The Giannis Antetokounmpo trade saga is finally over

Our long national nightmare is over, we no longer have to listen to Giannis Antetokounmpo trade rumors as the Milwaukee Bucks finally traded the 2-time MVP to the Miami Heat. In return, the Bucks got Tyler Herro, Kal’el Ware, Jamie Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, the 13th pick, 2031 and 2033 unprotected first round picks, 2030 pick swap and 2033 second round pick, Miami also got Bobby Portis. It sets up the Heat to try and win for the next few seasons while the Bucks reset… without their picks.

The Heat assembled the duo they badly wanted to, acquiring Antetokounmpo to pair with Bam Adebayo. They don’t have a ton of assets to build around Bam and Giannis but this team will be good next season. Bam and Giannis is a great defensive duo and with Davion Mitchell as the primary on ball defender, they are going to be a bear to score on. There is a ton of defensive versatility on this team that also is likely to have Andrew Wiggins, who has a $30 million player option. However, it is going to be hard for the Heat to add more to this roster this summer. Since the Heat acquired more money than they sent out, it has hard capped them at the first apron, which is at $209 million for next season. With 10 players on the roster, Miami is already at $191 million ($17 million under the first apron), that is assuming Wiggins opts-in (he has until June 29 for that decision). I think an opt-out and new deal is probably the more likely outcome but it would only save the Heat $8 million or so. Anyways, this means Miami is unlikely to re-sign Norman Powell, who is an unrestricted free agent. Which hurts them because his scoring and shooting would be such a boost to their team. Nikola Jovic is going to need to be better next season. He is entering the first year of a 4yr/$62.4 million extension he signed last summer and was not in Miami’s rotation for much of the season. This team lacks depth and will need Jovic to be an impact player next season.

Yes, the Heat traded away a lot of their rotation in this deal but Miami had to acquire Giannis. Am I picking them to win the Eastern Conference next season? No, I am not. However, Antetokounmpo makes them significantly better. He remains one of the 5 best players in the league and is dominant on both ends of the court. When you can acquire a player like that you should do it, even if the risk doesn’t always pay off.

These big trades have become commonplace for us to see over the past few seasons. When teams trade multiple future first round picks and/or young players to acquire a star. This deal didn’t have the quantity of picks that the Kevin Durant or Paul George trade had but Miami did trade 2 picks in the 2030s, you never know what could happen, and their last 3 first round picks. The Durant trade is a good example of a deal like this that went very poorly. The Suns traded the sun (no pun intended) and the moon to get him and it failed miserably. Now, Miami paid a smaller price than Phoenix did back in 2023, and are getting a better player, but this deal could go sideways for the Heat.

The Bucks had an interesting choice to make, take this Miami offer or the Celtics offer of, reportedly, Jaylen Brown and 2 first round picks. Neither is great but they landed on this Miami deal. They have the 10th and 13th picks in Tuesday's draft (the picks were probably made by the time you are reading this) and also land Tyler Herro, 3 young players and the future picks. Let’s put the picks to the side because 2033 is ridiculously far away. What is the best asset they got? Tyler Herro is going to be a free agent next summer, the 13th pick is a good pick in an elite draft but it isn’t a great pick and are we sure Ware, Jaquez or Jakucionis are even that good? Jamie Jaquez is extension eligible, what are the Bucks going to pay him? I don’t think this is a bad return but nothing that the Bucks pops and it seems like the Bucks are headed down a dark path rebuild, which stinks for the fanbase. You can question whether or not they should have taken the Brown trade. With no control of their picks until 2031, it very well may have made sense to get Brown and try and win games next season. However, how good would the Bucks have been? Not very good because their roster is in shambles. They were a bad team with Giannis, what would they have been with a lesser player in Brown in his role? This isn’t a great return but you can see why the Bucks took it over Brown and 2 likely late first round picks.

am interested to see what the Bucks do with Herro, there were rumors that the Pistons had interest so maybe that picks up again. Anyways, the Giannis-era in Milwaukee is over but it netted them a championship so it was a success. It will be interesting to see where both franchises go from here.