One NBA writer is proposing that the Oklahoma City Thunder trade for Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo in a massive blockbuster proposal. Ishaan Bhattacharya of Fadeaway World proposed the following trade idea between the Thunder and Bucks:
Milwaukee Bucks Receive: Chet Holmgren, Cason Wallace, Davis Bertans, Ousmane Dieng, 2024 Clippers First-Round Pick, 2025 Thunder First-Round Pick, 2026 Clippers First-Round Pick, 2027 Thunder First-Round Pick
Oklahoma City Thunder Receive: Giannis Antetokounmpo
Antetokounmpo recently admitted that he would leave the Bucks if there’s a better situation to win an NBA championship. The Bucks won the 2021 title over the Phoenix Suns but lost in the second round of the 2022 playoffs to the Boston Celtics and fell to the Miami Heat in the first round of the 2023 playoffs. Antetokounmpo doesn’t want to spend his entire career with Milwaukee and not win another championship.
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks, Oklahoma City Thunder Updates
Antetokounmpo told NBA reporter Tania Ganguli of The New York Times that he will not sign an extension with the Bucks this year. The two-time MVP became eligible for a contract extension in September.
“The real question’s not going to be this year — numbers-wise it doesn’t make sense,” Antetokounmpo said. “But next year, next summer it would make more sense for both parties. Even then, I don’t know.”
Antetokounmpo added: “I would not be the best version of myself if I don’t know that everybody’s on the same page, everybody’s going for a championship, everybody’s going to sacrifice time away from their family like I do. And if I don’t feel that, I’m not signing.”
The Bucks signed Antetokounmpo to a five-year, $228.2 million designated maximum contract extension in December 2020. The future Hall of Famer will make $45.6 million next season.
One of the greatest players in NBA history, Antetokounmpo has career averages of 22.6 points, 9.6 rebounds and 4.7 assists. He has won the Most Improved Player of the Year Award, two regular-season MVPs, one Finals MVP and one Defensive Player of the Year Award with the Bucks.
The Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks are already being mentioned as franchises presumed to interest Antetokounmpo down the road if he does decide to move on from the Bucks, according to NBA insider Marc Stein.
The Thunder, though, have the draft picks the Bucks would likely want in an Antetokounmpo trade, which is why one NBA exec told Sean Deveney of Heavy Sports to keep an eye on OKC when it comes to Antetokounmpo.
NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks, Oklahoma City Thunder Updates
“No one would be in a better position to go after him than OKC,” the NBA exec said. “Not to say they would, but they’d have to be a starting point. They have the young talent, they have, I think it is nine (first-round) picks in the next three years. If Milwaukee decides, OK, we’ve got to move on here, that is the first team you call. There aren’t many guys who are going to make the Thunder think about a big move, packaging the assets. But Giannis is one, if he’d want to go there.”
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