{"id":878811,"date":"2026-06-19T18:40:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T18:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/878811\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T18:40:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T18:40:01","slug":"nba-trade-rumors-latest-on-giannis-antetokounmpo-possible-backup-plans-for-celtics-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/878811\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA trade rumors: Latest on Giannis Antetokounmpo, possible backup plans for Celtics, Heat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another day, another slightly different update on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s<\/a> trade market. The Milwaukee Bucks<\/a>\u00a0would like to have a decision on Antetokounmpo’s future by the\u00a0NBA Draft<\/a> next week. And as we get closer to Tuesday’s first round, additional tidbits will emerge.<\/p>\n

We know the Miami Heat<\/a> have strong interest, with a rumored trade package centered around Tyler Herro going to Milwaukee<\/a>. The Boston Celtics<\/a> are said to be interested in landing the NBA champion<\/a>, too, but will they ultimately offer enough to get a deal done?<\/p>\n

Let’s take a look at the latest rumors surrounding the Greek superstar.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"team
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Bucks unlikely to do straight-up Brown-for-Giannis deal<\/p>\n

If the Bucks and Celtics do a trade, it would have to include more than just Jaylen Brown<\/a>, per The Athletic<\/a>. The Celtics would prefer to do a 1-to-1 swap; however, Milwaukee values draft picks. Boston could offer up to three first-round picks in the deal, or the Bucks could look to reroute Brown elsewhere to obtain the draft assets they seek. If this does turn into a three-team deal, it has previously been reported that the Bucks like the idea of bringing the Trail Blazers<\/a> into the conversation to hopefully regain the draft assets they sent out to land Damian Lillard<\/a> a few years ago.<\/p>\n

There’s also a third option in which the Bucks could keep Brown and build around him, though it’s unclear how interested Milwaukee is in doing that, per The Athletic. Either way, it doesn’t sound like Milwaukee is too impressed with what the market is presenting them in a trade for Antetokounmpo right now.<\/p>\n

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Giannis Antetokounmpo trade destinations: Final ranking of 12 landing spots, from Heat to mystery teams<\/p>\n

\n Sam Quinn <\/p>\n

\"Giannis<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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\"team
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Heat could look at Leonard, Morant if they don’t land Giannis<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo’s future will likely hold up all other deals around the league until it’s settled, but teams may already be planning backup options if they lose that sweepstakes. The Heat, who have held long interest in the Greek Freak, could turn to Kawhi Leonard<\/a>\u00a0of the Los Angeles Clippers<\/a> as a Plan B option if they don’t land Antetokounmpo. Ja Morant<\/a> might also be on that list, as the Heat held interest in him at February’s trade deadline, and the Memphis Grizzlies<\/a> are “hopeful” that he will be someone’s backup plan.<\/p>\n

If the Heat pivot to Leonard, they’d have some competition, as the Golden State Warriors<\/a> are also interested in the two-time champion, per The Athletic. There isn’t much clarity surrounding Leonard’s availability right now. It’s unclear what the Clippers’ plans are this offseason after trading James Harden<\/a>\u00a0to the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> in February for Darius Garland<\/a>. Will they still forge ahead with Leonard as their centerpiece, or take a step back and send Leonard elsewhere in an effort to reset? There’s also the looming cloud of Leonard’s status amid the league’s ongoing investigation<\/a> into whether the Clippers circumvented the salary cap in order to pay Leonard.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"team
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Celtics could look to trade for Trey Murphy III<\/p>\n

If Boston ultimately decides not to trade for Antetokounmpo in a deal that would certainly include Brown, they could look for reinforcements elsewhere. The Celtics could instead keep the tandem of Brown and Jayson Tatum<\/a> together and add Trey Murphy III<\/a> from the New Orleans Pelicans<\/a>, who could be a trade candidate this summer. The Celtics certainly won’t be the only team interested in trying to pry Murphy from New Orleans, but they could offer multiple first-round picks to the Pelicans in a deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It will ultimately come down to which team has the more attractive offer, because the first-round picks the Celtics can trade may not be that valuable if they continue to make deep postseason runs.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

10 biggest questions for NBA offseason: Where will Giannis land? How do Spurs rebound? What’s next for LeBron?<\/p>\n

\n Brad Botkin <\/p>\n

\"10<\/p>\n

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\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Timberwolves interested in Derrick White?<\/p>\n

Minnesota was reportedly on the shortlist of teams trying to make a run at Antetokounmpo. However, their pursuits have “cooled,” according to The Athletic. Though that could change if they decide to make Jaden McDaniels<\/a> available. They might also be focusing their efforts on upgrading their existing roster. Derrick White<\/a> is someone the Timberwolves<\/a>\u00a0reportedly have interest in, though it certainly wouldn’t be easy prying him from the Celtics after a career year and an All-Defensive First Team selection<\/p>\n

It would likely take a lot for the Celtics to part ways with White, even if they did land Antetokounmpo. Though from a financial standpoint, paying Tatum, Giannis and White could hamstring the Celtics in the future with this restrictive CBA. We’ve already seen the Celtics dump salary once after winning a championship in an effort to duck the luxury tax and stay far away from the second apron. Perhaps the Wolves could hope that the Celtics would do the same if they land Antetokounmpo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another day, another slightly different update on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s trade market. The Milwaukee Bucks\u00a0would like to have a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":878812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[17654,3125,3128,23229,59153,14561,3368,357151,357150,3140,3576,168069,18169,14562,357152,37970,3370,3142,3135,3120,3130,3131,1260,357149,357148,20708,3137,3133,62,90445,36858,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-878811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-aaron-gordon","tag-boston-celtics","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-damian-lillard","tag-darius-garland","tag-derrick-white","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo-celtics","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo-trade-packages","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-ja-morant","tag-jaden-mcdaniels","tag-james-harden","tag-jaylen-brown","tag-jaylen-brown-trade","tag-jayson-tatum","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-los-angeles-clippers","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-miami-heat","tag-milwaukee-bucks","tag-minnesota-timberwolves","tag-nba","tag-nba-draft-trade-proposals","tag-nba-trade-rumors-2026","tag-nba-trades","tag-new-orleans-pelicans","tag-portland-trail-blazers","tag-sports","tag-trey-murphy-iii","tag-tyler-herro","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878811","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=878811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}