The Boston Celtics are among the teams that could be in the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes this summer. With that, though, comes a problem. Why would the Milwaukee Bucks want 29-year-old Jaylen Brown in a rebuilding scenario? They wouldn't, but that's where the Atlanta Hawks, Houston Rockets, or Portland Trail Blazers come in. They could gladly take Brown off Milwaukee's hands.
This all comes courtesy of NBA insider Marc Stein (subscription required), who reports that Giannis does have some level of interest in the Celtics, who have checked in on the two-time MVP within the past few months. If traction picks up and Brown gets traded, suddenly becoming up for grabs, three teams with rumored interest in Brown are the aforementioned squads.
Bucks would have options in a Brown rerouting
All three teams have desirable assets that would be useful to the Milwaukee Bucks, on top of what they would get from Boston for Antetokounmpo in this hypothetical scenario.
Atlanta has an incredibly desirable draft pick in the form of the eighth overall selection in this coming draft. That, paired with one of Dyson Daniels or Jonathan Kuminga and salary filler, could make for an interesting package.
Houston certainly won't want to cough up Amen Thompson, otherwise they'd be a no-brainer partner in this scenario. Yet, would they consider moving former third overall pick Reed Sheppard and future first-round draft capital to get it done? That could garner some attention.
Portland, of course, has control of Milwaukee's draft capital over the next several years. If they were willing to surrender some of that back to the Bucks and send over a young player, such as Shaedon Sharpe or Scoot Henderson, it would be worth Milwaukee's attention.
The best suitor should be obvious for the Bucks
If the Milwaukee Bucks could get their hands on Atlanta's eighth overall selection, it would be a huge victory. With that, they would own picks eight and 10 in this draft class, one of the most stacked the league has seen in a long time. That would be one heck of a starting point for what would be an inevitable rebuild without Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The question is whether the Hawks would be willing to give up that pick. They were adamant that they didn't want to trade it all season long in a win-now move, but that was when it was projected to be far higher than eighth. Now that it's slipped, perhaps their willingness to dangle it in talks has increased. Time will tell, but the Bucks should have them on speed dial if Brown lands in Milwaukee.
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