The trade rumors about Giannis Antetokounmpo simply won’t stop, and they all keep saying the same general message: the Heat are the frontrunners, but Giannis is intrigued by the Celtics. On Tuesday night, Marc Stein and Jake Fischer reported more of the same, insisting the same is still true.
“Sources close to the process consistently say that they believe that Miami is at the top of Antetokounmpo's current wish list but likewise continue to whisper that the idea of landing in Boston is still in his thoughts somewhere.”
We keep hearing this over and over, and yet we are no closer to an actual trade. On the surface, it certainly feels like the only team actually pushing for the Greek Freak is the Heat. Giannis obviously has some level of interest in playing for the Celtics, but that interest doesn’t appear to be mutual.
Reading between the lines, it seems like a couple of things could be at play here. The Heat have real interest, and Giannis wants to go to Miami. But their trade offers aren’t very appealing. The Bucks are likely having doubts about the potential return and want to extract more for their franchise legend.
They want to get more teams involved, and they want to drive up the price. If the Celtics get involved, they can extract a lot of assets for Jaylen Brown, which would head to Milwaukee and easily trump Miami’s best possible offer.
Bucks are dying for other teams to show interest in Giannis
Furthermore, if the Heat gut their assets to trade for Giannis, they aren’t going to have a very competitive team around him, which may be holding Antetokounmpo back from fully committing to South Beach.
If Miami is truly Giannis’ top choice, and the Heat are the only team making a real push, then why hasn’t the deal gotten done? Something isn’t adding up.
Chances are, the Bucks don’t want what the Heat have to offer, and Giannis isn’t fully convinced he can compete for titles with Bam Adebayo and not much else. All of the leaks and reports make it seem like Boston would be a great home; we know Giannis is interested, we know he wants to stay in the East, that he wants to be on a historic franchise, that he wants to contend for rings.
Everything points to a desire for him to join the Celtics, and a desire for the Bucks to trade him somewhere other than to the Heat. But it takes two to tango, and until Brad Stevens and the Celtics actually put their hat in the ring, Milwaukee will just have to continue to wait.
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