The Lakers’ pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo at the trade deadline this year was rather mundane. Without any real firepower to offer in a deal, they were quite far away from a competitive offer.
LA was limited to just one first and a host of expiring salaries they could offer. Even if one of those included Austin Reaves, it wasn’t going to be a competitive offer, so you could hardly blame the Lakers for being on the outside looking in when it came to chasing Giannis.
However, it never hurts to ask
and they still reportedly made a run at him. On Monday morning, Shams Charania of ESPN reported that the Bucks were “open for business” when it came to Giannis trades. In the article, he revealed the Lakers were one of the teams that asked about Giannis at the deadline.
The NBA playoffs represent another landmark point for the Antetokounmpo sweepstakes. Sources said postseason teams such as the Minnesota Timberwolves, Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers pursued Antetokounmpo at the February deadline, and their finishes to the campaign will play a major factor in their aggressiveness to trade for Antetokounmpo.
When the last trade negotiation for a superstar resulted in the Luka Dončić deal, it’s not a surprise they asked. But the Lakers were never going to be serious contenders for him in February.
Still, it could have given them some insight into what the Bucks would be looking for in a trade so that the Lakers had a sense of whether they were interested in working on a deal once the summer rolled around. Now, they have three first round picks and a lot of cap space to potentially make the deal, plus the potentially more enticing option of an Austin Reaves sign-and-trade.
That being said, considering what the Bucks are searching for, according to Shams, the Lakers might not be able to make all that competitive of an offer yet again.
There is expected to be a robust market for Antetokounmpo, and ownership and front-office officials expect to maintain their trade deadline asking price of a young blue-chip talent and/or a surplus of draft picks, sources said.
Is Reaves, who is 27 and about to be paid a salary at or near the max, considered a young blue-chip talent? Unlikely. And unless the Bucks have really loved Bronny’s spot minutes in the playoffs, the Lakers don’t have any of those.
Now, whether the team should pursue Giannis is another question worth asking, especially with how the regular season went after the trade deadline. Is it worth shaking things up to bring in Giannis?
Those are questions the team is likely going to have to face rather soon as the season nears its conclusion.
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