{"id":1999606,"date":"2026-06-19T12:27:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T09:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1999606"},"modified":"2026-06-19T12:27:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T09:27:57","slug":"what-im-hearing-about-giannis-antetokounmpo-other-nba-players-as-draft-nears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1999606","title":{"rendered":"What I\u2019m hearing about Giannis Antetokounmpo, other NBA players as draft nears"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Deadlines tend to inspire behavior change.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s the end of the shot clock or the final seconds of a game, we\u2019ve seen countless on-court examples of how that time element sparks something \u2014 good or bad \u2014 when the pressure builds to a crescendo. The NBA trade market is no different.<\/p>\n

Welcome to the final days (most likely) of the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes.<\/p>\n

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Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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With the Milwaukee Bucks\u2019 self-imposed deadline of Tuesday\u2019s first round of the NBA Draft fast approaching, there remains some mystery as to whether the Bucks will follow the playbook laid out by co-owner Jimmy Haslam.<\/p>\n

The Boston Celtics, as has been the case for some time now, have serious interest<\/a> and remain a significant threat to derail Miami Heat president Pat Riley\u2019s plans \u2014 if the Celtics are willing to do what it takes before this (unofficial) buzzer sounds to get a deal done.<\/p>\n

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The 3 teams that should trade for Giannis<\/div>\n
Esfandiar Baraheni<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
{“@context”:”https:\/\/schema.org”,”@type”:”VideoObject”,”@id”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/f0LspW9BOHtibVd\/”,”url”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/video\/f0LspW9BOHtibVd\/”,”name”:”The 3 teams that should trade for Giannis”,”description”:”Esfandiar Baraheni breaks down the 3 teams he thinks should make an attempt at trading for Giannis Antetokounmpo this offseason.”,”uploadDate”:”2026-06-01T18:41:54.687Z”,”duration”:”PT2M38S”,”thumbnailUrl”:”https:\/\/cdn-media.theathletic.com\/video-stream\/auto-thumbnail\/f0LspW9BOHtibVd\/9pI3eiuh505Z.0000000.jpg”,”contentUrl”:”https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/streams\/f0LspW9BOHtibVd\/9pI3eiuh505Z\/9pI3eiuh505Z.m3u8″,”transcript”:”If you haven’t noticed, Giannis Antetokopo has played his last game with the Milwaukee Bucks. In my eyes, there are only 3 teams that make sense as Giannis destinations, not only for the team, but for the Greek freak himself. Let’s start with the Timberwolves, who fell short of their championship goals again, despite a spirited effort from a really resilient group led by Anthony Edwards and Jaden McDaniels. Here’s how the trade could look. The Wolves would send Gobert. Randall, Terrence Shannon Jr. Dante Di Vincenzo, two unprotected first-round picks in 2028 and 2033, alongside the 28th pick in the 2026 draft, and two first-round pick swaps for Giannis and Miles Turner. Minnesota needs to do this now because Edwards is championship-ready. The combination of Giannis’s rim finishing and playmaking next to Edwards is shot-making and pull-up. Point shooting in a perfect world is a match made in heaven. The Rockets, on the other hand, should make the Giannis trade for more desperate reasons. They should use this opportunity to cash in their chips and pair Durant with Giannis and make a formidable, albeit older, championship contender. The trade would send Shengoun, Shepherd, and Salary to Milwaukee alongside multiple first-round picks. In exchange, the The Bucks would send the Rockets Giannis and AJ Green, a sharpshooter who could help with Houston’s three-point shooting woes. This is the ultimate win now move, accelerating the Rockets’ timeline in a major way to try and win around a 37 year old Durant and a thirty-one-year-old Giannis. The combination of Durant’s isolation scoring combined with Giannis’s ability to create his own shot and barrel his way to the basket will make an Unstoppable offensive nucleus, similar to that of Aunt Edwards and Giannis, but just older. The final team that I think makes perfect sense for Giannis is the Cleveland Cavaliers. After making it to the conference finals, they must feel close enough that taking a swing is the right call. And all it will cost them in a trade is Evan Mobley and a few first-round picks. Look, Mobley is an all-star level talent, and truthfully, I think he He had an underrated 2026 playoff run for the Cavs. But he hasn’t taken that offensive leap that Cleveland had hoped for. And with Harden in the fold now taking up offensive usage, they don’t have time to nurture that growth anymore. They need a finished product. Giannis is that and some. So whether it’s the Cavs, the Rockets, or Timberwolves, I think all three are perfect destinations for Giannis to end up in.”,”ineligibleRegion”:[“BI”,”BY”,”CD”,”CF”,”CU”,”IQ”,”IR”,”KP”,”LB”,”LY”,”ML”,”NI”,”RU”,”SD”,”SO”,”SS”,”SY”,”UA”,”VE”,”YE”,”ZW”],”publisher”:{“@type”:”NewsMediaOrganization”,”@id”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/#publisher”,”name”:”The Athletic”,”url”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/”,”foundingDate”:”2016-01-25″,”logo”:{“@type”:”ImageObject”,”@id”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”url”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”contentUrl”:”https:\/\/theathletic.com\/app\/themes\/athletic\/assets\/img\/the-athletic-wordmark-black.png”,”creditText”:”The Athletic”,”height”:”60″,”width”:”435″},”publishingPrinciples”:”https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/edit-guidelines\/”,”sameAs”:”https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Athletic”},”author”:[{“@type”:”Person”,”name”:”Esfandiar Baraheni”}]}<\/p>\n
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