ESPN latest: Bucks hoping to keep star Giannis Antetokounmpo from requesting a trade this offseason

ESPN latest: Bucks hoping to keep star Giannis Antetokounmpo from requesting a trade this offseason

with you NBA free agency here And the big question this summer centers on a star who’s not a free agent What’s going to happen to Giannis the Bucks reached a three-year deal to keep Bobby Poris in Milwaukee but the East is wide open The rumors of Giannis’ future will not go away NBA front office insider Bobby Marks joining us now Bobby I’m going to give you a really tough job I’m going to put you in the Bucks front office What would you do with Giannis right now with the uncertainty down the road
i’m building a roster around him Kevin That’s um it’s full steam ahead as far as how they add Listen when you have a generational player like Giannis on your roster under contract for at least the next two years you are doing everything you can to add to that roster Now there’s some heavy lifting their GM John Horse is going to have to do They went out and agreed to a a deal with Bobby Portoris Jr They’re going to have to go out and get a center here Certainly Brook Lopez is a free agent Keep an eye on potentially DeAndre Aton They need a point guard Remember Damen Lillard is out for an extended period of time and they also have some of their own free agents Gary Trent Jr Torian Prince to name a few Uh so this yes there is some work to be done but I am not opening up the phone lines as far as taking calls for Giannis I am trying to do my best to build that roster around him
All right so you’re sending the voicemail with all the calls Giannis has the most career points rebounds assists and blocks in Bucks history Uh no doubt a foundational guy Let’s go to another one LeBron made his decision yesterday opting into his $52.6 $.6 million contract but there is seems to be some uncertainty about his future in LA on that one-year deal What should the Lakers do with LeBron right now
well I would say I would be focused on what should they do with Luca I mean I think that’s the most important thing here Kevin You know Rob Pelinko their GM is is almost operating on two timelines You have the LeBron entering the last year of his contract and then you have Luca who’s extension eligible for 222 at the end of August Remember this is a Lakers team that has a clear cap ledger after next year They can go out and sign two Max guys So I’m not going out there risking cap space just to appease LeBron James a player that might not even be on your roster next year Yes they need to go out and and fortify getting a center and they need some bench depth here but I’m not making one of these high-risk moves just to appease LeBron James for one season
Let’s not forget to this is a team that finished third in the West The 40-year-old LeBron is expected to become the first player to play 23 NBA seasons in league history Bobby Marks thank you so much And you’ll see much more from Bobby Come
stay or will he go when the season was over Giannis said he was open-minded about playing elsewhere Then later he said he hopes to be back with the Bucks Back here with CBS Sports NBA writer Sam Quinn CBS Sports HQ NBA analysts Tim Doyle John Gonzalez Bucks off season has left a lot to be desired drafted 19-year-old Serbian Bugaloo Marovich in the second round Made a deal to keep Bobby Portoris Pat Conetan picked up his player option They signed Alabama guard Mark Sears to a two-way contract Damen Lillard expected to miss all of next season because of to the torn Achilles Giannis has three years left on his deal including a player option in the final year So Sam there’s some decisions to be made of course in the front office here from Milwaukee What should they do
yeah they’ve got to get younger first and foremost right brook Lopez leaving He was 37 They’ve got to get younger players Damen Lillard out for the year So I’m looking at that $ 14.1 million non-t taxpayer mid-level Could you go out sign a point guard to replace Damen Lillard maybe somebody like a Trey Jones Also go out into the trade market The Boston Celtics got Anthony Simons in that Drew Holiday deal but they might not want to keep him They might want to shed some more money either resign Al Horford maybe even try to duck the duck the luxury tax Could he fill in for Damen Lillard as a primary perimeter scorer while you wait for Lillard to get healthy just to keep the team afloat right I don’t think Giannis has any illusions that this team is going to compete for the championship this year But if you go to the trade deadline and you’re 510 games below 500 and the Spurs are sitting there with all those assets the Rocket sitting there with all those assets you just know the Lakers are thinking about it that’s when stuff starts to get pretty tough So if I’m the Bucks all I’m thinking here is let’s get younger Let’s give him some optimism Let’s keep this team afloat while we wait for Damen Lillard to get healthy
Yeah I I think if you’re the Bucks and and general manager John Horse what you should what you should do is curl up into the fetal position This thing’s a disaster They have 80% of their cap tied up in Giannis Dame who as you mentioned is not going to play next year because he suffered that torn Achilles and Kyle Koosma And they moved on from Chris Middleton to get Kyle Koozma I understand why they moved on from Chris Middleton because Chris Middleton is a shell of his former self He’s definitely not the guy that they won a championship with Getting Kyle Koosma I don’t know what that was about That was a bad idea He hasn’t exactly performed well since going to to Milwaukee and he’s not exactly a a needle mover Yes Sam is right They need to get younger and they need to give uh Giannis some optimism here but I don’t see how you’re going to do that Even in a really weakened Eastern Conference the Bucks are a long way away from being contenders And at some point I know that Giannis said in that interview gave an interview in early June while he was in Brazil I’m going back to the Bucks I want to be in Milwaukee Okay that’s early June We’re now into almost July What’s going to happen in mid July late July in September October when the reality starts setting in sam mentioned the trade deadline I don’t think either of these two sides are even getting that far I know that both sides are saying “We want to stay together You know we want a championship together.” That’s great You had a really good time together This thing’s over It’s time to blow this thing up The only way that you’re going to reboot the Bucks is by unfortunately for them unplugging Giannis And at some point one of these sides is going to figure out that look we can’t exist together anymore and have a chance to win a championship And if I’m Giannis who has said multiple times that all he cares about is winning another championship We talked about LeBron winning another one Well Giannis only has the one right it’s not going to be be in Milwaukee for number two Time to get moving Damen Lillard is going to be 36 years old coming off an Achilles injury Like that’s your Robin Like I don’t know Like to John’s point and Sam’s point you know it’s over in Milwaukee So I was just kind of looking at their roster without Giannis I think that’s the worst team in basketball Like if you remove Giannis from the roster I think that’s the worst team in basketball I’m not kidding Like I think that roster is that bad So Giannis is 30 years old He’s getting right to where like you hit a crossroads in your career Like some guys are able to push through and still be pretty good 32 33 Uh obviously he’s owed a boatload of money but he is still right in the prime of his career I mean he gave you know the Pacers all they could handle single-handedly in that series So um yeah I mean there’s just absolutely no way they can really contend Um you feel bad because they tried they tried everything I made a joke about it before They put his brother on the team Like if John Gonzalez’s family member wants to work at CBS we’re not hiring them Even though John’s great at his job Like they were like “Sure you brother wants to play Come on He get a uniform.” Like they tried It’s just it’s over And I think Giannis has to look in the mirror and be like “All right it’s time to move on.” Sam what would it look like is it possible for them to deal Giannis and what would a deal of that magnitude look like
i mean I think we’re a few months away but if we get there you’re looking at any team in the league is going to make a call right but who’s at the top of that list you got to figure it’s San Antonio right they could have traded for Kevin Durant Kevin Durant wanted to go there They held back their best offer because they wanted to wait for Giannis who’s younger and frankly at this stage a better player They have the number two overall pick Dylan Harper They have the rookie of the year Stefon Castle I would imagine that either of those two guys maybe even both would be at the center of that trade They have tradable salary Guys like Harrison Barnes Kell Johnson guys like that The Spurs have so much to trade that they could get Giannis and still feasibly have a deep team around him and Webyama and Fox and all of that I’d look at San Antonio at the front of that line but I have to imagine all 29 other teams are going to be lining up there saying “We’d like Giannis We’re going to raise our hands for him.” So San Antonio at the front everybody in the back
What about the Knicks they don’t have a head coach yet but they could say “Hey we have Giannis.”
I mean it would be nice if they could pull it off right but they don’t have any draft picks so it’s going to be tough If you’re going to get Giannis to the Knicks it has to be a playercentric trade So what are you doing right is Carl Anthony Towns going to appeal to Milwaukee is Male Bridges OGNobi if you’re the Knicks you offer anybody except for Jaylen Brunson I don’t think the city of New York would stand for him to be traded even for prime Michael Jordan But you offer anything else if you could partner Jaylen Brunson with Giannis Antenna Kmpo you’d figure you’re in pretty good shape to win the East and after that in the finals who knows it’s just going to be so hard without youth and draft picks because if you don’t have Giannis and you’re the Bucks remember they don’t control their own draft picks either So they’d have to bring in youth bring in draft picks from the outside And if the Knicks can’t give it to him you better hope there’s a third team that can John is there a scenario that that would be appealing for Milwaukee to take on a player package like that and give up Giannis so that they can restart i can’t I can’t imagine that the Knicks would end up winning the Giannis sweep stakes for all the reasons that Sam just outlined I mean if you’re not going to move on if you’re not going to offer Jaylen Brunson in that deal and Sam mentioned that there would be open revolt in New York City about it and I’d love to see that by the way I think it’d be highly entertaining The Bing Bongs would lose their mind about that But no I I can’t imagine that you’re gonna go “Hey how about Male Bridges and OG Anovi is that gonna get it done?” Sam is absolutely right Everybody in the league is going to make a call about Giannis and maybe there’s some teams that we’re not thinking about that could put together some attractive package Maybe he wants to play in Golden State or maybe he all of a sudden has googly eyes for for LA and playing alongside Luca I don’t know that they could match the same package either But ultimately it’s going to be San Antonio that’s going to look really attractive Not just because of what they can offer to the Bucks The Bucks would look around and go “Man yeah some combination of the rookie of the year Stefan Castle or Dylan Harper or both plus the matching salaries that you mentioned plus that bushel of draft picks that they’ve been hoarding because that they thought and rightly so that eventually Giannis could could look around and think that this makes sense But if you’re a Giannis as I mentioned you you keep saying you want to win another championship.” All right let’s look around the NBA If you’re not going to be in the Eastern Conference where’s your best shot to win with a young core well it certainly looks like Oklahoma City’s established Houston’s established Well hold on I could go play with WBY a generational talent of his own I can go play with the Aaron Fox and maybe one of these rookie guards and all of a sudden we’ve got a nice young team that’s going to make things life really difficult for Oklahoma City and Houston That looks like a really attractive spot for me I mean just imagine the defense that you could put on the floor with WBY and Giannis Every team in the league would shudder at that
When are we getting that deal done that that’s I’m I’m ready for that Yeah that that that seems like it’s going to happen because if you’re the Bucks and you get Dylan Harper and Stefon Castle
Yeah I agree Greg I mean what building blocks you have the number two pick in the draft I think Dylan Harper is going to be like a 20 point a game scorer I think Stefon Castle could be like now you start over Like now it’s like okay and then by the way if you’re not good maybe you go get a top 10 pick in next year draft Maybe you get AJ Deansa like and you win the lottery Like so yeah like this is you’re going to get if you can get Harper and Castle then I think you absolutely have to make this deal if you’re from Milwaukee
All right Well we’ll see if uh if that ends up coming to fruition If it does we will be here for you to break it down Sam Quinn John Gonzalez Tim Doyle here with us on CBS Sports HQ Bucks won the title in 2021 and um they’ve gotten out of the first round just one time so it’s time to perhaps reset Will they trade Giannis we wait to see Will Giannis decide to force his way out again he’s got three years left on his deal with the final year as a player option That Hello Heat at all I’m going to do Okay Heat Got

ESPN latest: Bucks hoping to keep star Giannis Antetokounmpo from requesting a trade this offseason