Giannis Antetokounmpo’s name has sat atop the summer wishlists of many Boston Celtics fans for the first month or so of this offseason. The Milwaukee Bucks and their longtime star forward seem mutually ready for a divorce that’s been brewing for quite some time.
“Why couldn’t he land on the Celtics?”
That’s the question that many have been asking within the fanbase and media sphere.
The answer has slowly been revealing itself as, “because they don’t want to make it happen.”
The Athletic’s Sam Amick shared that there haven’t been any signs that Boston is truly going after Giannis, during a chat with CLNS Media’s Bobby Manning.
“As of now there are not any strong signs at all that they’re attacking this Giannis thing,” Amick told Manning on Tuesday.
Amick, who pinned the Cs as a threat to land the two-time MVP last month, added that we’ll likely learn the outcome one way or another over the next few weeks leading up to the NBA Draft, and that the Miami Heat are thought to be the favorite to land Giannis in that window.
As we all know, the Celtics like to keep things tight. It’s rare for any pending move to be leaked to the media before it happens, which could be the last sliver of hope for the Giannis-pilled segment of the fanbase to cling to.
“But, I also wonder as we get closer to that deadline; how much of this is just being kept quiet because [of the current team chemistry], and is it just Miami and then everyone else [in the race].”
ESPN's Brian Windhorst shared similar intel on Tuesday, picking Miami as the most-likely landing spot at the current moment.
It might be time for Celtics fans to put their Giannis dreams to bed
The unfortunate reality of this situation seems to be setting in -- Giannis likely won’t be wearing Celtics green next season. If he were going to be, a deal probably already would’ve happened.
Think about it. The pathway for Boston to appease the Bucks is clear. They’d almost certainly have to include Jaylen Brown for financial purposes, plus whatever combination of draft capital and young players are necessary to sweeten the deal for Milwaukee or a possible third team.
What could possibly be delaying them from doing that, if that’s something they’re interested in?
Maybe the front office thinks that the asking price will drop as draft night grows closer. That could be possible, sure. But, the more realistic situation is that the Celtics are confident in their core of Brown, Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard. They could simply believe the difference between them and other championship contenders lies in the supporting cast.
Boston wasn’t able to/didn’t lean into their role players as much in the playoffs as they did en route to their 56 regular-season wins. Part of that was Joe Mazzulla’s reluctance to play guys like Hugo Gonzalez and Jordan Walsh consistently, and part of it was Neemias Queta’s inability to avoid foul trouble.
If it’s more reliable players the Cs are looking for, they have the means to upgrade the fringes without pulling key pieces from their puzzle. They’ll have a roughly $15 million mid-level exception to use in free agency, plus will have a $27 million trade exception at their disposal.
It’s possible for them to improve by hitting singles, rather than only by swinging for the fences with an Antetokounmpo trade.
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