As much as I’d love to end all of the Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Detroit Pistons speculation, ESPN just won’t let it die.
I’ve gone over the litany of reasons that Giannis is not likely to come to Detroit, namely that he hasn’t requested a trade, the Bucks don’t want to trade him and there are other teams that can put together better deals for Milwaukee if the two-time MVP does get moved.
There’s also the challenge of putting together a package that works financially without completely gutting the roster, which is an issue when most of your players are on rookie deals that make it difficult to match $54 million in salary.
For example, the salaries of Tobias Harris, Jaden Ivey, Ausar Thompson and Ron Holland II add up to exactly what Giannis will make next season. Regardless of the player you are getting, sending out four rotation players, three of whom are starters, leaves a thin roster with questions even Giannis may not be able to answer.
Obviously, anyone trading for Giannis is going to have to give up a haul, but there’s a realistic limit even for someone as good as the Greek Freak.
All that said...
If the Pistons could get Giannis for less than that, they would have to consider it.
Detroit Pistons rumors: The Giannis Antetokounmpo trade that works
In this hypothetical fantasy world we are inhabiting momentarily, there are deals that the Pistons would jump at if they were put on the table, including this one from ESPN:
In this proposed deal, the Pistons are only sending out Harris (who is on an expiring contract), Jaden Ivey and Isaiah Stewart, a guy who played 30 games last season and a player who was absent for most of the playoffs.
Did the Pistons miss those two guys? Sure. But they took the Eastern Conference Finalist Knicks to six games without them, and I am pretty certain New York would have rather seen Beef Stew back in there before they’d want to see the Greek Freak, no offense to Stew.
The three picks are almost irrelevant, as the Pistons would likely be one of the top teams in the East for at least two of them and would be chasing titles with Giannis, not lottery picks.
I love these three players, so it’s not like I am itching to get rid of them. Ivey showed real star potential, Stewart is already one of the best backup centers in the league and Harris was hugely important for Detroit’s renaissance this season.
But the chances of any of those three players ever being half as good as Giannis are below zero.
Most of the Giannis trades I see regarding the Pistons have them giving up nearly all of their young guys and picks, while this one has them sending out two guys who weren’t even in the rotation at the end of this season and still leaving them with a pick in next year’s draft.
I called this a “dream” trade for a reason, largely because you’d have to be asleep to believe in it, but if the Bucks ever do decide to trade Giannis, I am sure Trajan Langdon would have no problem giving up this package to get him.