As the New York Knicks made an incredible 29-point comeback to beat the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night, there were rumblings of a potential Giannis Antetokounmpo trade to the Boston Celtics starting to resurface. A clip from the new episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast on Spotify started to circulate where he changed his tune on Boston potentially being interested in the Bucks superstar.
“I thought Boston was out of this. I know Boston is out of this and I was wondering
if they were playing possum or not,” Simmons said. “I think they were playing a little possum, I think they’re in on Giannis.”
He continued to speculate on Boston potentially seeing the offer from the Miami Heat for Antetokounmpo and thinking they could beat it or just wanting to drive up the price against a conference rival. The Heat’s offer is not really a secret since they have waived around the same trade package for a superstar for years now, mostly consisting of Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. plus draft capital.
According to his intel, Giannis “really wants to end up in Boston because he would have the best chance to win a title and I think Boston is not ruling out the idea.” He also mentioned the $27.7 million trade exception Boston got in the Anferenee Simons trade and the press conference Brad Stevens had at the end of the season after the Celtics were knocked out of the playoffs by the Philadelphia 76ers as a potential reason for Boston to make big changes to the roster.
“I thought they were sitting out this Giannis thing and I no longer think that,” Simmons concluded.
We saw more speculation started to arise on this morning from Jake Fischer of The Stein Line. He added an amendment on his reporting from his Bleacher Report stream on Tuesday where he said the Miami Heat and Portland Trail Blazers were the only two teams active in the Giannis trade market, but the Boston Celtics seem to be lurking in the shadows.
Fischer reported: “Earlier in the week, league sources with knowledge of the situation maintained that Boston had not yet seriously engaged Milwaukee on an Antetokounmpo trade … but they also declined to rule out the possibility of the Celtics eventually entering the fray. Rival teams, furthermore, continue to point to Boston’s various assets as illustrating its ability to become a factor here. They also note that Antetokounmpo shares a skills coach with Jayson Tatum (Drew Hanlen) and is believed to have a level of interest in landing with the Celtics on top of his well-chronicled affinity for Miami.”
He continued by saying the Celtics have not engaged in any trade talks with Jaylen Brown after his breakout 2025-26 season where he finished All-NBA Second Team and 6th in NBA MVP voting, but it also hasn’t been ruled out as a possibility. Portland is skeptical Giannis will sign an extension with them and Miami is banking on his previous interest from reports all the way back in 2020 offseason.
Regardless of the outcome, it feels funny to think that Brad Stevens is this mysterious monster from the Backrooms that could swoop in out of nowhere to steal Giannis away. It wouldn’t be the first time Pat Riley went blow for blow with a Celtics executive for the same player during the offseason. From all the reporting. it still doesn’t seem likely but Stevens has never leaked anything to the public when it comes to his moves so you never really know.
A response from the far east?
Jaylen Brown is currently on a trip traveling through China, but this morning put out a tweet that may have been a response to the Simmons and Fischer rumors that were circulating saying: “The neighbors rice always smells better.”
Although the idea of Jaylen subtweeting about the reports with a response of “the grass isn’t always greener on the other side” is an interesting idea, it could most likely just be something related to his current trip. Based on the previous reporting we have seen, Boston doesn’t seem very eager to get a deal for Antetokounmpo and move off of Brown in any way.
Previous Reporting
On Tuesday June 9th, CelticsBlog put out an article highlighting the interview Bobby Manning of CLNS did with Brian Windhorst of ESPN where he talked about what he had heard on the Giannis to the Celtics front. When Manning asked Windhorst his thoughts on the trade, he said “I have not heard that Boston is on Giannis’ list…I have not heard that Giannis is prepared to sign an extension with Boston. So frankly, the Jaylen Brown part is moot to me.”
This interview did come out two days ago but reports travel fast in the NBA world and if the reports from Simmons and Fischer are true, it feels like Boston could be really moving in silence. In my mind, I still don’t see the Celtics making a deal for Giannis Antetokounmpo. The fact Giannis is going to be in his mid-30s, the injury toll that he has accrued in the last few seasons, and the possibility of him not wanting to sign an extension could be the difference maker in Boston’s decision.
It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Stevens and the Celtics front office just decided to just add smaller pieces around the already established core of Jayson Tatum with a full offseason of rest, Jaylen Brown coming off the best season of his career, and Derrick White potentially having a bounce back season. It is critical that they add a big man this offseason, but it doesn’t have to be the biggest fish on the market unless they really wanted to. Brad Stevens has kept everything silent in his tenure as the Celtics President of Basketball Operations so we will only really know if these reports are true if we see Giannis given an actual Celtics uniform in a press conference.
