The Boston Celtics-Giannis Antetokounmpo rumors have only continued to heat up since the season ended. Not only will they pursue him, but they also looked into it earlier this season. It makes sense, as Giannis is one of the league's best players playing for one of the league's most helpless teams. However, if Boston gets the deal done, Antetokounmpo alone does not solve everything for Boston.
Now, for the record, the possibility of pairing Antetokounmpo with Jayson Tatum would easily give the Celtics the most lethal 1-2 combos in the league, which would make them an indisputed title contender. It would definitely put them in the conversation, but we should know by now that top-heavy teams don't typically succeed.
Boston's problems in their alarmingly short postseason stemmed from the fact that their supporting cast did not hold their end on top of everything else. One could argue that Derrick White simply had a really weird season and should be seen as a one-off, but even so, the Celtics shouldn't risk the possibility of it happening again.
That doesn't mean trade White. It simply means they need more reinforcements in case it happens again. With Tatum hopefully even healthier next season, Boston has the assets to add to this team with otr without Giannis.
The Bucks have also flamed out in the Giannis era as a result of them not getting the necessary upgrades to keep them afloat. They certainly tried, but they waited too late to make the changes they needed.
Celtics have other assets at their disposal to make them better
Under the cap, the Celtics have the non-taxpayer mid-level exception of $14.1 million to offer. This year's free-agent class isn't exactly the most impressive, but it has enough talent to help them reel in a difference-maker.
They also have other options at play, including the Ant Simons $27.7 million TPE. For the record, Boston likely won't get a difference maker from that, but can get a filler contract that they can later use as cap filler to get a difference maker. They can also sign-and-trade someone like Nikola Vuceivc while they are under the cap.
They can't utilize all of these aforementioned assets at once, but these are what they can do while they are under the cap. If there's an executive who knows how to use this wisely, it's Brad Stevens.
Boston's hopes of adding Giannis just got better after the NBA Draft Lottery. If they get him, that's fantastic and should make everyone forget what happened eight days ago. If they can add more help to a core with Giannis and Tatum, Banner 19 is back on the table for them.
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