Another day, another twist in the Giannis Antetokounmpo saga. This time, it comes from the well-respected Sam Amick of The Athletic, who threw cold water on the idea of the Celtics trading for the two-time MVP without including Jaylen Brown. There is technically a path to getting there otherwise, but Amick insists, “The Celtics have gone to great lengths to avoid the elephant in the room here, but Jaylen Brown would need to be part of any deal for Antetokounmpo.”
He went on to reveal, “If Boston had its way, the conversation would start and end there with a one-for-one swap of fellow All-Stars”, meaning the Celtics ideal path would be to simply trade Brown for Giannis and call it a day.
This flies in the face of the idea that the Celtics haven’t offered Brown, and haven’t dangled him, but it’s also very possible a lot of these talks are happening in the dark, and that certain things may not even need to be explicitly stated. If the Celtics are in on Giannis, which it certainly appears they are, they know the cost and seem willing to pay.
This is as concrete a report as we’ve gotten from a credible source stating that the Celtics are basically offering JB for Giannis one-for-one, and if that’s the case, you’d have to imagine that trumps any deal the Heat can put together, especially if they’re not willing to include their only star player in Bam Adebayo.
Celtics want to swap Jaylen Brown for Giannis 1:1
Now, this deal still may not be great for the Bucks. Moving Giannis signals they’d finally be ready for a rebuild, so Brown, who just finished sixth in MVP voting and is about to turn 30, may not make a ton of sense. But that still seems to be, by far, the most valuable asset and best player available to them.
Even if that means re-routing him, looping in a third team, or having him audition for a few months in Milwaukee before another big trade sweepstakes, that feels like a much better option for the Bucks than anything else we’ve heard floated.
Brown alone sounds like the best offer on the table, but the Bucks may still have cold feet and could drag this out, which would be bad for everyone. As Amick alluded to, Boston obviously doesn’t want to go deep into the offseason with Brown’s name out there in trade talks just for this to fall through.
So, they can sweeten the pot by adding in a first-round pick or two, but as it seems they are almost bidding against themselves at that point, they should be very careful about offering much more. For now, we must play the waiting game. The draft is just four days away, and unless a suitor comes out of left field, it sounds like the Celtics are in the driver’s seat to land the Greek Freak.
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