{"id":790856,"date":"2026-05-12T10:28:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T10:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/790856\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T10:28:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T10:28:27","slug":"lakers-should-learn-their-lesson-avoid-giannis-antetokounmpo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/790856\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers should learn their lesson, avoid Giannis Antetokounmpo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I get it, you\u2019re still thinking about the Lakers<\/a> getting swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

It was a valiant fight to the end, Monday\u2019s season-ending 115-110 loss<\/a>. A thriller for naught.<\/p>\n

But now we\u2019ve finally reached the big, beautiful offseason the Lakers have been teasing for months. This pivotal moment that\u2019s had them hoarding assets and fencing off their financial flexibility. All but paralyzed by possibility.<\/p>\n

Even after jogging in place all this time, they\u2019ve finally caught up with the can they kicked down the road: All indications are that the Milwaukee Bucks\u2019 superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is about to hit the trade market.<\/p>\n

And the Lakers \u2014 loaded with trade ammunition and cap space and forever wishing on star players \u2014 are going to be expected to make a play.<\/p>\n

But they should run a different play.<\/p>\n

For months, they\u2019ve been signaling as if with a searchlight how much they covet the 6-foot-11 Greek forward. So, of course, they\u2019re going to take a run at the two-time NBA MVP, 10-time All-Star, 2021 NBA champion who will earn about $58 million next season, when the 31-year-old will expect a massive, multi-year extension.<\/p>\n

They should run the other direction.<\/p>\n

The Lakers have stockpiled cap space and picks \u2014 as of draft night, they\u2019ll have 2026, 2031 and 2033 first-rounders to offer \u2014 like they\u2019re doomsayers outfitting a bunker. If they fill all that available cap space with Antetokounmpo\u2019s salary, they won\u2019t be using it on LeBron James<\/a> or Rui Hachimura<\/a>. The Lakers likely also will have to empty their cupboard of those first-round picks.<\/p>\n

And, yes, it would be a disaster to dedicate all of that to an aging Antetokounmpo instead of doing the work to build a suitable army of role players to take on OKC\u2019s corps \u2014 and to orbit Doncic, the guy who the Lakers already brought in to save the days ahead.<\/p>\n

But, wait, you say, this is the Lakers. This is stars shine here.<\/p>\n

Sure, but what does L.A. love most? Winners.<\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers guard Austin Reaves questions an official about a call during Game 4 against the Thunder on Monday night at Crypto.com Arena.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

You know what constitutes a winning formula in today\u2019s NBA?<\/p>\n

Depth. Athleticism. Versatility. Optionality. Think, the 2019-2020 Lakers.<\/p>\n

You know what doesn\u2019t win?<\/p>\n

Imbalanced rosters. Top-heavy teams. All your dang eggs in one basket. The misfit Russell Westbrook Lakers. These 2026 three-or-D Lakers. And certainly not a flimsy, clunky Luka Doncic-and-Antetokounmpo Lakers.<\/p>\n

Sure, those guys are great players. They could figure it out.<\/p>\n

But would it be an optimum use of their respective talents?<\/p>\n

In Greek: \u03cc\u03c7\u03b9. In Slovenian: Ne.<\/p>\n

In Los Angelese: Oh, heck no.<\/p>\n

Everyone knows to get the best out of a Luka-led team, you surround him with shooters \u2014 and Antetokounmpo is 28.5% from deep for his career. But Hachimura \u2014 proven playoff riser and certified laser \u2014 is a 51.6% three-point shooter in the postseason; the better more-gifted player isn\u2019t necessarily the better fit.<\/p>\n

Because everyone also knows Antetokounmpo is at his best when he\u2019s barreling toward the rim with the ball in his hands \u2014 during which time Doncic is going to be doing what? Standing in the corner, arguing with the refs? <\/p>\n

The last time they waited to catch the big fish, he didn\u2019t bite. Fortuitously. They missed out on injury-prone Kawhi Leonard, who chose the Clippers before the 2019-20 season and left the Lakers to scramble to assemble \u2026 a championship roster.<\/p>\n

Around James and Anthony Davis \u2014 who, fun fact, made just $27 million that season before agreeing to a historic and more cumbersome three-year extension \u2014 the Lakers had shooters who could defend, like Danny Green. And defenders who could shoot, like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Alex Caruso. Length all over the court. Athleticism in the post: JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard who could play with or for AD.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the blueprint OKC has been using, the same one the Lakers discarded to go big-name hunting, bringing aboard Westbrook by trading away Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell and a No. 22 pick.<\/p>\n

Talk about a brick.<\/p>\n

\"Bucks <\/p>\n

Milwaukee fired coach Doc Rivers and might be trading superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo this offseason.<\/p>\n

(Jeffrey Phelps \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Similar story in Milwaukee, where Antetokounmpo\u2019s Bucks went all in for Damian Lillard and have nothing but failure to show for it.<\/p>\n

So if \u2014 or, well, when \u2014 the Lakers go in mad pursuit of Giannis, I will have questions.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll question why the Bucks would have the appetite to send another singular, single-name talent to L.A. after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar came and won five championships here.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll question whether Giannis wants to be in L.A., our \u201csuperficial\u201d city, as he called it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll question why the Lakers would invest so heavily on an aging, oft-injured star whose game is predicated on athleticism and not the out-of-this-world basketball IQ like 41-year-old LeBron.<\/p>\n

And, yes, I\u2019ll question the fit and the function and whether the Lakers have fully missed what\u2019s been happening around them \u2014 and to them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I get it, you\u2019re still thinking about the Lakers getting swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":790857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[178683,322956,1582,276,291317,103147,3368,20734,322957,2961,8604,224,5337,3130,97397,36179,7859,1424,25927,66160],"class_list":{"0":"post-790856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-antetokounmpo","9":"tag-athleticism","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-cap-space","13":"tag-first-round-pick","14":"tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","15":"tag-kentavious-caldwell-pope","16":"tag-l-a-love","17":"tag-la","18":"tag-lakers","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-losangeles","21":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","22":"tag-nba-champion","23":"tag-next-season","24":"tag-okc","25":"tag-playoff","26":"tag-rui-hachimura","27":"tag-shooter"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116561137848247752","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790856","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=790856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}