Giannis Antetokounmpo has become a giant starting gun. He is a top-four player in the world, and he’s embraced the Bucks for 12 marvellous years now, but his time there is ending. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Antetokounmpo is open to leaving Milwaukee, now that the Bucks have reached a painful, inescapable cul-de-sac. Time to move on.
So of course the pc28Raptors should chase him, right? After all, Giannis was always team president Masai Ujiri’s favourite target in the star-hunting realm for years; the two men have a relationship that stretches back over a decade, and there is trust there. And while everyone is talking about what the Bucks could get for Antetokounmpo, if he leaves, Antetokounmpo will decide where he wants to go.
It’s far from clear that Antetokounmpo would want to come to Toronto. But after the draftԻ Jayson Tatum’s injury and Boston’s looming salary crunch, the East should be weaker next year. The Raptors should clearly make a call.
It would be complicated, however. The first fork in the road: It would almost certainly mean pc28trading Scottie Barnes. Barnes is more or less a smaller Giannis, with some slight stylistic alterations, and seven years younger. The organization considers Scottie a true core piece, and having two physically dominant forwards who can’t shoot — unless Scottie straightens it all out, with a healthy hand, this summer — would be impossible. Add Jakob Poeltl, and the Raptors offence would take place in the claustrophobic equivalent of a one-bedroom pc28apartment.
The Greek Freak’s future is one of the hottest talking points around the NBA after the Bucks were eliminated by the Indiana Pacers in the first round.
The Greek Freak’s future is one of the hottest talking points around the NBA after the Bucks were eliminated by the Indiana Pacers in the first round.
For that matter, does Giannis want to play with Toronto’s raft of first- and second-year projects, including the No. 9 pick in a draft whose second tier might stretch from No. 3 to 11? He’s 30 and, as Ujiri said at the draft, the league moves so fast: “Movement, movement, movement,” he said, “(and) you just wait for your turn.”
The Raptors would have to rewire this team for Giannis; this wouldn’t be a Kawhi Leonard plug-and-play. So does this seem like Toronto’s turn? Making the call to replace the 23-year-old Barnes with a 30-year-old Giannis shortens your window and raises your ceiling. At 23, Antetokounmpo was getting MVP votes. His lack of a jumper and heavy workload means his aging curve could become an issue, but this isn’t like when the Raptors were wondering about trading for Damian Lillard. This is a 30-year-old who has finished first, first, fourth, third, third, fourth, and probably third in the MVP voting since 2019.
The bigger problem is the same old problem: Stars often like to play with stars, and reports say Antetokounmpo wants to play with a star who can relieve some of the burden, which is fair. In the playoffs, Lillard only played two games and part of a third, and wasn’t healthy even before he tore his Achilles. And Antetokounmpo averaged 33 points, 15.4 rebounds, 6.6 assists, a steal and a block, and .606 shooting (with a partially respectable .698 from the line) in Milwaukee’s five-game first-round loss to the Indiana Pacers.
Leonard wanted to play with Jimmy Butler or Paul George. When the Raptors last chased Kevin Durant, he wanted to play with Devin Booker in Phoenix. (It’s not a foolproof strategy.) Barnes isn’t a name star yet, and Brandon Ingram is the poor man’s Durant, not Durant himself. And again, Barnes can’t play with Giannis.
Could the Raptors trade for Antetokounmpo and an acceptable second star and still have an adequate supporting cast? Good luck. Yes, it is expected to be the summer of the superstar swap meet in the NBA. Durant will leave Phoenix. Atlanta’s Trae Young has been spotted on the trade market before, and will be again. Maybe Zion Williamson leaves New Orleans. (Zion is in the Giannis-Scottie fit range, in that none of them could play together.)
There will be more. The NBA has a truly chaotic energy right now. But pc28is still signalling patience.
“I think for this team, we’re just going to keep growing and (we have) young players,” Ujiri said at the draft. “We’ll be fine adding another one.”
For starters, there is special depth to this draft class ... all the way to No. 9 and beyond.
For starters, there is special depth to this draft class ... all the way to No. 9 and beyond.
They will. Unless pc28unearths a star at nine, a bigger move still has to be the play, now or later. The current CBA, which puts teams in a transactional straitjacket if they spend too much, is prying teams apart and will continue to do so, and stars will continue to become available. The Raptors could wait, grow, and see what arises.
But the question they have to ask is, which of the future stars that are spit out of the league’s star-making machine will want to come to Toronto? Will any of them have a better relationship with Ujiri? Will any offer a better three-to-five-year window of performance than Antetokounmpo? Will the East be weaker than it’s about to be? That’s a hard future to see.
So, yes, the Raptors should try and, yes, it may be that like Durant the time and fit has already passed. If so, pc28will just have to wait and grow and try again with someone else.
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