{"id":582715,"date":"2026-02-04T21:47:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T21:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/582715\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T21:47:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T21:47:15","slug":"giannis-antetokounmpo-sweepstakes-a-three-team-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/582715\/","title":{"rendered":"Giannis Antetokounmpo Sweepstakes A ‘Three-Team Race’?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Timberwolves and Heat both appear far more motivated than the Knicks to make a trade for Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> before Thursday\u2019s deadline, Brian Windhorst said today during appearances on ESPN\u2019s Get Up (YouTube link<\/a>) and First Take (Twitter video link<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"\"Unlike the Warriors, who have up to four tradable first-round picks, Miami can only offer two first-round picks in its package, while Minnesota and New York are unable to trade any of their own first-rounders due to the Stepien rule<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Milwaukee is said to be seeking a combination of blue-chip talent and future draft picks for its two-time MVP, so in order to make the kind of offer the Bucks are seeking, some of those teams would likely need to turn one or more of their veteran players into draft assets. The Knicks don\u2019t appear to be doing that, Windhorst explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think the Knicks have what\u2019s required on their roster to acquire Giannis,\u201d Windhorst said on Get Up. \u201cSo if they wanted to (acquire him), they would be out there trying to trade their current players for draft picks and young pieces that the Bucks would want, and they\u2019re not. So I\u2019m taking the Knicks off the list until I have further information.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am seeing that action from teams like the Miami Heat and Minnesota Timberwolves. They are out there trying to find ways to improve their offer. The best standing offer that I\u2019m aware of belongs to the Golden State Warriors, but I\u2019m not seeing a lot of momentum towards Milwaukee making a Giannis move. It is only Wednesday. We have another day-and-a-half. But I think Milwaukee is seriously considering staying put and pushing this off until summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Windhorst reiterated that point during his appearance on First Take, referring to the Giannis sweepstakes as a \u201cthree-team race\u201d involving the Timberwolves, Heat, and Warriors, unless a mystery suitor emerges.<\/p>\n

I wouldn\u2019t rule out the possibility of a mystery team surfacing, given how many surprises we\u2019ve already had ahead of this week\u2019s trade deadline. However, as Windhorst said again on First Take, the most likely outcome might be Antetokounmpo remaining in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe choice is down to Bucks ownership,\u201d Windhorst said. \u201cBecause I know that Giannis is ready to move. Giannis is ready to move, these other teams are ready to move, there\u2019s ancillary pieces that teams are ready to move. Is Bucks ownership \u2013 in the next 24 hours \u2013 going to say, \u2018OK let\u2019s move on from him now\u2019? If that answer ends up being yes, you see this (trade happen).\u201d<\/p>\n

Windhorst added during a subsequent appearance on ESPN 710 Los Angeles (Twitter video link<\/a>) that he\u2019s not feeling \u201cdeal heat\u201d (ie. momentum toward a trade) on the Giannis front at this time.<\/p>\n

Here are more of the latest rumblings related to Antetokounmpo:<\/p>\n

While the Bucks would covet forward Jaden McDaniels<\/a> in a Giannis deal with the Timberwolves, they\u2019d also want first-round picks that Minnesota can\u2019t currently offer, which is why the Wolves are canvassing the league in search of them, writes Chris Mannix of SI.com<\/a>. One source tells Mannix that practically everyone on the roster besides Anthony Edwards<\/a> is believed to be up for discussion, with as many as four teams potentially needed for a trade that would get Antetokounmpo to Minnesota.
\nAs the Timberwolves and Heat survey the market in an effort to maximize the value of their packages, the Warriors\u2019 offer \u2013 which is believed to include Draymond Green<\/a>, Jonathan Kuminga<\/a>, Brandin Podziemski<\/a>, and first-round picks \u2013 remains on the table and has yet to be formally declined, writes Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints<\/a>.
\nHowever, the sense is that Green would need to be rerouted if Milwaukee made a deal with Golden State, with Windhorst suggesting on First Take (YouTube link<\/a>) that the Lakers are one team that would share mutual interest with the longtime Warrior. \u201cIf he were traded, his plan would not be to remain in Milwaukee,\u201d Windhorst said of Green. \u201cHe would want to be moved on. A team that would be possible if he were traded \u2013 and I can\u2019t emphasize the number of \u2018ifs\u2019 I\u2019ve said enough before I say this \u2013 but the Los Angeles Lakers would be a team he would have interest in and they would have interest in him. But that would require the Bucks to take action on Giannis.\u201d Even if Green isn\u2019t on the move today or tomorrow, Windhorst wonders if including him in these talks might be the first step toward the veteran forward and the Warriors eventually parting ways.
\nAccording to Siegel, many rival front office executives believe the Bucks are gathering as much information as they can from Antetokounmpo suitors right now and then will take that intel into the summer, reopening Giannis trade talks at that time. Mannix also suggests that while a club like the Wolves may be pushing to get a deal done now, there are other teams around the NBA encouraging the Bucks to wait until the offseason, when they\u2019ll be able to enter the bidding or improve their current offer. \u201cMinnesota badly wants to get it done now,\u201d a rival executive told Mannix. \u201cThey don\u2019t want to get into a bidding war before the draft.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Timberwolves and Heat both appear far more motivated than the Knicks to make a trade for Bucks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3782],"tags":[7,860,200,123,377,867,307,152,3954,6,308],"class_list":{"0":"post-582715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-timberwolves","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-brandin-podziemski","10":"tag-draymond-green","11":"tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","12":"tag-jaden-mcdaniels","13":"tag-jonathan-kuminga","14":"tag-minnesota","15":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","16":"tag-minnesotatimberwolves","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-timberwolves"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116014563938364403","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582715","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=582715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}