Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know the Milwaukee Bucks are actively listening to trade offers for two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo with the NBA trade deadline less than a week away.
An interesting nugget came from NBA Insider and LB alum Jake Fischer, who wrote this for The Stein Line:
League sources say Philadelphia, furthermore, has not contacted Milwaukee about a possible Antetokounmpo deal in the wake of a better-than-expected first half, but The Stein Line has learned that the prospect
of teaming up with Tyrese Maxey — who, like Giannis, works with prominent NBA trainer Drew Hanlen — does have the 76ers on Antetokounmpo’s radar.
That’s a hell of a nugget.
The idea of Maxey and Giannis playing together is tantalizing, but it might not be realistic without the Greek Freak demanding to come to Philly. Let’s break it down a bit.
No. 3 overall pick VJ Edgecombe will be the absolute first player the Bucks bring up — as well they should. It’s not that Edgecombe is untouchable, but you have to look at the whole picture here.
Antetokounmpo, who is still one of the best players on earth, is 31 and now dealing with his second calf injury of the season. If Edgecombe is the centerpiece of that trade, you’d also have to include Paul George for salary matching purposes.
So, you’re trading away two starters for a team that already lacks depth, while also hoping for the health and fit of Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid to be pristine. There’s an argument to be made it’s worth the gamble. The other argument is it’s a little reckless, especially for the Sixers.
PHLY’s Kyle Neubeck already threw a bit of cold water on the idea of the Sixers moving Edgecombe for Giannis — or anybody.
Going into this season, you weren’t even counting on Embiid and George to be healthy. It was all about the growth of Maxey and the team’s young core. Given Embiid’s injury history, it always made more sense to see how the young guys could do while anything Embiid and George gave you was gravy. There’s been more than expected, but it’s still gravy.
And as we saw with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers last season, depth matters. Both those teams were able to reach the Finals throwing waves of athletic players at their opponents. With the struggles of Quentin Grimes and Jared McCain — who hopefully is turning a corner — no real wing options off the bench and an unproven backup center in Adem Bona, how can the Sixers contend with such unreliable depth?
Could a Giannis-for-Embiid (plus other assets) swap work? It’s hard to see how. If Milwaukee takes back Embiid, there’s so much risk involved. If Embiid can’t stay healthy enough to keep the Bucks relevant, that’s a lot of money for a lot of years to eat. For as good as Embiid has looked recently, it’s hard to imagine a team wanting to take on that extension, which doesn’t even kick in until next season.
The other path is something like George, McCain and all the picks they can muster. It’s a not terrible return, especially when you consider the LA Clippers’ unprotected 2028 first-rounder and 2029 pick swap, but would it be the best offer out there? The fact that this feels like a no-brainer for the Sixers makes it hard to believe it would be something Milwaukee accepts … unless Giannis forces them to.
For what it’s worth, Fischer added this:
“They’re asking for the moon,” one general manager told me on Thursday morning. “All of your young players and all of your draft picks.”
ESPN’s Shams Charania, who broke the initial report, listed the Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors as “serious suitors.” Fischer and Marc Stein narrowed that down to Miami and Minnesota. The Timberwolves have a couple valuable players on their roster in Jaden McDaniels, Joan Beringer, Terrance Shannon, Jr. and Rob Dillingham.
There’s also the very real possibility that Milwaukee simply holds off and reconvenes with teams after the season, where the return could possibly be greater. But Pandora appear to already be out of the box.
So, the question becomes, how badly does Antetokounmpo want to be a Sixer? We’ll see.
