The Golden State Warriors have searched fruitlessly all summer long for the giant move that could make them championship contenders once again, but they may have to wait just a little longer.
Milwaukee Bucks center and two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo has been more vocal in recent years about his current team going the extra mile to put itself in the hunt for his second title. That included pushing the Bucks to move Jrue Holiday as part of the effort that ultimately landed Damian Lillard as Antetokounmpo’s running partner for the 2023-24 campaign.
That experiment didn’t work out, as both players and teammate Khris Middleton all ran into injury problems. Antetokounmpo suffered health issues during the playoffs as well, and the Bucks lost in the first round for the second consecutive year, this time to the Indiana Pacers.
Antetokounmpo had a busy summer. First, he starred in the Olympics for Greece. He then married his long-time girlfriend. However, he returned to some eyebrow-raising rhetoric on Wednesday, October 16, during the preseason.
“Yeah, if we don’t win a championship, I might get traded,” he said, per Sam Amick of The Athletic. “This is the job we live. This is the world we’re living in. It’s everybody.”
Antetokounmpo’s choice of words re-sparked speculation that the Dubs, who are desperate to add a true superstar for the stretch run of Stephen Curry’s career, could get in on the sweepstakes.
Golden State general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. put the team’s desire to obtain another star in perspective during a press conference in September.
“We’re probably as impatient as you can be as a franchise right now given our time horizon, but there’s a fine line between impatience and undisciplined,” Dunleavy explained. “There’s no point in going all in to be slightly above average.”
A trade for a player like Lauri Markkanen of the Utah Jazz, which the Warriors explored during the offseason, probably would have accomplished exactly that. A deal for Antetokounmpo, however, is an entirely different story.
“Antetokounmpo long has been linked to Golden State, with the speculation further increased by the two-time NBA MVP’s open admiration for Warriors superstar Steph Curry,” Jordan Elliott of NBC Sports Bay Area wrote Wednesday.
Antetokounmpo has finished top-four in MVP voting in each of the past six seasons, winning the award in back-to-back campaigns in 2018-19 and 2019-20. He won his sole championship the following season.
The Bucks center averaged 30.4 points, 11.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.1 blocks last year. Antetokounmpo has been an All-Star in each of the past eight seasons, a First-Team All-NBA selection in each of the previous six campaigns and perennially finishes in the top-10 for the Defensive Player of the Year award.
Given all of that, he would make an ideal running mate for Curry. However, he would also cost a boatload. Antetokounmpo is on a $175 million extension through 2027-28 in Milwaukee, so just matching his salary with players the Bucks might actually want would be a challenge for Golden State.
However, extending Jonathan Kuminga and then including both he and second-year shooting guard Brandin Podziemski would be a start for the Warriors from a personnel perspective. The Dubs would also certainly need to include every first-round pick they’re allowed to trade to get anywhere near Milwaukee’s likely asking price.
Elliott pointed out correctly that it is unlikely the Bucks would want to trade Antetokounmpo, but in the NBA’s player empowerment era, it simply may not be up to them. Antetokounmpo could force the team’s hand, as players like Kevin Durant and James Harden have done in the recent past.
In that case, all Golden State would need to do is entice Antetokounmpo about the idea of playing in the Bay Area and then get up enough assets to make a deal happen.
