Raptors look set up to trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Toronto Raptors could make a push to trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
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They’ve got just the right treasure trove of assets to make things interesting if the Milwaukee Bucks do indeed decide to trade away the Greek Freak.
Complicating matters right now is that Antetokounmpo is out with a calf injury that will sideline him beyond the NBA trade deadline.
That won’t stop teams from picking up the phone to see if the Bucks would trade Giannis in the next couple weeks anyway.
The Raptors are set up nicely to have a chance.
“Outside of perhaps Detroit, no East playoff team can beat a potential Antetokounmpo trade package from the Raptors,” ESPN’s Bobby Marks wrote in a new article on Monday.
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MORE: What Giannis injury means for the Bucks’ future
That comes with one caveat.
“The difficulty of the trade increases if Milwaukee asks for Scottie Barnes,” Marks adds.
The Raptors would likely want to do the deal to pair Barnes and Antetokounmpo together, not to just swap them.
Milwaukee, of course, would be warranted in asking for everything Toronto has in exchange for its superstar.
“Besides the ability to trade four first-round picks and swaps in each season, Toronto has an All-Star (Scottie Barnes), mix of veterans (Brandon Ingram, RJ Barrett, Jakob Poeltl, Immanuel Quickley) and young players on controllable contracts (Gradey Dick, Ja’Kobe Walter, Collin Murray-Boyles),” Marks writes.
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Given Antetokounmpo’s injury, Milwaukee might wait on a move until the summer. But whenever the time comes, the Raptors could certainly be in the mix.
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