{"id":568302,"date":"2026-01-29T10:29:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T10:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/568302\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T10:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T10:29:13","slug":"the-pros-and-cons-of-the-trail-blazers-trading-for-giannis-antetokounmpo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/568302\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pros and Cons of the Trail Blazers Trading for Giannis Antetokounmpo"},"content":{"rendered":"

The big news of the day, dominating talk in NBA circles across the globe, was Shams Charania\u2019s report<\/a> that Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo will likely be traded by summer, perhaps as soon as next week\u2019s NBA Trade Deadline. Reaction to the news was off the charts<\/a>, particularly when Antetokounmpo\u2019s name was linked with the Portland Trail Blazers.<\/p>\n

Though the subject has filled our front page all day, I\u2019m already getting questions in the Blazer\u2019s Edge Mailbag, asking what the chances are, what would be good or bad about the trade, and whether I would approve of such a deal. Striking while the iron is hot (and not wanting to carry this into the weekend) we\u2019re going with a midnight stealth version of the Mailbag to address the issue.<\/p>\n

As far as the chances go, I\u2019d say they were still quite slim. Antetokounmpo will be a hot property. He\u2019s leaving Milwaukee in hopes of competing for a second NBA Championship. Otherwise, why wouldn\u2019t he just stay with the team that drafted him, a town in which he\u2019s celebrated immeasurable victories? That means better teams than Portland will likely make offers for Giannis. He\u2019ll want to play for the best-situated franchise possible. I\u2019m not sure he\u2019d consider the chances for a title in Portland significantly superior to those in Milwaukee. That means the odds of a happy marriage are slim.<\/p>\n

If a trade was made, Giannis\u2019 contract would determine his terms of service. He\u2019s got two iron-clad seasons remaining before he can opt out. The Blazers would get those. But would they be enough to justify the cost if his heart wasn\u2019t invested in staying long-term? Portland might raise an eyebrow at going all-in for a player who wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

In short, there are possibilities here, but it isn\u2019t an automatic \u201clove at first sight\u201d scenario for either party.<\/p>\n

Talking about approval or disapproval seems fruitless since none of us make the actual decisions that guide the franchise. It\u2019s a moot point anyway. Realistically, Blazers fans will talk themselves into whatever ends up happening.<\/p>\n

If Portland did manage to trade for Antetokounmpo, most of the town would go bonkers. (Don\u2019t pretend you wouldn\u2019t!) Blazers fans have sold themselves on much less. They\u2019re doing so right now every week. Having Giannis would make those self-pep-talks much easier.<\/p>\n

If Giannis goes elsewhere, most Portland fans will say it\u2019s for the best. They\u2019ll have kept their young core intact (for now) and preserved future draft picks and swaps. Those will look good enough on paper to make non-buyer\u2019s remorse on Giannis pass quickly.<\/p>\n

What are the Pros and Cons of a Giannis Trade?<\/p>\n

The most obvious upside to acquiring Antetokounmpo is his unique talent. Nikola Jokic has been the player supreme in the NBA since his first MVP award back in 2020. But before that, it was Giannis. Though there would be debate, he could legitimately be termed the second-best player of the last decade. The only thing that might make his upcoming trade less significant than Luka Doncic\u2019s a year ago is Doncic\u2019s age. Other than that, Antetokounmpo wins that battle via his unduplicatable abilities on the court.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that Giannis is more talented than other players. There are simply no analogies to him. He is 1 of 1. Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander top a long list of current point guards. There is no list of Giannises, just like there\u2019s no other Jokic. These players stand alone. As such, they simply cannot be attained via normal means. You can\u2019t go out and draft a Giannis. Nor can you trade for a lanky, athletic forward and call it close.<\/p>\n

People with significant amounts of money shop on Rodeo Drive, buying envied brands like Gucci, Prada, and YSL. Even those styles can\u2019t touch the circles of the ultra-rich. Billionaires\u2019 items usually aren\u2019t branded at all. They\u2019re not status symbols. These people already know who they are. So does everybody else. The fashion, bags, watches, and jewels of the super-rich are made by people who don\u2019t want or need their names advertised beyond the highest stratosphere. You and I couldn\u2019t even get in the door. There is no door. If you know, you know. And if one of those items falls into your merely-mortal lap, it\u2019s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s exactly the Giannis vibe. Get him or don\u2019t, but you won\u2019t get another. If he were a gymnast or an ice skater, he would already have six moves named after him. This is the first time in his 13-year NBA career that the door to the shop where he\u2019s sold has been open even a crack for the rest of the world to peep in and dream.<\/p>\n

As such, when the opportunity does arise, it must be considered. You\u2019re really going to pass up a chance to push the golden buttons on the Wonka-vator and tell grandpa to go back to bed?<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not buying that, 28 points, 10 rebounds, and almost 6 assists with 65% shooting from the floor in 29.2 minutes per game speak for themselves. Giannis\u2019 stats are good enough to rank him 7th in the league in scoring, 8th in rebounds per game, Top 30 in assists, 4th in field goal percentage, and he\u2019s even shooting near-40% from the three-point arc this year on limited (1.3) attempts per game. He\u2019s been a Top 5 MVP candidate for seven years straight, a first-team All-NBA player for that same span, Top 10 for Defensive Player of the Year for all seven years too, and an NBA-All-Star for nine. That\u2019s not ancient history from a player hoping to bounce back in a new environment. All of it is literally leading into this year. He is, and remains, THAT Giannis.<\/p>\n

As good as you think the Trail Blazers are, as skilled and accomplished as your favorite player is, Antetokounmpo blows everyone on this team away. It is not close. He would vault the Blazers into a level of contention that they have not achieved in the last seven years, a level they might not see in the immediate future without him. Whatever questions you have about the long-term outlook, there\u2019s no doubt that the immediate bump would be tangible and great.<\/p>\n

Speaking of long-term, Giannis is not that old. Jerami Grant is almost a year older than he, Jrue Holiday nearly five years Antetokounmpo\u2019s senior. Portland wouldn\u2019t be getting 26-year-old Giannis, but they aren\u2019t getting the 38-year-old version either. As long as his comet burned bright here, nobody would rue a shorter tail on it.<\/p>\n

Put that package together\u2014irreplaceably rare player, immediate and tangible effect, near-immaculate production and stats, all on a team that might not ever ascend without him\u2014and a Giannis trade almost argues for itself if the Blazers can pull it off.<\/p>\n

The biggest drawback to trading for Giannis would be the price. Milwaukee knows his value and his contractual status. They have no incentive to let him go for cheap. Remember how insulted Portland fans felt about being lowballed for Damian Lillard back in 2023? Multiply that stress and importance by 10 and you\u2019ll have an idea of this situation for the Bucks and their fans.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s little doubt that either Holiday or Grant would need to head out in any Antetokounmpo deal. He\u2019s making $54.1 million this season, $58.5 million come July. Holiday and Grant are the only two Blazers with contracts big enough to touch him under current NBA trade rules. Otherwise Portland would need to manufacture some kind of 4-for-1 deal at least. That\u2019s not possible in-season and is fairly untenable even in the summer.<\/p>\n

Though Jrue and Jerami are beloved in Portland, Blazers fans probably wouldn\u2019t object to parting with one of them to land the biggest fish in the deal, particularly since the Blazers would actually get younger in the exchange. The inverse is true for Milwaukee, of course. Getting older and less talented isn\u2019t on their to-do list. The pieces around Grant or Holiday would become the sticking points between the teams.<\/p>\n

The obvious get for the Bucks would be Deni Avdija. He\u2019s not Giannis, but he is averaging 26, 7, and 7 this year. That production is close to Antetokounmpo\u2019s. Plus Avdija is six years younger and on an incredibly favorable, cheap-and-declining contract.<\/p>\n

The problem here is that Portland has just begun to discover Avdija\u2019s greatness. That might make the front office reticent to trade him away for an older, more expensive, shorter-term, and barely-more-productive forward. Blazers fans going full Rick Astley on Avdija<\/a> doesn\u2019t make the exchange any more palatable.<\/p>\n

Worse, trading Avdija (along with the other players necessary to balance contracts) would negatively impact Portland\u2019s chances of contending for a title during Antetokounmpo\u2019s tenure with the team. The dream, if there is one, is teaming up Avdija and Antetokounmpo as a dynamic duo.<\/p>\n

But even then, you have to ask if the pairing will work. Both like to initiate the offense. Both use driving lanes and the interior of the court. Neither one is a dead-eye, floor-spacing three-point shooter who could clear space for the other. The Blazers like to play fast! Antetokounmpo can go fast. But as soon as the offense got into the halfcourt, Giannis and Deni would either be competing with each other for the same touches or one of them would move out of the way to give clearance for his teammate. That\u2019s not exactly a recipe for success.<\/p>\n

Example: Avdija is third in the NBA in free throws drawn this season. Antetokounmpo is ninth. How many foul shots are there to go around, or drives to create same? Adding two apples to two apples always makes four, but that doesn\u2019t do you much good if your plate and stomach only have room for three.<\/p>\n

Even if they kept Avdija, the Blazers would still need to pay a pretty price in young players: Shaedon Sharpe, Toumani Camara, Scoot Henderson, or some combination thereof. (One of the few ways Portland could get around the contract gap would be to center a trade around all three. And reading that just caused half of our audience to swear.) Sharpe cannot be traded until July. Camara has a poison pill provision which extends beyond the trade deadline. The Blazers would be pushing off the trade, hoping nobody beats it, then spending the summer trying to backfill the holes left in their roster. They\u2019d certainly be a threat come fall, but the team would be older and not necessarily more balanced. That\u2019s not ideal when the whole purpose of the trade was to pick up a transcendent superstar who solves everything.<\/p>\n

Milwaukee would no doubt eye Portland\u2019s upcoming draft picks as well, perhaps the 2029 first-rounder and pick swaps in 2028 and 2030 dealt to them by the Bucks themselves as a result of the Lillard trade back in 2023. Those assets are Portland\u2019s backstop, the safety net in case it all goes wrong. If they stay young, the picks provide a way of augmenting this new generation with further talent or a chance to reset if their current players don\u2019t prove to be viable long-term. If the Blazers get older, those extra picks will start the next incarnation, post-Giannis-and-company.<\/p>\n

Chances are the Blazers wouldn\u2019t mind taking on a more veteran roster now as long as the next step remained intact. Getting older and losing their best bets at future relevance may be too much to stomach. At that point they\u2019d become a different version of these same Bucks who are facing a dismal present and a bleak future unless they can pull off a great Giannis trade.<\/p>\n

In short, Portland might be willing to give up young talent or draft picks for Giannis, but Milwaukee will want young talent and draft picks. Those differing conjunctions are a bigger sticking point than they seem.<\/p>\n

One last item might come into play from Portland\u2019s side. Giannis\u2019 superlative performances stem directly from his combination of physical stature and athleticism. He\u2019ll remain tall and hopefully fit for years, but how much will his athleticism fade as he ages and endures injuries? A Giannis who can\u2019t get past and\/or fly over defenders will still be a star, but not the near-deity the Blazers will be paying for.<\/p>\n

In the end, any theoretical trade probably comes down to two things:<\/p>\n

How much do the Blazers value their current roster? How strong are their chances of rising in the West apart from Giannis or another superstar?How much risk tolerance do they have for Giannis\u2019 age and injury history? How much faith do they have in his health, style of play, and willingness to be a part of the franchise over the next 2-3 seasons?<\/p>\n

If Portland believes in the current roster and is fine staying young (getting even younger in the future with those picks) and they don\u2019t have supreme confidence in Antetokounmpo, this whole conversation is a non-starter.<\/p>\n

If they believe in their roster and would like, but don\u2019t love, Giannis, staying the course probably makes sense too. They may need a trade, but Antetokounmpo will cost too much to make this deal practical.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, if Portland doesn\u2019t believe in their roster at all, getting Giannis would be a waste. The better bet is to restart with the drafts between 2028-2030. Making this deal would be like booking Chris Rock to play the Titanic. Get to the lifeboats, get out, try again.<\/p>\n

The only way this trade works is if the Blazers don\u2019t believe their roster will advance all the way organically but they think they have a spark. Then they need to trust Giannis will make it better\u2026that he\u2019s pretty much the only thing that\u2019s going to make it better if they give up multiple draft picks and players to get him.<\/p>\n

In a sense, that needle is as narrow to thread as the actual trade negotiations with the Bucks.<\/p>\n

Personally, I don\u2019t see the path forward getting that precise. I also don\u2019t see Portland wanting to absorb the risks involved in bringing Antetokounmpo on board. But I don\u2019t think the chances are zero either, and in the right light you could talk one or both parties into considering each other. When it comes to a player of this caliber, that\u2019s remarkable enough.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t get into the show if you don\u2019t go through the foyer. You can\u2019t get into the foyer without a ticket. If the Blazers are scrolling Ticketmaster and trying to decide whether the benefit is worth the price and fees, well, even if the deal doesn\u2019t get done, the thought is sure exciting.<\/p>\n

Thanks to everyone who\u2019s already written in with questions! And hey, don\u2019t forget to donate tickets to send kids in need to see the Blazers play the Charlotte Hornets in March! How exciting would it be if Giannis was there for them?!? You can read more about the event and the attendees here<\/a> or just click through this link<\/a> and purchase the tickets directly from the Blazers and they\u2019ll automatically be donated to this event and the kids who attend it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The big news of the day, dominating talk in NBA circles across the globe, was Shams Charania\u2019s report…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3784],"tags":[7,601,37787,38295,6,687,471,3967,1617],"class_list":{"0":"post-568302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-portland-trail-blazers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-blazers","10":"tag-blazers-analysis","11":"tag-blazers-mailbags","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-portland","14":"tag-portland-trail-blazers","15":"tag-portlandtrailblazers","16":"tag-trail-blazers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115977923246338343","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568302","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=568302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}