Next week’s 2026 NBA Draft is the next big event on the NBA calendar, but selecting rookies isn’t the only item on the league’s “to-do” list for the month. As the draft and free agency approach, analysts are speculating this may be one of the wildest, biggest summers ever for trades. This will be of special interest to Portland Trail Blazers fans, as the Blazers have no picks in the current draft but several in the future to barter with on the market.
In the lead up to these intense weeks, two names
have dominated the discussion in Portland: Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jaylen Brown. Both are premium forwards, perennial All-NBA candidates. Both would come via the same mechanism: trading young players and draft picks between 2028-2030 that the Blazers received from the Milwaukee Bucks a few years ago in exchange for All-Star guard Damian Lillard. Either Portland would trade for Giannis directly or Giannis would head to the Boston Celtics, Brown to Portland, and the picks to Milwaukee.
Those possibilities make this submission to the Blazer’s Edge Mailbag quite timely. Check it out.
Dave,
Would you rather have Giannis or JB [Jaylen Brown] if the Blazers could trade for either? Both seem like a dream to me. It’s like choosing between dream cars or trying to figure out upscale steakhouse or sushi. There’s no wrong answer but what’s the right one?
Gregory
Your last sentence said it best. There’s no wrong answer to this question. But just like high-end sushi is always going to beat out high-end steak, one of these candidates is probably better for the Blazers than the other.
Let’s get this out of the way to start with. Giannis Antetokounmpo is the better player of the two: more impactful, less stoppable, more unique. He’s a better rebounder, a more dominant scorer, a nearly-unrivaled athlete. His peak seasons were unlike anything we’ve seen in generations…Shaq-like stuff. That man is one of one. Brown is a superstar and MVP candidate, but he’s not the league-changer that Giannis has the potential to be.
Raw talent and ability are only one metric though. How much of them a team can utilize and how well they can do so matter too. In this case, even though Giannis is the better player, Jaylen is the better fit.
This is true for several reasons:
- Brown’s .347 shooting percentage from three-point range isn’t spectacular, but Giannis treats three-pointers like a cat treats the lawn sprinkler. Portland needs more shooting, not less.
- Brown is two years younger than Giannis. The two have played a roughly equal number of games over their careers with one, glaring exception. Antetokounmpo appeared only 36 times this past season. While neither has a huge injury history, Brown has been stable throughout.
- Brown is signed, without options, through 2029. Giannis has a player option on his contract in 2027, meaning he could play one season for his next team and then become an unrestricted free agent. Getting paid as a UFA may be difficult in this league economy, but the threat is real. There’s no worries with Brown.
- Brown would operate better in Portland’s “share and flow” offense than Giannis would. Getting Giannis would pretty much change the way the Blazers do things. And fair enough! Their offense isn’t great. A new coach would certainly focus on Antetokounmpo first, everyone else second. But that shortchanges Deni Avdija. We’ve also seen it not work well with Lillard in Milwaukee. Brown can be a dominant scorer, but also fits into more spaces and roles on the floor than Giannis does.
- Every report about Brown that covers him as a person talks about his intellectual prowess, his discerning approach to life, and his depth. Giannis is probably an amazing human being too. But Brown fits with the Portland counter-cultural vibe a little better. The chances that he could come to value the franchise and city seem greater than the chances of Giannis instantly falling in love with the town.
For all these reasons, Brown seems like the better bet of the two even though Giannis is the bigger star.
But what say all of you? Given the chance, at a similar price, would you choose Antetokounmpo or Brown to join the Blazers? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. And if you want to send in your own question, just email it to blazersub@gmail.com! We’ll try to answer as many as possible, particularly in the period between mid-July and September. So get them in now!
