The Giannis Antetokounmpo trade saga continues to wind onward as the NBA Playoffs conclude and the Summer of 2026 approaches. The MVP-level forward has spent his entire 13-year career with the Milwaukee Bucks but reportedly wants to leave for greener pastures and championship contention before his current contract expires.
The Portland Trail Blazers have been rumored to be interested in Antetokounmpo and his 27.6-point, 9.8-rebound, 5.4-assist stat line. According to reports, Portland is one of the
few teams willing to take on Giannis’ near-$60-million contract with no guarantee that he’ll re-sign with the team beyond next season. Meanwhile Antetokounmpo appears to be interested in the Miami Heat, sunny beaches, and the Florida income tax breaks. (Wondering why Miami ALWAYS gets mentioned in trade and free-agent scenarios? There you go.)
In any case, NBA writer Marc Stein mentioned the Blazers in connection with Antetokounmpo in his latest substack [subscription required]. Even though Giannis might not want to come to Portland, the Bucks are interested in including the Blazers in a deal, trying to retrieve the draft picks and swaps they gave to the Blazers in 2023 in order to require since-departed superstar guard Damian Lillard.
Stein writes:
Chatter persists that Antetokounmpo, in any case, is determined to stay in the Eastern Conference after 13 seasons as a Buck. The Bucks, meanwhile, are known to want to include Portland in an eventual multi-team Giannis trade structure if possible in hopes of somehow reacquiring some measure of the draft capital they surrendered to the Trail Blazers in the Damian Lillard trade just before the 2023-24 season.
The Blazers, as The Stein Line first reported on May 2, have been telling Milwaukee that they want to trade for Antetokounmpo to keep him for themselves, but it is generally understood that the 31-year-old will have a strong say in determining his final destination because there is only one guaranteed season left on Antetokounmpo’s current contract before a $62.8 million player option in 2027-28.
The interesting thing for Portland: it’d take a major salary to match Antetokounmpo’s contract and a major talent to pry those picks away from the Blazers. Portland already refused Miami guard Tyler Herro in the Lillard trade, much to the chagrin of Miami management, but if Giannis were willing to expand his team list slightly (the Celtics have been rumored and Stein suggests the Knicks if they don’t win an NBA Championship this year), the possibilities begin to tantalize.
Either way, the smoke continues to rise from this bonfire. Stay tuned.
