The Brooklyn Nets are one of the teams that are hoping to use the 2025 NBA offseason as a jumping-off point for their rebuild as they seek to get back to winning. Brooklyn will be exploring every avenue possible to improve the roster and they may need to be committed to doing that more than they expected if they are going to attract one of the best players that could potentially be available.
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Tuesday that Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is looking for a team that can provide him a winning environment for a sustained period of time if he decides that he wants to play for another team this season. Charania previously reported that Antetokounmpo is seriously considering his future in Milwaukee for the first time in his career with Brian Lewis of the New York Post reporting that Antetokounmpo is Brooklyn’s target in the trade market.
“He has said repeatedly what he wants out of his career is to be in the best, long-term sustained winning environment and I’m told that’s going to be at the forefront of everything he’s going to be thinking about this offseason,” Charania said during his appearance on ESPN’s First Take on Tuesday (h/t to Bleacher Report’s Zach Bachar).
It has been reported for some time now that the Nets would be interested in trading for Antetokounmpo if he were to ask for a trade this summer despite the fact that Brooklyn is still in the early stages of its current rebuild. The Nets have significant assets to offer any team in a trade as they are expected to have at least $50 million in cap space along with four first-round picks in the upcoming 2025 NBA Draft.
To that point, Monday’s NBA Draft Lottery did not help Brooklyn when it comes to assets as they wound up with the eighth overall pick in the Draft while teams like the Dallas Mavericks and the San Antonio Spurs ended up with the first and second overall picks, respectively. Be that as it may, if Antetokounmpo would like to wear a different jersey next season, Brooklyn should be able to make the hefty price and should be attractive to Antetokounmpo as long as they’re committed to sustainable growth as an organization.