The Milwaukee Bucks made it six weeks into the season before the summer's Giannis drama boiled up again. Even before Wednesday's reports, a trade seemed to be a real, perhaps imminent possibility. Now the tide has turned for the worse. In the event that a move happens, the Bucks can't make a bad situation worse by botching the return package. More than just picks, any Giannis trade must net a budding star the team can build around for the future.
Bucks cannot waver from core requirement in any Giannis deal
One thing is painfully obvious about the Bucks' strategy: they can't just settle for a boatload of picks and embark on a full-scale rebuild if they trade Giannis. For one thing, they don't even control their first-round picks until 2030.
For another, general manager Jon Horst has time and again shown himself to be a disastrous drafter. None of his last seven picks, including three first-rounders, are still with the team. None have made an impact elsewhere. The jury is still out on 2025's second-round selection Bogolijub Markovic, who returned to spend the year overseas after underwhelming in Summer League.
All that is to say nothing of the way in which the Bucks have burdened their books in trying to keep Giannis happy and in Milwaukee. Waiving Damian Lillard put $113 million in dead money on the payroll over the next five years. With that kind of albatross looming over the franchise, the Bucks aren't really in a position to tear it all down on a clean slate.
They can't tank in earnest. Even if they could tank, draft picks are worth less with Horst at the helm. In a Giannis trade, that context makes returning some form of pre-established young talent non-negotiable.
At the same time, the whole point of trading for a so-called young talent is capitalizing on the benefit of an untapped ceiling. If Giannis asks out, the Bucks have to find a trade partner who can offer that type of player in the return package.
What they also can't do is simply get a lot of proven but unexciting players short on upside. That's why a potential deal with the Knicks, whom Giannis expressed interest in joining over the summer, wouldn't work. A hypothetical "haul" involving Karl Anthony-Towns plus Miles McBride isn't appealing. Towns is proven, but he is what he is, a talented scorer who is challenged defensively and getting up there in age. There's not much upside there, even including McBride.
Instead, while honoring Giannis' wishes as much as reasonably possible, the Bucks may have to think outside the box when it comes to engaging suitors for an acceptable trade package that fits their situation and needs.