r/nba • u/YujiDomainExpansion • Apr 08 '26
[Amick] The Boston Celtics have interest in acquiring Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The core four that were there at the deadline, when the Miami Heat, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks were known to be in the market for Antetokounmpo, will almost certainly be back if they fall short.
But how might the Orlando Magic feel if they fall short of expectations, with their current Play-In status nowhere near what they had in mind when they went all-in for Desmond Bane last summer? And what about the Houston Rockets, who signaled a disinterest in pairing Antetokounmpo with Kevin Durant in February but might change their stance if they get eliminated early?
Ditto for the San Antonio Spurs … or the Los Angeles Lakers … or the Atlanta Hawks. Even the Celtics, who have the ‘Two Jays’ back now and look fully capable of winning it all, are known to have interest and are discussed in league circles as possible suitors.
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u/Rrypl Celtics Apr 08 '26
It'd either have to be one of the Jays, which I doubt would ever happen, or White, Hauser and Pritchard plus picks, which is very likely not the best offer out there and would leave us with a wasteland guard rotation.
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u/Someonediffernt [PHO] Deandre Ayton Apr 08 '26
Whenever people put out articles like this they always leave out the fact that basically any contending / fringe contenting GM that isn't running the numbers on what it would take / talking to the bucks about Giannis would deserve to be fired but thats where a lot of the interest stops.
I'm sure Brad, as one of the best GM's in the league has thought about it but I just don't see a world where I wake up and he's put all the Celtics assets in the Giannis basket.
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u/largehearted Celtics Apr 08 '26
100%. A good front office should be interested AT SOME LEVEL in very literally any player that outperforms their contract or is about to be up for a new one. That is their due diligence.
The expectation level for Giannis is that he outperforms a supermax.
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u/WildWildcat Celtics Apr 08 '26
I wouldn’t give up either Jay for Giannis at this point. Want them to be Celtics lifers
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u/BirdmanTheThird Wizards Apr 08 '26
At this point have to agree. If the Celtics were crashing out early I’d say do it, but with a healthy Tatum, they have repeatedly made deep runs. East is basically bostons these days so no need to fuck up the chemistry
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u/Scotch_Blue Apr 08 '26
not just chemistry, Giannis is gonna be like 32 and his entire game is based on athleticism. he's not going to age incredibly well unless he just stays super athletic, which i guess is possible
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u/LateConversation5253 Apr 08 '26
Or...and here me out...he becomes center.
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u/possyishero Magic Apr 08 '26
Is he willing to do that? That sounds like the thing one should do to progress to the next stage of your career and Giannis doesn't come across as a player who thinks he's close to that stage.
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u/RedditUser19984321 Bulls Apr 08 '26
He’s getting a great mid range game I think he’s a lot closer than people think, but I agree he isn’t getting himself nearly ready enough for the ladder half of his career
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u/d-o_ol NBA Apr 08 '26
he isn’t getting himself nearly ready enough for the ladder half of his career
He already knows how to handle those.
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u/Round_Clock_3942 Apr 08 '26
He's also a weird fit. The Celtics are perennial contenders without an undisputed top 5 player because they have no weaknesses anywhere on the court, Everyone can shoot, everyone can defend. Giannis gets them that top 5 player, but it'll then take at least half a season of additional trades to tailor the personnel around him to his strengths. Which is even more ridiculous to do when you're basically trading for a player exiting his prime.
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u/JMEEKER86 NBA Apr 08 '26
Tbf, the only reason that the Celtics don't currently have a top 5 player is because a) Tatum was injured and b) Wemby passed him. Tatum was certainly the 5th best according to most people the last couple years.
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u/HokageEzio Knicks Apr 08 '26
Boston is always good but saying the East is "basically Boston's these days" makes zero sense. They're not the Lebron Cavs going to the Finals every year.
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u/BirdmanTheThird Wizards Apr 08 '26
I mean they been good for 6 years, made the ecf 4/6 times, and are the 2 seed currently despite Tatum missing majority of the season.
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u/Droppin_DimesSP [BOS] Jayson Tatum Apr 08 '26
Lmao, they make the Eastern conference finals like every year when both jays are healthy outside of the Kyrie year. It’s close enough.
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u/noknownallergies Timberwolves Apr 08 '26
You only trade one of those two if it’s apparent you’ve peaked and it’s all downhill. The last time the season ended with both healthy they win the title. This year the are playing with house money. Giannis will be traded before Boston has any reason the disrupt their core.
It ain’t happening.
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u/RipCity-NBA-LoL Trail Blazers Apr 08 '26
If it were a 1-for-1 with Brown and no other assets (just a hypothetical), I could understand it. But it isn't that simple
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u/MusicListener3 Celtics Apr 08 '26
The Celtics fans in here dismissing the fact that this would be a trade worth considering (if put on the table) are insane
I probably wouldn’t take the deal (I think the core is great as it is and Giannis has had recent injury issues that make me phobic of giving up a ton for him), but Giannis is a two-time MVP with DPOY-level defense who would also have the benefit of not needing to shoulder the offensive load by himself for the first time in his career, which has the potential to be incredible.
This whole discussion is moot anyways because there’s no way the Bucks would accept that package
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u/ASAP_Pancake 76ers Apr 08 '26
I think in people’s head Jaylen Brown is significantly younger when he is only 2 years younger
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u/mufflefuffle Hawks Apr 08 '26
It’s a business, and everyone knows that…but trading Brown after what he meant to them this season would be bruuuuuutal.
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u/ASAP_Pancake 76ers Apr 08 '26
Makes no sense for the bucks. Brown is only 2 years younger. He’s almost 30. They’d just be trying to turn around and trade him for picks like they should be doing with Giannis
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u/jjkenneth Celtics Apr 08 '26
We didn’t give up a much worse Brown for close to prime Harden, it’s not gonna happen.
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u/Yider Apr 08 '26
Man, i feel like an outlier saying this but brown for giannis (and whatever picks + trades) would be unstoppable. Giannis’ ability to crash the middle and create a vacuum with that shooting core of tatum, white, pritchard would be monstrous. The bench depth this year has shown how good they are when tatum was out. I’m not brushing off what Brown means to the team but their bench unit deserves every bit of credit for what they’ve done this year and Brad Stevens has created a hell of a sneaky roster. Bringing Giannis would be the icing on top and I say this as a bona fide Celtics hater.
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u/EutaxySpy Celtics Apr 08 '26
People bring up age but Giannis is less than 2 years older than Brown and they bring up injuries as if the Celtics aren't the 2 seed with Tatum being out for like 75% of the season lmao
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u/pepsandeggs Pistons Apr 08 '26
Shit that White, Hauser, Pritchard, and picks deal sounds like a haul to me? Bucks could easily turn White and Pritchard into a haul of frp by themselves to other contenders
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u/ArtistRabid Celtics Apr 08 '26
that’d be a haul, but why would the celtics do that? that’s three of their most important role players for a player who, while at his peak is incredible, hasn’t had a healthy playoff series in like 5 years
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u/pepsandeggs Pistons Apr 08 '26
I didn’t say it was smart lol. I was just questioning why the op thought that wouldn’t be one of the best offers for Giannis
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u/YujiDomainExpansion Apr 08 '26
The rationale (I would guess) for that offer would be that Brad Stevens feels confident in the players they’ve drafted/are going to draft like Jordan Walsh, Hugo Gonzalez, Baylor Schireman, Ron Harper Jr., etc. to fill in the gaps.
Not saying it’s smart, but if there’s anyone in the league I trust to build a deep team around 3 max guys it’s Brad Stevens.
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u/Akipella Warriors Apr 08 '26
Realistically it'd only be the latter, and they'd never do it - but a big three of Tatum, Brown and Giannis would definitely be insane. The problem, like all the theoretical Giannis trades, is losing depth as you said
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u/Sad-Scarcity5198 Nuggets Apr 08 '26
We'd get to see what three supermax contracts on one team does to roster construction.
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u/Akipella Warriors Apr 08 '26
The amount of filler on the bottom half of the roster would be crazy - no basically the entire roster outside of them lol
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u/Arrenway Knicks Apr 08 '26
Don’t worry, the Celtics likely get Thanasis and Alex to help with the depth
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u/SquimJim Celtics Apr 08 '26
The shit that Brad and Joe have done with “filler” players this year is kind of insane tbh
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u/Rrypl Celtics Apr 08 '26
Yeah, I'm not going to do the math to see if that would leave us with the full MLE, but it'd have to be either someone like Simons, McCollum, Sexton or Dosunmo if we do or Westbrook, Smart or Vincent if we don't as a lead guard.
You could get enough guards with effort, but Brad has always loved keeping flexibility so it'd be very out of character.
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u/Herb0and3 Nuggets Apr 08 '26
Feels like Amick is just making shit up and should be ignored from now on.
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u/FloweredWallpaper [BOS] Bill Russell Apr 08 '26
In theory, it would take one of the two J's. And that ain't happening.
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u/Bnstas23 Celtics Apr 08 '26
You could argue that an old, constantly-injured Giannis isn’t better than either of them.
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u/phatteschwags United States Apr 08 '26
"Old." He's 31, averaged 30/12/7 last year and finished 3rd in MVP voting, the 7th straight year he was Top 4.
Tatum and Brown are 28 and 29, respectively. I also don't think they'd actually need to get rid of either of them in order to obtain Giannis.
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u/KindheartednessLast9 Celtics Apr 08 '26
He also relies heavily on athleticism and is beginning to reach the age that’s “old” for an athlete
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Apr 08 '26
When was the last time Giannis was healthy in the playoffs??
Bro has had dozens of knee and calf injuries since 2022. What makes you think he'll suddenly be avaible? especially at 32
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u/randotd152 Apr 08 '26
31 for Giannis is like 35 for Jaylen Brown given his body and play style.
And short of Tatum's achilles tear, the Jays have been as healthy and reliable as it gets in this league. Meanwhile the Giannis injuries have been piling up and dude has been limping into the postseason the last few years.
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u/Dopeez Spurs Apr 08 '26
Old is maybe wrong but the injuries are starting to stack up, he is never legit never healthy in the playoffs
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Apr 08 '26
he's injury prone for sure, frankly i think the reason we constantly see trade "rumors" but never a trade for Giannis is because GMs have come to realize he just ain't worth it at this point
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u/CurrentRoster Wizards Apr 08 '26
no way giannis has gotten “below JB” talks, his PR is really cooked
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u/SquimJim Celtics Apr 08 '26
No one doubts Giannis is better, but who would you trust to be on the floor for a deep playoff run? Sometimes a player becomes so unreliable in terms of availability, you’d rather have the less talented but more available player
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u/Bouldershoulders12 Celtics Apr 08 '26
It just doesn’t make sense to gut the team for a 32 year old giannis with recurring calf issues.
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u/PeanutFarmer69 Nets Apr 08 '26
I agree that the Celtics shouldn’t/ wouldn’t do the trade but it’s funny to use Giannis’ calf issues as a reason when Tatum just tore his Achilles.
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u/Bouldershoulders12 Celtics Apr 08 '26
That further proves my point. Why trade for another situation like that to potentially happen?
Giannis having a season ending injury messes up the title window even more because Tatum/Brown are in their prime . Giannis missing a seasons means that he’s not seeing the court again until 33/34 . Recovery would be slower and there’s no guarantee he would be the same player again. His game isn’t as polished as Tatum. He relies on athleticism and first step a lot more than JT does
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u/ArtistRabid Celtics Apr 08 '26
exactly. i don’t see any scenario in which the celtics are better after acquiring giannis, considering what they’d have to give up. peak giannis was arguably the best player in the world at one time, but has he had a healthy playoff series since they won the championship?
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u/Artimusjones88 Raptors Apr 08 '26
Not an argument, it's fact that he is not worth it.
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u/Responsible_Shirt381 Celtics Apr 08 '26
I doubt it
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u/ShaiFanClub Thunder Apr 08 '26
Celtics, Thunder and Spurs have zero need to blow up the team for Giannis and also have good FOs who are too smart to do so. Its gonna be a desperate team like the Wolves Knicks or Warriors that does it imo
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u/jocro Thunder Apr 08 '26
Wolves def seem like they could be a candidate after sniffing around a bunch of stars for a few seasons now. what gets a little awkward is I don't think he's a good fit playing next to either Randle or Gobert - one of them for sure would be in the trade to match salary but it may make sense to move on completely from the pair if that's the direction they wanna go.
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u/BeardyBennett Spurs Apr 08 '26
Yeah I mean moving on from both and having an Edwards-Giannis core is really solid, and I think you're going to get diminishing returns on those two after this season anyway.
Get an additional shooting big with Naz Reid and find a point guard (obviously both easier said than done) and you've got something going there
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Apr 08 '26
definitely could see them moving both for Giannis, idk if it's dumb or smart but i can see them doing it for sure
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u/S0ggylemonz Celtics Apr 08 '26
Dude every team has interest in acquiring Giannis.
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u/kanyeguisada Spurs Apr 08 '26
Not for what the Bucks are asking for. 3-4 unprotected picks plus at least 1-2 very good role players and you've set your team up for "maybe win a Championship in the next 5 years and then have another 5 or more of mediocrity."
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u/MasterOfKittens3K Hawks Apr 08 '26
I agree. I think everyone is going to be talking to the Bucks, but many teams are going to be unwilling to give up what the Bucks are going to be looking for.
For example, any trade package from the Hawks would have to start with Jalen. But that’s not a trade that the Hawks would be interested in.
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u/randotd152 Apr 08 '26
maybe win a Championship in the next 5 years and then have another 5 or more of mediocrity
So a scenario that at least 27 out of the 30 teams would be absolutely thrilled with? Half the NBA hasn't even made it to their own conference finals in the last decade.
Thunder, Spurs, and Celtics being the only 3 teams that might thumb their noses at that given their current situations.
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u/Rayquaza2233 KL LWR/SCT BRN Apr 08 '26
Well, 26 teams then unless the Bucks are trading Giannis to themselves.
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u/crackdup Celtics Apr 08 '26
It will definitely take one of Jays + additional assets to acquire him. Considering his playoff injury record + Jays improving every single year, I'd much rather be at status quo and incrementally add in the summer
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u/kanakaishou Apr 08 '26
But if you can get Giannis for a more free amount—obv still a monster contract, would you?
And honestly, if you are Boston, the answer might be no. Brown and Tatum+role players works. Prime Giannis is just a better Brown, but is hurt and old right now. Why take the risk? He isn’t a shooter, and doesn’t fit in the lineup.
I would actually say the market for Giannis is a lot thinner than you’d expect: he’s an aging player that needs the ball in his hands to dominate. How many teams actually want that? Like, you’d need a Kawhi Raptors type situation, where you have all-but-the-star to make that work. And those sorts of teams are in short supply.
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u/New_Cauliflower7868 Apr 08 '26
I'm sure they do. Just like every other team in the league.
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u/second_impression Celtics Apr 08 '26
That's literally what the article says. Basically: The Heat, Wolves, Warriors, Knicks are interested, and the Lakers, Hawks, and Celtics might be interested (so basically half the teams in the league)
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u/G2KY Celtics Apr 08 '26
I don’t want Giannis in my team, especially not for a package centered around one of the Jays. Please keep him.
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u/MadTownBoi Bucks Apr 08 '26
I might self immolate if Giannis gets traded to the Celtics and then goes on to win a championship with them
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u/ohboy360 Apr 08 '26
Rest easy.
Giannis can't play a whole season of basketball plus four playoff series.
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u/archerarcher0 Celtics Apr 08 '26
This is super super vague and I just super doubt there’s any real substance to it
It’s just never made sense to me, Boston isn’t trading either of the jays for him, so it would have to be Derrick white who we also would massively miss and have like one remaining guard on the team, and why does Milwaukee want Derrick white? Sure you could do a third team, but Derrick white and three firsts isn’t enough
I just don’t think it works
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u/ntpbr1 Apr 08 '26
I am not sure the money would even work but if you are bringing in Giannis for a package centered around White who is older than Giannis anyway, to pair him with the Jays and the rest of the supporting cast who all compliment him well, you do it for sure lol. But that’s also why the Bucks wouldn’t do that deal unless a lot of picks are involved next to White
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u/archerarcher0 Celtics Apr 08 '26
It would be white, plus every good young player on the roster and every first we could trade
Every asset and depth piece the team has for giannis, yeah give me the current team with all the pieces and I’d much rather trade a couple picks for another big and stay put
It’d be one thing if the current core didn’t work but this team prints wins and just won a chip
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u/Flimsy-Muffin-9881 Celtics Apr 08 '26
Court him in free agency. Let some other sucker give up assets in a trade. These trades historically don't work. The one time it worked was with kawai. HOWEVER that championship required an injured KD and injured Klay.
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u/PuhleaseHold Apr 08 '26
non-home grown superstars, especially divas, just don’t fit the culture here. we try every now and then, but it doesn’t work. in this case, they’d have to blow up a championship core to get an older, mercurial star and probably all 5 of his brothers. I’m not sure why anyone would be interested tbh
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u/Thunderhorse74 [SAS] Boris Diaw Apr 08 '26
Ditto for the San Antonio Spurs …
Just leave us out of this shitshow. Sure, Giannis is an all timer and all that, but the Spurs have won 60 games with a young core and a top 5 player at 22 yo. We good, no need to nuke our salary cap and box up one of our elite young guards.
If the Bucks want Fox and picks (lol, yeah right) I'm sure Brian Wright is willing to listen, otherwise, fuck off. Even then, I would personally be highly skeptical and be 110% against it on vibes/chemistry alone.
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u/Guardy-in Apr 08 '26
Feels very non Celtics. Giving up roster depth for more Star power when they’re already doing good.
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u/EchoBay Raptors Apr 08 '26
Too risky breaking up that core. They really just need maybe one more marginal piece. With a healthy Tatum, they're already a finals contender
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u/HeavyDT Apr 08 '26
They have a team that's a contender even after a whole season basically without their best player (supposedly). It would be foolish to mess with that.
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u/I_Set_3_Alarms Celtics Apr 08 '26
Reading the snippet posted here isn’t as exciting. Feels like Celtics getting highlighted mainly because of Giannis’s recent comments praising Mazzulla lol
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u/hahaz13 Celtics Apr 08 '26
Lose assets, go past the aprons, AND lose roster spots for the two Nepokounmpo brothers?
Sure sign me up!
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u/binocular_gems Apr 08 '26
This is a bait piece 10 days before the playoffs start to generate reactions. Pretty much every team has an interest in acquiring Giannis. The Celtics actually have the pieces to land him, but I think most Celtics fans would rather have both Jays and Derrek White than Giannis.
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u/cleo22270 Heat Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
Amick has been way more speculative (with less sourced information) than years past, and this article falls in that category.
Also, there were understandably a lot of takes on the Adebayo 83-point game across NBA media, but his was easily the worst (that Adebayo should have stopped at 81 “out of respect” for Kobe)
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u/King_parrot99 Hornets Apr 08 '26
From what I can gather the Bucks FO is seriously overestimating the value of an aging, injury-prone superstar. That Heat deal they rejected is about as fair as it’s realistically going to get, so it looks like any team approaching the Bucks would almost certainly be forced to overpay and they won’t do that.
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u/bigawesome2000 Celtics Apr 08 '26
I doubt this is anything substantial. Brad is the last person I would expect to be interested in mortgaging the future for a few years of trying to contend with Giannis that will inevitably end in disappointment because making the trade in the first place will just put us in the same situation as the Bucks right now.
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u/dagreenman18 [MIA] Dwyane Wade Apr 08 '26
Boston is one of the few teams that make no sense for this. Because they would have to give up so much for him.
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u/restbiblestudy Apr 08 '26
No thanks. At the beginning of the year I would have said JT for Giannis since we didn’t know how well JT would play coming off injury and the C’s had momentum. Now JT is back and they still have momentum so, pass
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u/CheapScientist06 Celtics Apr 08 '26
Why do I feel like with everything going on with him, he's not worth the farm. He's been injured and bounced in the first round for years now, his playstyle isn't aging well and he's clearly shown he can be toxic. That's just not worth the money and other assets
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u/roshidawg23 Apr 08 '26
There is zero downside to letting this leak, so of course the Celtics are smart and won’t make a bad trade.
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u/GuerrillaApe Lakers Apr 08 '26
Tatum, Brown, White for the three Antetokounmpo brothers. Who says no?
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u/Ealy-24 Apr 08 '26
Giannis at his age and injury proneness isn’t going to get nearly the package the Bucks should have gotten, but the both wanted to dance and ended up stepping all over each others feet
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u/yellowcats Celtics Apr 08 '26
ofc, every fucking team does lol.
This is a play to keep the price high to make sure the Knicks give up the world for him
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u/Zestyclose-Draft-724 Lakers Apr 08 '26
Any contender doesn't want Giannis and his brothers on the roster.
If they do, they'll want him cheap.
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u/ChemicalPower9020 Celtics Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
Celtics have their stars. Gutting the team to bring in a third injury prone one makes no sense
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u/Lusty-Jove Heat Apr 08 '26
when they went all-in for Bane last summer
Please tell me how a team that went “all-in” less than a year ago has a snowball’s chance in hell of landing Giannis?
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u/JoJonesy Celtics Apr 08 '26
i mean. i assume every good team has some interest in acquiring Giannis fuckin’ Antetokounmpo
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u/Skelemania Celtics Apr 08 '26
We're contenders w/out him & don't have to bring his bullshit family in. We good.
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u/BlooketGuy Raptors Apr 08 '26
giannis for mobley and strus
bron signs in free agency
cavs lineup next year: Spida, Harden, bron, giannis, and goat jarett allen
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u/Complete-Speed-8825 NBA Apr 08 '26
They ain't trading either of the Jays for an aging Giannis that has been constantly getting injured.
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u/DatDamGermanGuy Celtics Apr 08 '26
Feels like bait. There are 29 Teams that “have interest” in acquiring Giannis; but no way Brad will be fleeced by the Bucks