For years, the Golden State Warriors have dreamed of trading for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Well, they’ve at least been rumored as a potential landing spot for the Greek Freak. Unfortunately, what was once a pipe dream has turned into a likely impossibility. Shams Charania of ESPN reported that the only place Antetokounmpo would leave the Milwaukee Bucks for is the New York Knicks.
“Ever since the NBA draft combine in mid-May, Alex Saratsis, an Octagon managing director and Antetokounmpo's U.S.-based representative, has fielded rampant interest in Antetokounmpo and conducted serious due diligence on best possible outside fits should the star and his reps push to be traded from the Bucks,” Charania wrote. “Several teams were discussed internally, but one emerged as the only place Antetokounmpo wanted to play outside of Milwaukee: the New York Knicks, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation told ESPN.”
Seeing Antetokounmpo in a Warriors jersey seems very unlikely at this point.
Why can’t Warriors get Giannis Antetokounmop?
The Warriors would be a great landing spot for the Warriors. If he wants to win a championship, joining the likes of Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler would be perfect. But there’s more that would go into the decision.
Going from Milwaukee to San Francisco would be a massive change, as he would be moving to an entirely different side of the country. Plus, he would be playing in a packed Western Conference, potentially hurting his title chances.
Meanwhile, the Knicks are closer to Milwaukee, even if it’s not particularly close, and they play in the East, which has seemingly never been more wide open. And New York is one of the biggest markets in the world, which would be great for a guy like Antetokounmpo.
As far as the actual logistics of a trade, the Knicks may be able to offer a better trade package than the Warriors anyway. It all depends on what the Bucks would be looking for.
In theory, Golden State should be able to offer better draft capital since the Knicks traded a ton of their picks in the Mikal Bridges deal. But since the Bucks don’t have their own picks, going into a full-on tank would be relatively useless.
The Knicks could probably offer better players (such as Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, or OG Anunoby).
But all of that is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is what Antetokounmpo wants, and based on Charania’s reporting, that’s either to stay in Milwaukee or go to New York.