Is it real this time? On Monday, ESPN's Shams Charania reported that the Milwaukee Bucks are seeking trade offers for star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo. The on-again, off-again trade cycle that has loomed over the NBA for the past year may be coming to an end.
Antetetokounmpo will be eligible for a contract extension in October. Bucks owner Wes Edens has said that the team will either extend him or trade him, and fellow owner Jimmy Haslam has set the NBA Draft as the preferred timeline for resolution.
What Are the Trade Partner Criteria?
If Antetokounmpo does not signal a willingness to extend in the coming weeks, the time for a trade has likely arrived. Here are four factors that stand out for a possible trade partner:
1. Championship contention. A team reasonably capable of competing for the 2027 championship. Antetokounmpo is 31 and somewhat injury-prone. This is not a long-term project.
2. Eastern Conference. Ideally, a team in the East. Antetokounmpo's preference is believed to be remaining in the East.
3. Assets. A trade partner who can send the Bucks a top young player, a multitude of draft picks, or a present-day star in his prime.
4. Extension willingness. Somewhere Antetokounmpo is willing to extend. Nobody is trading all it will take without assurances that he would stay.
Team-by-Team Trade Likelihood Rankings
The draft order is set. The whole league is gathered in Chicago for the NBA Draft Combine. So we're going to rank all 29 of them by their likelihood for actually pulling it off.
28. New Orleans Pelicans
It's further East than Sacramento. So that's something. Zion Williamson wouldn't be the worst consolation star for the Bucks.
26. Memphis Grizzlies
It was a fun concept when they had Jaren Jackson Jr. given how easily he and Antetokounmpo could've fit together. Now, the Grizzlies are full steam ahead into a rebuild. They're years away from appealing to a veteran star.
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