It’s not every day that a former league MVP and NBA champion who is still in his early 30s gets traded. That day appears to be today or tomorrow, as Giannis Antetokounmpo is likely about to have a new NBA home.
ESPN’s Shams Charania said on “Get Up!” Monday morning that a Giannis trade is imminent and that he would wind up in either Miami or Boston.
“Sources tell me a trade and a resolution is coming for the Milwaukee Bucks with Giannis Antetokounmpo before the NBA Draft on Tuesday night,” Charania said. “The Bucks are in serious conversations with two finalists—the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics. Both teams are Giannis’ preferred trade destinations, but both of these packages are different deals. The variance of these deals is dramatic.
“With Boston, it’s a Jaylen Brown-led package. It’s around a veteran player, a superstar-level player. In Miami, it’s a group of cost-controlled players, rookie-scale contracts, and significant draft capital in that deal.
Whichever deal occurs, whether it’s today or tomorrow, it is likely going to be a 1-to-1 deal. It’s going to consist of Milwaukee and likely one of these two teams. There’s no third team, fourth team in it yet.
“The sides could leave this open. When Kevin Durant was traded a year ago, it turned into seven total teams by the end of the offseason. So that could certainly happen here.”
Giannis trade to Heat
According to NBA reporter Marc Stein, the Heat are willing to part with Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., and the No. 13 pick in this year’s NBA Draft, in a deal that would net Giannis.
A Miami frontcourt featuring Giannis and Bam Adebayo would certainly vault the Heat into the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference.
If the Heat do land Giannis, Pat Riley would still need to flesh out the rest of his roster with three players moving to Milwaukee. Perhaps Riley would reach out to old friend and free agent LeBron James for one last run in South Beach. LeBron has indicated that he wants to finish his career in a place where he could legitimately contend for a championship. Miami would certainly present that opportunity if it pulls off the Giannis deal.
Giannis trade to Celtics
Giannis heaped praise on the Celtics organization in the regular season, specifically highlighting Boston’s “winning culture” and head coach Joe Mazzulla’s refusal to give up on the 2025-26 season despite being without Jayson Tatum for the brunt of it.
Jaylen Brown shined as Boston’s top-scoring option during the regular season, proving once-and-for-all that he can be a leading man in the NBA. While Milwaukee would certainly not be the most glamorous landing spot for Brown, he would no doubt be running his own show in Wisconsin.
If the Celtics do swing the deal for Giannis, it will be interesting to see if Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens stops there and has a nucleus of Giannis, Tatum, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard. Or maybe he continues to re-work the roster and looks to trade White or Pritchard.
Stevens could also potentially look to bring back two familiar faces that were a part of Boston’s 2024 title team. Kristaps Porzingis will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, and Al Horford has a player option. Both players left Boston on good terms and would provide the Celtics with frontcourt depth behind Giannis.
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