{"id":424443,"date":"2025-12-04T16:24:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T16:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/424443\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T16:24:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T16:24:11","slug":"this-eastern-conference-team-could-be-a-sleeper-contender-for-giannis-antetokounmpo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/424443\/","title":{"rendered":"This Eastern Conference Team Could Be a Sleeper Contender for Giannis Antetokounmpo"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade saga appeared ready to launch. <\/a><\/p>\n

After an offseason of rumors about the Greek superstar\u2019s status in Milwaukee, ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania reported Antetokounmpo and his representatives would be meeting with the Bucks\u2019 front office to explore whether a trade is in everybody\u2019s best interests. Then the two-time MVP went down with a calf strain in the team\u2019s win <\/a>over the Pistons that night and everything is now in a holding pattern; it\u2019s likely the topic of a trade won\u2019t even be broached until Antetokounmpo is healthy, or at least receives a recovery timeline for his latest injury. <\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the cat is out of the bag. A Giannis trade is more realistic than ever before. Even with the injury it\u2019s tempting to survey the landscape of the NBA and try to figure who could land the superstar forward<\/a>. The most popular candidates discussed after the news broke were the usual suspects for star trade discussion: the Knicks (after Antetokounmpo reportedly requested the Bucks look into a trade specifically with New York<\/a> over the offseason), the Lakers and the Warriors. All three teams are in big markets and have a recent history of big swings via star trade acquisitions, so it makes sense most theoretical trade packages would include one of those squads. <\/p>\n

But there\u2019s one Eastern Conference team flying under the radar that fits the bill as a sleeper candidate in the Antetokounmpo sweepstakes: the Hawks. <\/p>\n

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The Hawks check two boxes for an Antetokounmpo trade: desirable draft assets and a big enough contract that the finances won\u2019t be too complicated. Most other teams who would realistically pursue Antetokounmpo can only offer one of those two. <\/p>\n

First, the contract. Atlanta\u2019s Trae Young is making $45.9 million this season in the fourth year of his $215 million max extension; he has a player option worth $48.9 million for next season. It\u2019s a big enough salary that, according to the Fanspo trade machine, the Hawks could trade Young for Antetokounmpo straight-up and it works despite the complicated trade rules of the first apron. That, of course, will not happen. If the Bucks are going to trade their superstar player they\u2019ll want way more than just Young in return, even if they\u2019re high on the guard\u2019s elite playmaking skills. But as a starting point it makes putting together the rest of the trade package simple, which is an advantage. <\/p>\n

Second, thanks to a draft day trade last June the Hawks have a draft asset the Bucks would absolutely love to land: the rights to their own 2026 first-round pick. Milwaukee traded the right to swap picks to the Pelicans as part of the Jrue Holiday trade way back when; New Orleans sent it to Atlanta during the 2025 NBA draft. This means, as things stand, the Hawks get either the Bucks\u2019 or the Pelicans\u2019 pick depending on which one is better. If Atlanta sent control of the pick back to Milwaukee the Bucks would be able to keep the pick if they bottomed out without Antetokounmpo, which is probably the franchise\u2019s biggest worry about trading him. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s no point in dumping the superstar in order to tank this season because they don\u2019t control their own pick. But if they traded him to Atlanta and got to make their own selection in a pretty loaded 2026 draft? That would change everything. The Hawks also own the rights to the Bucks\u2019 2027 pick swap but via a complicated series of protections involving the Spurs so adding that to the package would be tricky, but doable. <\/p>\n

Lastly, there\u2019s motivation in Atlanta to take this kind of swing. The franchise has been unusually aggressive under GM Onsi Saleh and he put together a very solid squad this year that currently occupies the fourth spot in the East standings despite Young missing all but five games so far this season. They are good enough to compete in a weak conference this season and could wind up favorites if Atlanta acquired Antetokounmpo without decimating the roster to do so. <\/p>\n

Which is the kicker. How can the Hawks land Giannis without weakening the team to the point they would struggle to contend?<\/p>\n

The Bucks would definitely try to pry Jalen Johnson from Atlanta. The fifth-year wing has exploded this season after a breakout campaign last year was derailed by a season-ending shoulder injury. Johnson is averaging 20.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 7.3 assists per game as the sort of do-it-all wing that dominates today\u2019s NBA. He seems destined for an All-Star berth and has plenty more room to develop at only 23 years old. But Johnson\u2019s outlook is so bright at this point the Hawks would be loathe to give him up\u2014to the point they may not engage in Antetokounmpo trade talks if the Bucks require Johnson as part of the package. <\/p>\n

So let\u2019s assume Milwaukee is willing to play ball sans Johnson in order to get their picks back. A package featuring Young and one or both of the Bucks\u2019 draft picks in the next two years would definitely be a good starting point. To sweeten the pot the Hawks could try to add in Zaccharie Risacher, the first pick in the 2024 draft who has shown flashes of intrigue but doesn\u2019t project to be more than a competent rotation player as of now. Milwaukee would probably counter by trying to add Dyson Daniels, a Defensive Player of the Year-caliber defender with a penchant for massive steal totals. <\/p>\n

There are two realistic trade packages, then. Young, Risacher, the Bucks\u2019 two picks, and whatever other draft assets Atlanta has leftover given the team still owes picks to the Spurs for the Dejounte Murray trade. Or just Young, Daniels, and the Bucks\u2019 two picks. Both options get Milwaukee control over its next two drafts and enticing young players to go with Young. Then the Bucks could try to direct Young to a third team or decide to give him a trial run before making a decision on his future with the franchise this offseason, pending his player option. <\/p>\n

Something to monitor if the Giannis sweepstakes get truly underway. <\/p>\n

More NBA on Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Wednesday, the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade saga appeared ready to launch. After an offseason of rumors about the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":424444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[1260,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-424443","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-nba","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115662229949239939","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}