What's the latest on Giannis and Jaylen? O'Connor offers insight originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The Milwaukee Bucks are widely expected to trade Giannis Antetokounmpo sometime in the next week. According to several recent reports, the Boston Celtics are frontrunners to land the two-time NBA MVP.
By all accounts, Antetokounmpo is intrigued by the idea of playing in Boston, but acquiring him would almost certainly require the C’s parting ways with 2024 NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown. It likely wouldn’t be a simple swap between Boston and Milwaukee, however.
“Giannis wants to win. What team offers him the best opportunity to win? In all likelihood, the Boston Celtics,” Yahoo Sports’ NBA insider Kevin O’Connor said on Monday’s Early Edition. “It’s just going to be a matter of, can the Celtics find an appropriate third team to land Jaylen Brown?
“It seems like all indications are the Milwaukee Bucks don’t want Jaylen Brown as their key return. They’d rather have a haul of picks, multiple pieces, rather than just Jaylen Brown. I doubt Jaylen Brown would even want Milwaukee either at this point in his career. He wants to win somewhere else.”
The Atlanta Hawks, Portland Trail Blazers, and Los Angeles Clippers have often been mentioned as potential partners for Milwaukee and Boston in a three-team deal. Boston would get Antetokounmpo, the third team would get Brown, and Milwaukee would get draft capital and young pieces to help jumpstart its rebuild.
The Miami Heat have also reportedly been in the mix to acquire Antetokounmpo. Wherever the 10-time All-Star goes, the team that lands him will still have work to do.
“It can’t be just Giannis. There would have to be more moves to follow,” O’Connor said. “So I think for the Celtics, if they get Giannis, it’s going to be a matter of, what’s next after that? What other moves are going to completely shake up this roster?”
The Celtics’ roster might get shaken up even if they don’t end up with Antetokounmpo. O’Connor believes president of basketball operations Brad Stevens could move a disgruntled Brown in a different deal.
“I can’t imagine (Brown would) be too happy going back to Boston if they don’t end up landing Giannis Antetokounmpo,” he said. “So I’d imagine that Brad Stevens has at least a Plan B or a Plan C here to flip Jaylen Brown somewhere else for parts. I don’t know what exactly it would be, though.
“The New Orleans package with Trey Murphy, Herb Jones, and whatever other pieces, I think, is pretty intriguing with what they could do in (Joe) Mazzulla’s system alongside Jayson Tatum. I think those are winning players that have just been stuck on a losing team.”
Brown and Antetokounmpo are set to make $57 million and $58 million next season, respectively. Tatum will also make $58 million.
Antetokounmpo, who has a $63 million player option for 2026-27, would be eligible to sign a four-year, $275 million extension six months after being traded. As enticing as it is to put him alongside Tatum for the next several seasons, the new collective bargaining agreement makes it difficult to sustain success with multiple expensive superstars.
“Look, the fact is it’s hard to win with two players making $60-plus million. That’s true with Giannis plus Tatum, it’s true with Brown plus Tatum,” O’Connor said.
“We’ve seen the formula in recent years. The Knicks just won the title with a team that played one through 11 sometimes. Last year, OKC vs. Indiana, two teams that were very deep. Boston the year prior was very deep. With a new collective bargaining agreement, perhaps having one superstar-level player surrounded by good players might be the way forward.”
Whether it’s to Boston, Miami, or elsewhere, Antetokounmpo is expected to be moved before the NBA Draft on June 23.
Watch the Early Edition segment in the video player above.
