NBA Exec Names 3 Dark Horse Suitors For Giannis Antetokounmpo
NBA Exec Names 3 Dark Horse Suitors For Giannis Antetokounmpo
An NBA executive named three potential dark horse suitors for Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo this week.
Although Antetokounmpo is still under contract with the Bucks for two more years and is inarguably the greatest player in franchise history, questions regarding his future with the organization have bubbled to the surface in recent days.
This is mainly based off an interview he conducted in late August where he said that he will not commit to Milwaukee long-term if the front office doesn’t commit to putting together a winning situation around him.
“The real question’s not going to be this year — numbers wise it doesn’t make sense [to extend this year],” Antetokounmpo told Tania Ganguli of the New York Times. “But next year, next summer it would make more sense for both parties. Even then, I don’t know.
“I would not be the best version of myself if I don’t know that everybody’s on the same page, everybody’s going for a championship, everybody’s going to sacrifice time away from their family like I do,” he continued.
“And if I don’t feel that [in Milwaukee], I’m not signing … Winning a championship comes first. I don’t want to be 20 years on the same team and don’t win another championship.”
This week Sean Deveney spoke with an NBA executive who offered three dark horse potential suitors for Antetokounmpo in the foreseeable future.
Those teams? The Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs and Toronto Raptors.
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The Thunder, specifically, could make a really special offering to Antetokounmpo.
“No one would be in better position to go after him than OKC,” the NBA executive said.
“Not to say they would, but they’d have to be a starting point. They have the young talent, they have, I think it is nine (first-round) picks in the next three years. If Milwaukee decides, OK, we’ve got to move on here, that is the first team you call.
“There aren’t many guys who are going to make the Thunder think about a big move, packaging the assets. But Giannis is one, if he’d want to go there.”
That said, the NBA executive also made a credible case for both San Antonio and Toronto.
“I think you can’t rule out those kinds of teams,” the executive said.
“Giannis has always carried himself like he is all about winning, like that is what matters most to him. He is a little different. I mean, that is the reputation, anyway.
“If that is really the case, then wouldn’t he want to go play for (Gregg Popovich), play alongside Wemby there? If Toronto can give up only one of its guys and brought back Giannis? They would really have something there.”
Obviously Antetokounmpo is still a long way away from actually leaving the Bucks.
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And it’s fair to wonder if this would actually be a story in December when there is real hoops occurring instead of the dog days of September when Brandon Ingram’s reaction to getting benched for Josh Hart is the hottest news basketball story around.
But still, where there is smoke – there is usually some glimmer of fire.
Will Antetokounmpo actually ditch the Bucks? Probably not. But stranger things have certainly happened in NBA in recent years.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
