The Miami Heat path to Giannis | Five on the Floor

The Miami Heat path to Giannis | Five on the Floor

Welcome to the latest episode of Five on the Floor in the Five Reason Sports Network. Thanks for joining us on your favorite podcast app on Apple, Apple Podcast, on Android to recommend Spotify. Also check out the Five Reasons YouTube channel for all your South Florida sports content. Also, Off the Floor, that’s our Discord server. We’ve been telling you to go there for a while. It’s $2.99 per month. Link is right there in the description. You’ll bypass the Apple upcharge. But the other reason that you need to check it out is that playback no longer is active. And so, we know a lot of you used to join us for the games there. We enjoyed that. beyond our control. That’s going to be a topic for this episode, by the way. Some things are beyond your control. So, we’re going to control what we can and we’re going to bring you all over to Off the Floor. 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Heat nation we the coach yo I need you to call out radio blanket open for the shot still five on the floor still ride for my dog on the court still survive in the wall keep your eye on the ball or get burned from the heat this mic off the wall without turning the cheek from night to day no sleeping pad so allowed to mourn us the nut is sleeping us live catches more alive from Miami report in the heat with five reason sports from for the streets. Actions action count. Be patient. I’m so proud. [Applause] Welcome to Five on the Floor, a daily insider show on the Miami Heat and the NBA featuring Ethan Skolnick, Greg Sander, Alex Toledo, Brady Hawk, and others from the Five Reason Sports Network. Also, make sure to subscribe to Off the Floor for the most heat anywhere. Back to five on the floor on a weekend morning. I’m Ethan Skull. You can follow me, Ethan J. Skull of Five Sports. I got Greg Sander. You can follow him at Greg Savander. Two recent episodes. Uh, one that Greg and I did where we graded Heat players over the first 25 games according to the Pat Riley scale. most of the time or all of the time, some of the time, none of the time. And then Brady and I projected the next 25 games and what would be the most important thing. And none of you care about any of that. None of you. I mean, there is some downloads, so some of you care. You’re some of the time downloaders, not all of the time downloaders. We know what you care about. So, we’re going to talk Yiannis today. Excuse me. And I’m going to start with this. All right, this is setting up for what we’ve seen before. All right, there’s a pattern here. Sometimes we’ve fed into this pattern, but there’s a pattern. Player rumored to be disgruntled. Okay, Dame Lillard. How many of these have there been? I I mean, oh, Bradley Beal, right? I mean, there’s if we were to really just sit here and and mark them all off, there’s probably a dozen guys that we’ve done this song and dance with. Kevin Durant pro. I mean, we’ve probably gone to the dance with Kevin Durant 10 times if you Yeah, I know. I know. Keep going back to that X. All right. And they’ve only gotten one, right, Jimmy? And that took that took two teams. It it start it started when they were in he was in Minnesota and Tibs h and Pat hung up the phone on Tibs. Well, they denied that, but Sadano swears by it his reporting uh because Tibs asked for BAM at the last second. So then he ends up in Philadelphia and then they can’t agree to the length of contract. It’s funny now looking back at that because I was fed a bunch of stuff about what happened there, but I was fed it by the same person who didn’t prove to be that honest during the dealings with the heat. And so now I don’t really know what happened in Philadelphia. Again, it’s like a situation. It’s like, not to bring this too close to home, but like someone tells you about all the problems they’ve had in their past relationships and then they, you know, come, wait, wait a second, wait, I believed you about all that, but wait, the same thing is happening here. Anyway, got it. Okay, so we should have done Bluetooth on this episode. Instead, we’re doing doing Cozy Earth, but let’s get back to it. So, they got Jimmy, right? Okay. But other than that, this has been this parade. And sometimes, here’s the thing. They’re not even that interested in the player, right? Like, this is like it’s it’s a social media jersey swap swap Chef Trilly creation. Like, that’s right. Shout out to him, by the way. shout out cuz he has created this. Like it’s it’s amazing to me because you had the heat at practice talking about Tyler yesterday, right? Okay. Like Bam, Norm, they’re all getting asked about it. It’s all coming from social media. This one not from him, but like it’s all coming from social media. So basically the Heat are being asked to respond to 10 people going back and forth. Like they’re basically being asked to respond to Royal. We love you Royal. Okay. But that makes shout out to him too. Shout out to him too. But essentially like that’s it’s not about the tactical aspects of anything like that because we didn’t set Brady right or Alex. Um it it it’s all about narratives and all that which again and Spo upset about the narratives that are out there and you know creating you know the media as peripheral opponents which is a Pat thing from the winner within but it’s not really us. It’s it’s it’s literally 10 people on Twitter who have staked out claims on one side and the other who’s going to be the biggest hero supporter or the biggest hero hater and and that’s what the Heat are responding to. That’s the world we’re in in 2025 almost 2026. But anyway, getting back to this, Trill’s done a great job of essentially making the Heat interested in any player. He literally put jersey swaps on Dennis Smith Jr. Okay, like that’s that’s where we’re at. Damn, that one was actually close to happening. It was they didn’t get him either, right? They would have gotten him if you know what every team in the league could have gotten him over the past few years, including a bunch in Israel and China and Japan and everywhere else. Okay. All right. Giannis is a player that is worth doing a jersey swap for. You have my approval for that. But just because the Heat would be interested in him because any team would be interested in him does not necessarily mean that it’s going to happen just because there’s a lot of stuff out there that suggests that this might be an option for him. So, what we’re going to try to do today, and we’ve taken a detour because it is a Saturday morning, is we’re going to try to go through the process that has to happen here for them to get him. And I know Alex has done some stories for Honesti about, you know, what the offers could be and all of that. And we kind of know, right? Like this is not there’s not a whole lot of variability here. Tyler Hero would likely have to be included for contract reasons. Also the fact that he is a player who’s been an all-star also for some duplication here with the Heat obviously with Powell, which we’ve talked about that contract and all the rest of that role, but also a player that may be attractive to another team if they want to extend him. And there’s also the fact that he’s from the area where Giannis currently plays. Okay, so that’s something that you could sell to the fans there if you weren’t going to move him somewhere else. All right, KL Wear is probably the most attractive of the Heat’s young assets because of the upside. Although you and I did an episode the other day in which we talked about his upside may only be realized in Miami. Sh, don’t tell anybody that. Although we have and everybody know. So where has the most upside? Certainly has more upside than Yovic who can’t get on the court for $15 million a year right now. Right. Hakez needs an extension sooner than wear does. He’s been more productive than wear, I guess. Right. I mean, it may take both of them. Let’s just be honest. It might take both of them. And then Yakonis and him. Right. Right. Right. But we haven’t even seen anything yet. Although there is certainly potential there. Right. So, we know the pieces that may or may not be involved. Larson’s also a player that would have I’ve said if I I would ask for him if I were another team, but if the team is competitive, I don’t think he’s a guy who it really is as productive or as useful on a team that’s that’s not good. Uh if team that is good, I think he could have a lot of use. All right. And then there’s the two first round picks, which should be four, but the NBA is not going to do anything to help the Heat in time if they ever help the Heat to release them from that Rosier obligation and everything that came with it. So, we’re talking about two first round picks and we’re talking about swaps. like this is not. And then Fontekio’s contract could be a lever in here in some way. You’re talking about $8 million a year, something along those lines that could help grease a deal, make it work kind of like Kevin Loves did, right? Okay. So, or Kyle Anderson’s did. Okay. So, that more specifically Kyle Anderson. So, that’s where we’re at. Like, there’s not a lot of variability here. The Heat can’t pull a rabbit out of their hat. Their assets are their assets. their assets are better than they’ve been over the past couple of years because a couple of these young players have shown development and they’ve got at least one pick back that that can be traded and you know and Tyler’s made an all-star team etc. there there’s some attractiveness to a possible package that maybe there wasn’t when you’re talking about Dame and by the way how many levels above Dame is Giannis like for all the conversations we had about Dame right I mean significant difference in terms of what oh yeah now this is we’re when we start to discuss Giannis in my opinion it’s the closest thing to discussing uh like big three era level acquisition like that that’s it’s the biggest name since then I Like you could go we could go through the list of guys that we’ve associated with the Heat pursuing whether that be um Kevin Durant whether that be you know Bradley Beal all those different guys. I think Giannis kind of it kicks it up a notch and it’s why I even text our our five on the floor just core group chat yesterday at 10 o’clock at night saying I I’m getting my hopes up on this thing again. Can you believe this? Well Bob, we’re going to try to we’re going to try to calm you down. That’s one of the reasons we’re doing this episode because I I’m trying I I don’t want people to get their hopes up because for for all the reasons we’re going to get into even though there is a possibility. So, it’s a little bit of both. But you’re right about Look, Giannis is the first two-way guy uh plays both sides of the floor that’s been out there in forever at this level. Like D I mean Dame is not a good defensive player. Like the Heat had legitimate concerns about how Dame would age. voila. Like everybody mocked their legitimate concerns at the time. What what I always say, I said it was age, contract, and defense. Age, contract, and defense. The man has been injured since essentially. I mean, he played with Giannis, right? Okay. And that that plays into this, too, because everybody’s like, can they can the Bucks send Giannis somewhere he doesn’t want to go? Well, the Bucks got dame because he was sent somewhere he didn’t want to go. So, that could happen again. Okay. And especially in this case, I think it absolutely could happen. uh that uh that you know that they could be tested in that regard to see if they will send him somewhere else and we’ll see where that happens. All right. So, he is he’s it okay? Like you’re looking at the rest of this. I I mentioned Anthony Edwards, but that is still at the moment kind of a pipe dream because you don’t know if things I think things will collapse in Minnesota. They are collapsing in Milwaukee. We’re we’re we’re ahead of the game here, okay, in that regard. So on the other side of this, we will get into all the things that have to happen for this to happen. And there is a lot, but at least we know this. Okay, the Heat have a package of players that could be passable. Okay, it’s not going to make everybody excited in Milwaukee, but it could be passable if the Bucks are pushed to the brink and they have to make a trade. No matter what Kevin Oconor will say, and we know Kevin Oconor will I think he already has actually will weigh in and trash the Heat package because that’s what he does. Okay, it would be if if if the Celtics just offered Payton Pritchard in a second, Kevin O’Connor would be like, “That’s a great deal for Giannis.” Okay, but if it’s the Heat, he’s going to hate it. So, and I think he’s already done that. But we will evaluate that. But the Heat have a passable package they could offer for Giannis. It’s not to the level of him as a player, but again, the Bucks may be in a compromised position. So, we will get into that uh here in a second. All right. Before we do, we know that you’re all in a compromised position prior to Christmas, Hanukkah, or anything like that, particularly with your children when they want something. So, yes, at 10 o’clock at night last night when Greg was sending me uh you know, his Giannis Hope, I was on the Cozy Earth site. So, you got to check out cozyearth.com because that’s where you got to go to get your Christmas, your Hanukkah, all your other holiday gifts. Use the code on the floor. Use the code on the floor. They’ve got the bedding there. Yesterday, we were actually looking at I don’t know how we ended up on the apparel section because that was not the plan. Uh the plan was bedding, something along those lines. You know, some kind of a blanket and somehow I’ve got a couple of tops coming here for my daughter. Uh but check it out. It’s cozyear.com. They got a bunch of deals on there even before the deal that you’re getting with us. And again, you’re going to get 20% off on everything there beyond whatever you see. Okay? So, whatever the discounts are already. So, go to cozyearth.com, use the code on the floor. Again, bedding, accessories, uh, bathroom stuff, all of that beauty stuff, it’s all there on cozyear.com. I finally got a chance to look through the entire site yesterday. Uh, and there is a lot there for pretty much everybody on your list. So, check it out. Use the code onthe floor at cozyearth.com. Okay, so let’s go through some of this uh process here. The very first thing that needs to happen is Y Giannis needs to single signal in a more direct way, I’m out of here. And so far there’s been some credible reporters. Okay, when look, I’ve worked with with Howard Beck. Um, I respect him as much as anybody in the business. Um, I’ I know Sam Amik very well. I respect him as much as anybody in the business. They also don’t have the ESPN tie where again I respect Winhorse as much as anybody in the business, but there is a push at that place to push stuff out there. There is not to the same degree at the uh at the places that that AMC and Beck work. Beck’s now at the Ringer. uh AMX had been at the Athletic for a bit of time and both of them have been citing the Heat as a not just a palatable landing spot for Giannis but maybe even one of the preferred landing spots that has caused the predictive markets. Alex wrote a story about this to push the heat into the top two here along with New York. I think Kali is the one that everybody’s using now. Um, and so they I think they had them at like 19% or 16% or something along those lines. Yeah. Right. And so I’m not going to ignore any of that because I know I’m not going to give away Howard sources. I don’t know Howard’s current sources. I worked with him 10 years ago for two years. But I know that he’s very thorough about these things. I know he talks to a lot of executives. U he’s more on that level than on the player level. And so he’s hearing things and that means that there is a buzz out there about this that this may be something that Giannis wants. Now sometimes teams don’t even know like last year I’ll I’ve said this before KD with the KD situation Miami people who were connected to KD. Okay. Through the heat knew that KD did not want to go to Golden State before Golden State knew that. Yeah. Okay. Before Phoenix knew that. And that played into how everything went down with Jimmy and them being able to pounce on sending sending Jimmy away, thank God, as things have turned out to Golden State. Okay. Do you see that? You saw Did you send that to me that Jimmy refused did a Ben Simmons yesterday? Yeah, I did. I did. It’s just funny that the Golden State fans are uh experiencing some of the frustrations Heat fans did with the like when he gets right to the basket and then passes it out. But again, that’s nitpicky stuff. I shouldn’t be petty, right? You’re right. I probably shouldn’t say thank God, but I it’s No, he needed to go when he went. That that that’s I mean we we don’t need to be having paid him at this point. Look, let’s put it this way. You wouldn’t be in any mix for Giannis. Hell no. Unless you were using his contract as the as the right. He’s going to have a Marquette reunion like he’s sending him back to Milwaukee. I woke up this morning, Ethan. I was upset that I text y’all any level of hope with this because we need to start to use a little bit of the data that we’ve accumulated since I don’t know the COVID year. And and not make the same mistakes again. And part of it is that even in this situation where if Giannis would need to ask out as you said and we’re going to go through a few other things that need to happen too. The next thing that I think is just important for us to keep in mind as we go through all these hurdles that need to take place is that Dame Lillard said Miami and only Miami. And there used to be a time where and Riley actually used to say this. Pat would say we just need a guy to say he wants to come, right? And so that used to be the name of the game. And they had Dame say that and signal it as loud as possible. Miami and only Miami. and it went sideways. So, as we do this exercise of the other things that need to take place, I can’t help but try to protect my sanity and also like there has to be a level of this has gone south so many times before. We shouldn’t get our hopes up. I think that that’s like an important part of this just from an observer perspective that like it’s Dame said Miami and only Miami and that still didn’t happen. So, it’s just I I think that even as I channel this hope and we’ll talk about maybe some teams that could come out of nowhere and outbid everyone. Uh I I just think we should be super guarded about how we think about this and the prospects of it taking place. Well, because so much of it has to do with the players relationship with his current team. That that’s the thing that fans don’t understand or don’t want to understand, particularly Heat fans, is a a lot of it has to do with how willing the team is to work with the player because of how the player has worked with them and also what how much they care about the perception of how they treat the player on the way out the door, which Portland didn’t care about and then got rewarded anyway because Dame’s coming back came back. But that was Dame came back mostly for family reasons, which you know that’s that’s a different dealer. Giannis’s family apparently is living in Greece right now. Okay. I don’t know exactly how that plays into all of this. Um but it might you know there’s all these other factors like when LeBron left there were family issues involved. Like there’s people don’t think about that stuff sometimes. We don’t want to get into that stuff because it’s not our business. But these people make decisions based on family, but also teams make decisions based on how it’s going to be perceived. Sometimes it’s about the talent that you get, but sometimes it is just about we don’t want to get killed in the media and everywhere else for what we took back if it’s not enough, but we also don’t want to get killed the other way by, you know, sending a player somewhere he didn’t want to go and all of a sudden we haven’t done right by our franchise guy and then we can’t retire his jersey someday and bring in the extra 5,000 people to the seats. Like these are things that happen, okay, that you’re dealing with marketing, you’re dealing with business, you’ve got ownership involvement, you got GMs who are trying to save their jobs, you got in this case, you know, Cronin for whatever reason had has he’s like the Chris Greer of Portland, okay, he’s got lifetime, okay, he’s until even Greers ran out, so maybe who Greer was GM of the Dolphins for 88 years, okay, didn’t make the playoffs once, but in in Milwaukee, they just extended John Horst, okay, so they’ve and John Horse put together this garbage roster. So, I mean, he signed Ryan Rollins. Like, what? Okay. Or the Miles Turner contract has already aged so poorly that Doc’s like, “Well, he’ll get better someday.” People said that that the that the Bucks were I mean, I remember Winhorse specifically did shows back when Drew was still a member like before the Dame trade saying that the Bucks were at a critical moment because their payroll was going to skyrocket. They didn’t have much flexibility to retool around Giannis. They got the one ring and they’re really kind of living off of they’re hoping that Giannis remembers that he got that first ring in Milwaukee and that he’s buying them enough time to retool. We’ve seen that not come together. And I guess where I start to take this conversation is because we’ve said that the Heat’s offer is respectable. New York’s been a really loud if it’s their offer by by by the way that we we haven’t gotten to that yet. We don’t know it’s their offer there are nobody has said specifically. I don’t have information that the Heat have offered anything. Good point. We we we need to be clear about that guy. That was right because that was also what happened with the Dame thing and the Heat never even got to whatever their best offer would have been. So we can’t say that something’s been offered. We’re saying here are the pieces that could be offered. Everybody’s speculating these are things Milwaukee may be interested in or Miami may be willing. Yeah, we got to be clear on that. But back to just just back to the horse thing real quick. There’s no path out of this for Milwaukee. Let’s just be clear about that, okay? The Miles Turner thing was the last gasp for Heat fans who wanted the Heat to go allin with Jimmy. They wanted the Heat to make a Miles Turner like move, right? a player who was not now I know they wanted to get like Porzingis or something where they got him for nothing Boston anyway Boston’s already moved on from him but yeah he did contribute obviously to championship okay that’s which is the whole goal here okay but the the Miles turnover was the kind of like a a good player okay with more pedigree than some of these undrafteds and all this who was ready to plug it that’s what he fans wanted the the Heat to do I mean Dame was a higher level than that but Milwaukee did it. They did it for Giannis. Okay. But they also bungled the Dame situation apparently without communicating. Remember that whole thing where he wasn’t was like did he know? Did he not know? People were speculating that Giannis can be a little fake sometimes. Okay. Has it been my experience with him or those who’ve dealt with him, but there’s the perception of that to some degree. He’s almost too good to be true. And that so he kind of threw out, you know, this was like was he upset about it? Was he not? Was he pretending to be upset cuz he didn’t want to offend Dame? But remember all of that and that was coupled with the Miles Turner move which has totally crippled them going forward and they don’t have a whole a bevy of picks. They are everybody’s making a big deal about Ryan Rollins like the he developed six of those over a three-year period. Okay, Kevin Porter Jr. like you trust that going forward with his history like I don’t right. So what do they have? Koozma like okay they’ve turned Koozma into he was the third guy on championship team. This this this team is garbage. I said that before the year there there’s no Bobby Poris like he had a big game the other night but like talk about living off past championships. Like where are you going with Bobby Portoris at this stage? So this is not a situation that can be salvaged in my view in Milwaukee. This is purely Greg about Giannis’s loyalty. That’s it. This is about whether Giannis wanted to be a one team guy. He’s won his title, so he’s not going to get characterized like Dame did where well, you didn’t really care about winning and that’s why you stayed, which was the way Dame was characterized for a while, which by the way is how KG was characterized for a while, a long time. And KG would would push off these tra I don’t want to be traded. I want to stick this out with Minnesota even though he hated Glenn Taylor apparently. Okay, didn’t want to see all the rest. ends up finally approving the deal to Boston, which that took a lot because there were also the racial background and all that kind of stuff that KG was concerned about. If you go back to the time, okay, and everything with with Boston’s profile, he went there, he ended up being beloved. He won he won a title, uh, which is greatest title of all time, according to people in Boston and Kevin O’Connor and Bill Simmons and others. And he he wins this title and so he’s cemented. Okay? And he it ended up working out for him. Okay? But in Giannis’s case, he’s won the championship. So he he could stay and not be characterized as somebody who doesn’t care about winning. But I I do think he cares about winning. And I do think if he looks at that situ, he’s a smart guy and he looks at that situation. He’s playing with these guys every day. He doesn’t have a sidekick. Like he doesn’t there’s nobody there. So they can’t get anybody without trading him. Exactly. That’s the spot that they’re in that they can’t use any of their players to make the team better. So then it becomes the situation can’t be salvaged in Milwaukee. So inevit the inevitable outcome is that Giannis eventually is going to look out for the best interest of himself as he’s getting advice. Someone in his ear is going to say, “Inis, you need to try to use your best final prime years to try to go get another one.” and what two or three or two or three Greg and there are only a few places he could he has a chance to do that and it’s some place that somebody else has already done it you know what I mean yeah I just I guess I so throughout this Giannis conversation that started New York and Miami are the two teams that get mentioned the most I just can’t help but shake this idea that like Oklahoma City and I know that that sounds crazy at 24-1 blah blah blah. I don’t see how they wouldn’t either get involved with their assets or like a team like San Antonio that we’ve talked about before. I just think that that that we’re not taking into consideration all the suitors just yet. And I realize that that’s because these dominoes have to fall that we’re talking about. Like that’s the this is the the uh pattern that has to to basically play out. I just Do you really think it’s just gonna be New York and Miami? No, I No, I don’t. But but let’s let’s backtrack to this and let’s let’s close the loop on the Giannis part. My My a situation not going to get better. Okay. Not going to get better. That team is not moving into contention right now. They’re eighth or ninth. There’s a bunch of garbage teams below them, but I I they’re barely going to be a play-in team. Barely. Okay. No, they’re not ninth. I’m sorry. They’re 10th. They’re 10th. I apologize. Okay. Um, and I I wouldn’t be stunned if Carile gets Indiana to play better over a stretch of the season and ends up pushing Milwaukee out of that. So, if Giannis is out for any length of time. So, okay, that’s not going to get better. I do believe he’s going to ask out. I I know he doesn’t want to because again, he’s so loyal to that place, but it it’s just going to keep getting worse and worse. The pressure is going to become greater. He can have as many fake meetings with his teammates that his teammates denied actually occurred. He’s obviously using Haynes now as his as his mouthpiece to a certain degree. Uh there’s a connection there. I think there’s somebody in Hannes’s family. I know Chris pretty well. There was somebody in in Chris’s family who uh is uh No, is is it Giannis’s wife is related to somebody? Hannes’s cousin or something? There’s a family connection. There is. Look, there’s a connection there. And there’s also the fact that everybody knew that Dame was Hannes. Hannes was Dame’s guy. So it’s a natural thing in Milwaukee. Okay. And we knew that 12 years ago when I first met Chris in in Cleveland when we’re covering the Cavs together. So that’s the first thing. Okay. Is that uh he’s going to he’s going to start it’s going to get more vocal. He’s going this is this is out of the bag now. Okay. The toothpa is toothpaste, excuse me, is out of the tube. This is not going back in. Okay. He’s going to ask out. So then the next question becomes, okay, who gets involved? All right, and I agree with you. It’s not going to be just the Knicks and and the Heat. Uh the Knicks did what Heat fans wanted the Heat to do is they emptied the clip for somebody. In this case, they gave up five first round picks for Muel Bridges, who’s a very good player, but he ain’t a five first round pick player. And because of that, they don’t have enough in my view, unless Milwaukee wants to take what I think would be the stupid approach and try to remain competitive. And if that’s the case, then okay, Towns and Bridges, you ask for Anobi. I think the Knicks would be insane to include him if they don’t have to because he is their barometer in terms of whether they all their numbers are tied to his presence basically. So I I don’t think the Bucks would do that, but they are kind of a mid-market and sometimes you don’t think you can rebuild that quickly there. That’s how Indiana views it. They don’t ever do the rebuild. They never do it. Pritchard never does it. They never go down. They’re going down to the bottom this year by accident because the injuries. So you might as well sink and it it Carile. It’s hard to do it with a coach that good. But they they’re not trying to lose though. They’re not. No, they’re not trying to lose, but they’re one of those teams that won’t be trying to lose, but they’re going to lose anyway. Correct. Just because they just don’t have enough right now, and in the meantime, they figure out what Mattherin and all these other guys are. But like, you’re right. But Milwaukee is is similar to Indiana in that regard. Although, I don’t think they’re as wellrun because I don’t think there are five organizations in the NBA that are as well as Indiana has been run over the years, considering the restraints of the fact that their owner, no matter how many malls he owns, refuses to pay luxury tax. Okay? He owns literally every mall in my area. Uh but but you know he anyway so back to it. Okay. I I the Knicks to me that’s a Milwaukee thing. Like would Giannis want to play in New York? It’s obvious that he has interest in playing in New York. There’s obvious reasons for him to want to play in New York. Internationally you can make him it’s just like Luke in LA. Okay. And and you could blow him up even more. He has sort of a sunny personality. There’s a lot that you can build in there. Uh and in New York he would own the town. Okay. And that’s always appealed to LeBron by the way. Okay. It’s not it’s it’s it’s New York. All right. So, I get it. But you’re the other teams you’re mentioning the could trump the I’m not using that word. I’m sorry. Could could over take the Heat’s offer if it’s simply about that. Okay. If Atlanta offered Jaylen Johnson, which for whatever reason his agent Rich Paul is on a podcast pushing his client to Milwaukee, I don’t understand. If I’m Jaylen Johnson, like what are you doing? Uh, but that is a guy that I would want to headline a trade. And if Atlanta was willing to make that trade, I don’t know why they would be because even though it’s Giannis because then you got Giannis and Trey. Come on. Right. Right. Okay. Well, yeah. Right. But but the thing is like so Atlanta has that one is interesting. Orlando, are you trading Paulo or France? No state tax. I mean that would appeal to him. I mean they you still have Suggs, you still have Bane. I mean, th this is really good because um Giannis is the level of a player where we’re going to have the ability to basically go up and down the NBA and make a case for everyone to at least think about it. And obviously, a lot of teams are eliminated by virtue of the fact that they suck. And Giannis is trying to get to a winning situation. So why would he go somewhere else that sucks like the Wizards for instance, even if they have everything? I guess this is where I’m coming from. Oklahoma City could simp like let’s say Milwaukee wants to rebuild and they don’t like the New York package and they prioritize picks. Oklahoma City, they don’t even have to blow up what they have. They can simply swap out Hartinstein with a bunch of picks and get back a player of some of some sort and just get even better. And I just think that like until and it’s it’s an important sequence of events. Giannis directly asks out then everyone’s going to be like, “Oh, bleep, do we make a move?” And I’m not saying Giannis ends up in Oklahoma City. I just think that there’s a lot of teams and uh you went you’ve already identified two in the Heats division that we can actually like connect dots enough to to say it makes sense for them to actually put their name in the hat. I just think there’s going to be a lot of those and that competition worries me because um because what have we learned over the years that like these things get really dicey and it usually comes down to who has the most picks to offer or who like blinks first and that those are just some of the factors that I don’t know that the heat it ain’t going to be okay. I I Greg I’m going to throw the I’m going to throw water on the I’m going to douse the OKC thing. I I I don’t see I understand they have the most offer and this could be like Sam Prey’s Infinity Stone, right? But I I don’t really see why it makes sense for either side. I I don’t and for a couple reasons. On the Heat side, excuse me, on the Bucks side, not on the Bucks side, on the Bucks side, it makes sense because you get the most picks, but I’m talking about Giannis or OKC. Giannis is going to go to a place that just won a championship and literally doesn’t lose a game without him. Like, does he want to do the KD thing? Do you understand how that would be trashed? Like, this this this OKC team is better than that Golden State team was. I mean, that team won 73 games. This team is going to win 77. Like, he’s not needed. It’s It’s not that he’s not great. He’s just not Does he want to do that? Like, that’s the legacy. I feel like going to a place that is an above 500 team, which you identified Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, New York. Okay. In New York’s case, there’s an obvious legacy reason to go. They haven’t won a championship since the early 70s. Like, he’d be be the guy like I I absolutely see the attraction for him to New York and so many different re just because I was born there. There’s so many reasons for him to want to go to New York. Okay. There’s not as many reasons for Milwaukee to want to take back what New York currently has to offer. That’s the stick up there. OKC, I just don’t see why he would want that. That’s a stain to me. And OKC, I I don’t know why they would want to do it when they’re they’re winning without him. And there is the possibility they get him, then he gets hurt and they and and and you know, it blows up the thing. Okay. San Antonio makes a lot more sense, but go ahead. I want to I’ll ask I’ll pose this question and this is completely hypothetical but this is I guess where I’m leading the conversation. Miami and Milwaukee are negotiating. Miami doesn’t have enough draft picks. Oklahoma City calls the two teams and says, “Listen, and trust me, this is crazy and it’s my worst nightmare, but just hear me out, okay? They say, “Uh, we Giannis doesn’t is not is not the fit here, but we’ll take Bam for Hartinstein and we’ll send you five draft picks and then you could send those five picks over there for Giannis.” Like, do you think that that there’s the possibility for that for Oklahoma City to get involved? Like doesn’t need single play ran form. I’m just using this as an example. Hey, Bam and OKC. I mean, my god, next to chat, I mean, Hortonstein, by the way, has been one of the in ter if you look at like met stat metrics and all that stuff, he’s been one of the most valuable players in the league when he’s played this year. So, we’re not talking about a guy who doesn’t fit. And that’s why this I get back to this, it’s pre’s got in this case, and it’s different than getting what you’re describing, okay? But like in in this case, Prey’s got to make a decision like do I just want to run the league the way I’ve been running it for the next 10 years or I want to do something that’s historic and breaks the league completely. Yeah. But there is risk to doing the breaks the league completely thing. There is risk that you ruin a great thing. Like they’re in position in OKC because and right now they’re going to be under the second apron in the way that this thing has worked out. And also I mean and then you know their second best player gets hurt. they’re winning without him and now he can’t be all NBA and so as a result of that he can’t even get the max which keeps them under the second apron like everything is broken for them but again they made their own breaks and the Clippers are idiots okay and that’s pretty much how this has all played out for them but they could trade their first round picks now for future first like they could run this thing until 2045 okay Sam Prey’s grandchildren could be running the organization and OKC which is the NBA’s nightmare that like OKC is running their league Okay. Is the perennial in it’s one street. Okay. If they had if they had beaten the Heat in the championship in 2012, they would have had a parade down one street in Bricktown. That’s it. Okay. Sorry. They they wanted to kick me out of OKC for tweeting that and other reasons. Um but look, I don’t think it’s going to be OKC. Now, if your question is I think it could be San Antonio. I think if it’s in the West, it should be San Antonio. Same rules apply. I guess I was using that as a concept for how another team would get involved. And it may not be the BA BAM was just me trying to keep the Heat. Well, are you comfortable with that? It seems like your concern is that BAM would have to be moved in this process. Is that your concern? A little bit. Okay. I I feel like if the Heat need to get it done, I don’t know. I don’t know. I I just have a feeling that this package is just going to come up short. Maybe I’m Maybe I’m jaded now. Well, we may be headed to a point where we may be headed to a point where it becomes about Bam and that’s where the Heat a certain percentage of Heat fans riot not about what they used to riot about which is well the heat won’t include Tyler which by the way was not true for Dame. It was it wasn’t true. Okay, but you know how that gets. Okay, and just like we said that Heat fans will be fighting about Hero and Powell now at this point of the season. I mean, check watch, right? like it’s it’s happened on time. We know how they are. So, we could get to a point where Bam becomes the sticking point for fans. Well, you would have had Giannis if you would have been willing to trade Bam. And then the first time that Bam goes uh, you know, four of nine from the field, then we’re going to have to hear about all that. I do think that’s possible. I don’t think the Heat want to trade Bam. And there is that other element here that Bam and Giannis do share an agent. Okay. I think their relationship is overstated, but they do share an agent and that agent is at the very least going to know what the Heat situation is and also is probably going to want because Giannis is going to make the same money anywhere. So, when you’re talking about agent talking about players of that caliber for agents, it’s about keeping their client happy because the money is the money. they’re going to get their percentage, whatever they’re going to get, but it’s also agents also can, you know, they get a cut of marketing deals and all that kind of stuff, but it’s about keeping the player happy, right? And Giannis will be happier if he’s playing with good players, right? That’s why he’s asking about Bam is what you’re saying, right? Like that’s why he’s asking out in the first place. So unless Jiannis secretly thinks that Bam sucks, which I doubt, I would assume that he would want to play with Bam and that his agent who represents Bam would want them to play together. I would assume. So you know how much pro, you know, agents have more impact in this stuff than anybody knows. Pat once said that like the biggest part of his job was dealing with agents. People overlook that, too. They overlook the agent part. They overlook the personal part. They’re just like trade machine. Boom boom boom. Okay, this trade. No, there’s all these other elements that go into it. So, to close and we and we’ve right and we’ve gone 40 minutes, okay, and so it’s enough we can do a bunch of other episodes of this. What I’m saying is I don’t think that Heath Fans should have a ton of hope only because we are at sort of stage one of this process that is going to require a lot of boldness on Giannis’s part, which to this point he has not shown, but I think he’s more willing to show than Dame was. Okay. I think he has more clout than Dame had. He’s a He’s a champion. He’s brought one to Milwaukee. That city has not won a whole lot. Okay. MP too. I mean MVP. I mean he’s he is he’s right there. I mean look obviously Green Bay’s won. Okay. With Faravan with Rogers, but he has done for Milwaukee what I mean the Brewers haven’t won of late, right? Like so this is I mean they’ve won but they haven’t won big. Th this he’s he’s the guy there. Okay. And he’s in intertwined with that community and the majority of Buck fans I think will actually support whatever decision he makes and will welcome him back regardless. Okay. So I think he’s got the clout to do what he wants to do. Question is does he want to do it? Does he have certain preferences of players places he will go? How much does legacy play into it? How much does marketing opportunity play into it? How much does winning play into it? I do think in all of these factors, the Heat have a case. They have a case in terms of he no state tax plays into it. He’s already said that. That helps him. Winning organization that helps them. Um, you know, players that he can play with. There still will be good players in Miami. Even if they have to offer the so-called Godfather package, there’s still enough left. And Pat and the organization, Nick, the rest of Andy, they’ve shown the ability to be able to supplement. Okay. Yeah. So, and they have Spo, don’t forget the most important thing, right? They have the the most respected coach in the league. Man’s been playing for Doc. Okay. Upgrade. Right. So, there’s a lot there that could potentially make the Heat an option. Do I have high hope? No. And it’s not because of the way things have fallen apart before. It’s just because there are all these steps that have to be gone through. because of what you mentioned, there are other teams that could get involved that could be palatable to Giannis. I could see Atlanta being palatable to him. They haven’t won anything in a long time. Well, ever actually. Um, not since they were in a different city. But there I could see Atlanta and I could see Orlando being palatable. Orlando has had stars before. There’s no state tax. Players like living in Orlando typically um particularly if they’re with families. So I I and I don’t know if his family’s coming back from Greece or not. You’re only four hours from Miami or whatever, right? Well, that too. Yeah. You’re Well, well, on a private on a charter, you’re 32 minutes, right? So that’s it’s it’s even less. So I’ll say this, my hope meter on this is let’s do it out of what’s his number? 34. So let’s go out of 34. I would say it’s a a 13 maybe. Yeah, I’m around a 16. Okay. So, we add those together and they’re getting them. I guess it’d be Listen, it’d be great for business. I just think just end it there. That That’s why we’re Exactly. It would be great for business. Just get this done for business. That’s it. Right. Exactly. You won’t be able You won’t be able to escape us because the biggest regret that I have is that I didn’t start uh five on the floor of Five Reason Sports Network during the big three era and I was working for somebody else and they were making the money off of me. I’d rather we all make the money. So, bring in Yiannis. Let’s make that happen. All right. We appreciate it. We’ve rambled for 45 minutes on a Saturday morning, but the Dolphins aren’t playing and they’re going to lose on Monday night anyway. So, at least this will give you something to do. Uh, Greg, appreciate it. Greg Sander, follow him there. Obviously, follow Alex and Brady’s work on on SI. They’ll have more on this. Uh, and just don’t follow me this weekend. I’m disappearing. And use the code five fivix.com and also cozyear. Use the code on the floor. Have a good day.

So how much is real and how much is not? And what are the steps that would lead the Miami Heat to landing their biggest whale since 2010? Ethan Skolnick and Greg Sylvander go through the reports and project the future, as best they can, when it comes to the pursuit of Giannis.

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