The regular season hasn’t even started yet, but the primary target of the rumor mill is already obvious, and his name is Giannis Antetokounmpo. Even though Milwaukee has made it clear they have no intention of trading him, there are still teams with pipe dreams, including the Detroit Pistons.
I find it difficult to envision a scenario where the Bucks trade the face of their franchise to a division rival, or what a trade like that would even look like. It seems impossible that the Pistons would have the best offer of the long line of teams that would be interested.
But Shams Charania (the gossipy NBA mole at ESPN) got things started a few days ago by reporting Giannis had expressed interest in playing for the Knicks. I swear, poor Knicks fans have to go through this charade every few months, only to be reminded that they may no longer even have the trade package to send back after going all in last season.
Insider Chris Mannix stirred the pot even more, naming several other teams that could be in the market for Giannis, including the Pistons:
“Conventional wisdom says Milwaukee—which won’t do anything without a clear signal from Antetokounmpo—would wait until the offseason. But there are teams very closely monitoring the situation. Houston, even after the Kevin Durant deal, has the kind of capital to make an offer. San Antonio, too. New York, Detroit and Orlando could also get in the mix.”
But before you pre-order your Giannis Pistons jersey, there are some very realistic obstacles that make this more of a pipe dream better fit for video games than something that will happen in reality.
Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Pistons: Great, but how?
Look, there’s not a team in the league that wouldn’t want Giannis, even on the wrong side of 30, as he’s a perennial MVP candidate and one of a small group of players that can singlehandedly make your team a contender.
This is precisely the reason Milwaukee will do everything in their power not to trade him, as there is simply no way to get equal value for a player like Giannis. Even if you can find the right combination of players and picks, Giannis is the type of iconic player whose value extends well beyond the court. Take him off the Bucks, and they are instantly irrelevant. It doesn’t matter how many prospects and picks they get back.
Prior to Giannis, the Bucks were just another mediocre or bad mid-market team with no identity or fan interest outside of Milwaukee and they’ll do everything in their power not to return to the ranks of the ignored.
They especially aren’t going to be keen to send Giannis to a division rival they have to play four times a year and would probably take a lesser deal to keep him out of Detroit. So, there’s all of that before you even get to the trade.
As I said, there are other teams that could offer better deals than the Pistons, but even if that weren’t true, a trade package to get Giannis is going to gut your franchise.
For starters, it would take at least four players to even match his $54 million salary. We’ve talked about all of these same issues with trading for Lauri Markkanen, who is obviously not in the same tier as Giannis, and when you see the astronomical trade package for him, it boggles the mind to think what the Bucks could get for the Greek Freak.
You can say goodbye to at least Jaden Ivey, Ron Holland, Tobias Harris and one other player, and you know the Bucks would push for that player to be Ausar Thompson. We are literally talking about most of the young core here for a guy who is 31 years old.
You are then giving up every pick you have plus a few swaps. In other words, mortgaging the entire future for a chance to try and win titles with a two-player team (albeit two very good players) with very little depth.
Has that ever worked?
I appreciate that the Pistons keep getting mentioned in these rumors, though I’ve already had enough of them and the season hasn’t even started.
Giannis isn’t coming to Detroit and that’s ok. Let some other team gut their roster for a short-term window, I’d prefer sustained success with the guys we have.