless for a team doing that. He's like a third option for a team looking to get better. Not a guy you want to start a rebuild with. So for the Bucks....I think he has negative value. Not a promising young guy who could take a leap. Not good for tanking for a couple years. They just have no use for him.

It's scotty or no trade in my opinion. And i dont think any trade makes sense for the raps unless we hit on our pick.

If we hit on this pick and get a promising player that is already starter quality.....i could see scotty plus rj plus 3 picks/3 swaps sometime after Jan 2026.

Iq
Pick that hits
Ingram
Giannis
Poetl

I just don't see why any rebuilding team would want to start with IQ and RJ. Barnes and IQ I could see. Barnes and RJ I could see.

Plus...I think Barnes and Giannis would be horrible together anyways. But I've been lower on scotty than most of this board has been.

If they trade Giannis, they are rebuilding, just not through losing and the draft. They don't control their own picks until 2031. No incentive to tank for higher picks, so they will need to build back up with trades for players, and hope the draft picks they get from teams might turn out to be decent.

I think it's likely that any Giannis trade would need to result in getting back control of at least their pick this upcoming season.

[WuTang_OG]

Go for it

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[WuTang_OG]

The timing says it all.

Today is a hype machine day. Draft lottery, all agents and execs in Chicago for Combine. It was done by design to leak to Shams to announce he's considering a change.

Next few weeks will be interesting

[traps#10]

I’m sorry, you trade Barnes for Giannis 10/10 times

[WuTang_OG]

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