For the past few days, the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics were jockeying for the lead as frontrunners in the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade race. Suddenly, Miami has leapfrogged Boston, with the latter seemingly not interested in a Giannis deal at this point. ESPN's Brian Windhorst revealed the latest update on ESPN Cleveland.
"I know some people are linking him to Boston, but I have not heard that Giannis, Boston, and Milwaukee are serious about it."
Celtics not jumping at Giannis just yet
This comes shortly after NBA insider Marc Stein (subscription required) reported that Boston was perceived to be one of the destinations, along with Miami, that Giannis desired. He also added a tidbit that the Celtics indeed checked in on Giannis at the trade deadline. Windhorst's new reporting makes it sound like interest may be there but that no party is taking it seriously.
Boston does indeed have the assets to at least make an interesting Giannis offer. In addition to their draft picks, they could throw Jaylen Brown, the 2024 NBA Finals MVP, on the table. Even if the Bucks don't want him in a Giannis trade, they could flip him to another interested suitor—of which there are rumored to be plenty—for even more assets to kickstart a rebuild.
The thought of pairing Giannis Antetokounmpo with Jayson Tatum has to be somewhat compelling, at the bare minimum, to Boston. Time will tell if they get serious here.
Giannis to Miami gains more traction
Miami has been connected to Giannis from the very beginning, and this report only cements them as the leading candidate if he gets traded. Boston isn't seriously interesting. Golden State is still without any legitimate blue-chip prospect to offer. The Minnesota Timberwolves don't magically have more draft capital to trade. Boston could at least have made things interesting with their offer.
The Heat are still the lone potential suitor with an adequate package consisting of both players and draft picks. In addition to the 13th pick in this upcoming draft, Miami can offer multiple first-rounders and players, such as Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware, and the captivating Kasparas Jakucionis. At the time of this writing, no one has a more desirable offer.
Things can change in a hurry, though. Everyone remembers that Damain Lillard wanted to get traded to Miami and Miami only. They were in the lead for months, only for the Milwaukee Bucks to swoop in and steal him. The Heat would certainly like to avoid that scenario from happening once again, so they will keep their foot on the gas regarding a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade.
Stay tuned for more Milwaukee Bucks analysis.
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