{"id":4945,"date":"2025-04-30T19:08:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T19:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/4945\/"},"modified":"2025-04-30T19:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T19:08:10","slug":"could-bucks-trade-giannis-antetokounmpo-potential-nba-teams-for-mvp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/4945\/","title":{"rendered":"Could Bucks trade Giannis Antetokounmpo? Potential NBA teams for MVP"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"play\"<\/p>\n

Do the Thunder have what it takes to reach the Finals?<\/p>\n

Oklahoma City has the pieces\u2014but do they have the experience to win three playoff series?<\/p>\n

The NBA<\/a> ecosystem buzzes, hums and thrives on the prospect of stars changing teams.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s not a surprise that Milwaukee Bucks<\/a> All-NBA forward Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> is the focal point of the NBA\u2019s transaction machine following the Bucks\u2019 first-round loss to the Indiana Pacers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Lillard’s torn Achilles, Bucks must trade Giannis to rebuild for future,\u201d blared the headline in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yes, there is logic to trading a superstar for draft capital while he still has that kind of value \u2013 and trust us here, if the Bucks go in that direction, they will get more in return than Dallas did in the Luka Doncic trade.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not imperative that the Bucks trade him.<\/p>\n

Yes, Damian Lillard\u2019s absence for most, if not all, of next season as he recovers from the torn Achilles tendon sustained in the Pacers series impacts Milwaukee’s future, too. And Antetokounmpo is under contract through 2027-28 but has a player option to become a free agent in the summer of 2027.<\/p>\n

He keeps a team competitive and puts fans in the arena \u2013 ownership likes both of those things \u2013 and in today\u2019s NBA, a team with Antetokounmpo is a move or two away from contention.<\/p>\n

Worth noting: It\u2019s not simple trading a contract that has an annual salary $54.1 million for 2025-26.<\/p>\n

If the Bucks decide to trade Antetokounmpo \u2013 and we don\u2019t believe that\u2019s on the table right now despite that chatter \u2013 here are potential landing spots for the two-time MVP, NBA champion and 2021 Finals MVP:<\/p>\n

ANALYSIS: Bucks’ future a big question mark with Giannis, Lillard and Rivers<\/a><\/p>\n

GIANNIS BLASTS DISRESPECT: ‘I’ve won the championship. They haven’t’<\/a><\/p>\n

Heat president Pat Riley loves stars. He loves his role players, too, but he knows you need all-time greats to win titles. Whether with the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>, New York Knicks<\/a> or Miami Heat, Riley wants those players. Now, a little shine has worn off the Heat with the Jimmy Butler debacle and awful first-round series loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a>. The Heat have some first-round picks but probably not enough assets to be a real player here.<\/p>\n

The Thunder have draft capital \u2013 approximately 10 first rounders in the next six drafts \u2013 so that leaves the Thunder with options to make an upgrade like adding Antetokounmpo. However, if you\u2019ve followed what Oklahoma City has done, it has made improvements on the edges around a talented roster, and if they win a title this season, why would they disrupt all that?<\/p>\n

The Rockets won 52 games this season with a young core plus solid veterans. But they\u2019re not quite at Oklahoma City\u2019s level, and it makes sense for the Rockets to seek an All-Star. If the Rockets don\u2019t advance out of the first round, the push to make that kind of move may get stronger. If Antetokounmpo isn\u2019t available, the Rockets could easily look at a deal with Phoenix for Kevin Durant.<\/p>\n

New York Knicks<\/p>\n

The Knicks have improved the roster \u2013 Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart. But there\u2019s no indication the Knicks are any closer to a title this season than last season when they didn\u2019t have Towns and Bridges.<\/p>\n

The Nets have chased starts before (Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Kyrie Irving) but never found they success they sought. That doesn\u2019t mean they won\u2019t keep trying. The Nets have draft capital, including four first-round picks in the 2025 draft and at least two first-round picks in 2027.<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo alongside Steph Curry is intriguing for a franchise determined to make another championship push with Curry and Draymond Green before time expires on a championship window. It seem Jimmy Butler would have to be part of that deal, along with first-round picks and other players on the roster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Do the Thunder have what it takes to reach the Finals? Oklahoma City has the pieces\u2014but do they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[740,299,108,7,670,247,103,291,306,311,305,193,111,125,107,123,309,164,144,292,194,113,126,290,313,304,300,112,298,150,295,189,102,121,54,79,70,85,6,671,62,239,191,67,310,179,61,81,114,211,66,83,17,55,312,255,303],"class_list":{"0":"post-4945","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-analysis","9":"tag-angeles","10":"tag-antetokounmpo","11":"tag-basketball","12":"tag-brooklyn","13":"tag-brooklyn-nets","14":"tag-bucks","15":"tag-butler","16":"tag-cavaliers","17":"tag-city","18":"tag-cleveland","19":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","20":"tag-damian","21":"tag-damian-lillard","22":"tag-giannis","23":"tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","24":"tag-golden","25":"tag-golden-state-warriors","26":"tag-heat","27":"tag-houston","28":"tag-houston-rockets","29":"tag-indiana","30":"tag-indiana-pacers","31":"tag-jimmy","32":"tag-jimmy-butler","33":"tag-knicks","34":"tag-lakers","35":"tag-lillard","36":"tag-los","37":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","38":"tag-miami","39":"tag-miami-heat","40":"tag-milwaukee","41":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","42":"tag-modular","43":"tag-modular-story","44":"tag-national","45":"tag-national-sports","46":"tag-nba","47":"tag-nets","48":"tag-neutral","49":"tag-new","50":"tag-new-york-knicks","51":"tag-news","52":"tag-oklahoma","53":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","54":"tag-overall","55":"tag-overall-neutral","56":"tag-pacers","57":"tag-rockets","58":"tag-sports","59":"tag-sports-news","60":"tag-state","61":"tag-story","62":"tag-thunder","63":"tag-warriors","64":"tag-york"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}