The NBA playoffs aren’t even over yet, and it already feels like the Giannis Antetokounmpo saga is reaching a tipping point. The rumors have been going on for years, really, but they heated up during this season, and before the trade deadline, and since the postseason began, they’ve only escalated.
Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, we’ve heard the Celtics mentioned quite a bit as a potential Giannis suitor. There was some initial reporting of conversations before the February deadline, and interest was reported again after Boston crashed out of the playoffs in round one.
Things took yet another step forward when Bill Simmons and Marc Stein both reported that Boston is a preferred destination, but that the Celtics aren’t necessarily motivated to trade for the two-time MVP.
And now, in response to those reports, we’ve gotten another wave, with Chris Haynes and Brian Windhorst both pouring cold water on Giannis’ Boston interest on Wednesday.
On Sirius XM NBA Radio, Haynes stated that he had not heard from Giannis’ camp that the Celtics are a team he’s interested in. Then, Windy, on ESPN Cleveland, also said that he had not heard anything connecting Giannis to Boston.
Giannis to Boston: something or nothing?
So, now it appears we are locked in a battle between NBA insiders and sources. It’s interesting that Haynes, who has been a mouthpiece for Giannis and his former teammate, Damian Lillard, would come out after it was reported that Boston wasn’t interested in Giannis, saying that Giannis was never interested in Boston in the first place.
This almost feels like “You can’t fire me, I quit!” type of logic, coming off like Giannis and his team don’t like the idea that a preferred destination may not want him, so they want to put the word out that he is actually the one lacking interest.
The Windy piece feels a little more substantial, but he’s not exactly the type of newsbreaker that Stein is, and wasn’t specifically denying interest from Giannis, but just saying that he hadn’t heard that, personally.
Windy is rock solid, but I’m going to have to defer to Steiny Mo on this one and trust the veteran reporter who was confirming a report from a renowned longtime Celtics fan with all kinds of media and sports connections in Simmons.
Maybe they’re all telling the truth. Maybe none of them are. Maybe the truth lies somewhere in between. Regardless, this story clearly isn’t going anywhere until Giannis is on a new team and with the Celtics checking the right boxes as an East contender with tradeable assets and a desire to improve, no matter who reports what, this won’t be the last time Giannis to Boston talk gets airtime.
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