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How many players in NBA history have ever been traded while playing at a higher level 2024-25 Giannis Antetokounmpo? The obvious answer is the last Milwaukee Bucks MVP to get traded, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but he isn’t a fair precedent to use in forecasting a possible deal because he was intent on going only to New York or Los Angeles for personal reasons.
After that, assuming you discard the various Wilt Chamberlain deals as anachronisms, the list won’t stretch longer than seven names: Luka Dončić in 2025, Kevin Durant in 2023, James Harden in 2021, Kawhi Leonard in 2018, Kevin Garnett in 2007, Shaquille O’Neal in 2004 and Charles Barkley in 1992. Every player on that list was either a regular-season MVP or a Finals MVP by the time he was traded except for Dončić, who was the youngest of the group to get moved at 25 and may have gotten there if given more time. Antetokounmpo is a member of both clubs.
Trades like this might seem somewhat common nowadays, but I promise you, they aren’t. Dončić only moved because he happened to play for the one general manager foolish enough to trade him. Nico Harrison didn’t even hold a bidding war. He just ditched him in the dead of night. Kawhi Leonard was injured when he was moved, and the whole world knew he wanted to end up in Los Angeles. Barkley was so frequently involved in controversies that Philadelphia was ready to move on of its own volition.
None of this is what is happening with Antetokounmpo. With the Bucks exiting in the first round of the playoffs (again), and with Damian Lillard facing a long absence with a torn Achilles, Giannis has simply reached the logical endpoint of an otherwise healthy relationship with the team that drafted him. He is healthy, has multiple years remaining on his contract, and so far as we know, not dead set on a single destination. He declined to discuss his future with Milwaukee in depth after Tuesday’s season-ending loss.
“I’m not gonna do this,” Antetokounmpo said. “I know how this is gonna — whatever I say I know it’s going to translate. I don’t know man. I wish I was still playing. I wish I was still competing and going back to Milwaukee. I don’t know.”
Giannis is the perfect trade candidate. Everybody should want him. “But Sam,” you, a fan of a team light on shooting and heavy on front court depth might say, “what if he doesn’t fit on our roster?” You remake your roster for him. Chances to land players like Giannis Antetokounmpo are precious. Everybody, to some extent, is going to try.
So we’re not going to limit a list of possible suitors to just the best of the best. We’re going to address every team by ranking all of them, not including the Bucks (think of them as No. 30 for our purposes), according to how much sense an Antetokounmpo trade makes for all parties involved. Keep in mind, we know very little at the moment about what the Bucks would want in such a trade. We will therefore keep an open mind when it comes to packages based on picks, youth or veterans. Lastly, remember that the NBA Draft Lottery has not happened yet. We will therefore speak in generalities when it comes to 2025 draft picks. However, if a team does indeed land Cooper Flagg and is willing to trade him for Antetokounmpo, they immediately become a viable destination, or in one case, the unquestioned favorite.
Tier XII: Don’t waste our time
29. Sacramento Kings: They couldn’t convince De’Aaron Fox to stay but they’re convincing an MVP to stay?
28. New Orleans Pelicans: Bad front office, cheap ownership, injury-prone star at the same position, no thank you, at least as a landing spot. Keep an eye on the Pelicans as a facilitator, though. They control Milwaukee’s first-round picks in 2026 and 2027, so if the Bucks want to tank, they have to work with New Orleans.
27. Dallas Mavericks: Hey, maybe if Nico Harrison had negotiated with the Lakers for more than 30 seconds he could’ve extracted Austin Reaves in the Dončić trade and actually brought some meaningful assets to the table here! Yes, it is pretty funny that Harrison traded Dončić for Anthony Davis because “defense wins championships” mere months away from the potential Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, in case you were wondering.
26. Portland Trail Blazers: Portland is in the same boat as New Orleans. The Blazers won’t get Giannis, but they control Milwaukee’s first-round picks in 2028, 2029 and 2030, so they’re an obvious facilitator. They rank above New Orleans because, well, they don’t have arguably the worst ownership-front office combination in basketball.
25. Washington Wizards: The front office seems to know what it’s doing and it’s a city starved for a basketball star like this, but they’re just too young. Check in again in two years, they’ll be a player in talks like these.
24. Charlotte Hornets: LaMelo Ball would be a more fun Antetokounmpo teammate than an effective one. It’d be fun if this sort of trade kicked off a starter jacket renaissance, though.
23. Toronto Raptors: Rumored in the past, but that’s when the Raptors were good and Masai Ujiri’s reputation was impeccable. The last few years have been puzzling and the roster is aimless. Antetokounmpo isn’t betting the end of his prime on this team.
Tier XI: Cool city, bro
22. Chicago Bulls: Chicago is a desirable enough market that it can’t be listed in the absolute bottom tier, but the basketball situation is enough of a mess that it can’t be ranked any higher.
Tier X: Fun idea, not enough to trade
21. Phoenix Suns: I mean, you know Mat Ishbia is going to try, but the only thing he has of any value (besides the only thing that could make them desirable to Antetokounmpo, Devin Booker) is Kevin Durant, and there’s just no way Phoenix gets enough back for him to make a run at a younger, better player.
20. Los Angeles Clippers: Lots of fun win-now stuff here, but none of it is all that valuable in a trade. Kawhi Leonard is too injury-prone. James Harden is 35, not known for his conditioning and has a history of causing problems when he doesn’t want to be somewhere. There’s no real youth here. Most of their picks are still gone.
19. Denver Nuggets: A few years ago, the Nuggets would have come in pretty high on this list. Since then, Jamal Murray‘s injuries have piled up and Michael Porter Jr. has stagnated. Besides, even if that weren’t the case, go ahead and take a look at how most players who have left Nikola Jokić have performed without him. It’s not pretty.
Tier IX: A real stretch but…
18. Memphis Grizzlies: Ja Morant might actually be pretty valuable to a Milwaukee team in need of a franchise player. The Grizzlies control their future picks. Zach Edey has upside. Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane are pretty easy fits next to Giannis. We’ve just never, not even once, seen an established superstar who wasn’t already there appear all that eager to live in Memphis. Jimmy Butler reportedly made it clear during his trade brouhaha that he wasn’t interested in going there.
17. Philadelphia 76ers: Pretend Philadelphia wins the lottery for a moment. Future picks, Cooper Flagg and Paul George for Giannis Antetokounmpo is an utterly fascinating trade concept. If Joel Embiid is healthy, the 76ers win a championship. If he’s not, you still have Tyrese Maxey as a running mate. Of course, this relies on the Sixers getting Flagg. They might not even keep their top-six protected pick at all. If they’re picking at No. 5, as their slot suggests is likeliest, they probably don’t have enough without including Maxey, which defeats the purpose.
Tier VIII: You can bring a friend!
16. Utah Jazz: Utah tends to fall in the same desirability tier as Memphis. The difference is that the Jazz are so obscenely asset-rich that they could effectively tell Antetokounmpo “we’ll trade half of our stuff for you and the other half for a co-star of your choosing.” Is it likely to work? No. But the Jazz have built enough of a war chest at this point that they belong in any of these conversations they decide to enter.
Tier VII: You can have anything but _________
15. Minnesota Timberwolves: If they had any picks to trade, an Anthony Edwards partnership might be Antetokounmpo’s best path to more rings. They don’t. They have players plenty of teams would want like Rudy Gobert, Jaden McDaniels and Donte DiVincenzo. They have interested youth as well with Rob Dillingham, Terrence Shannon and Jaylen Clark. They just don’t have a viable centerpiece.
14. Orlando Magic: OK, now we’re talking. Franz Wagner is a viable centerpiece. Jalen Suggs and Anthony Black are pretty valuable here too, and the Magic have all of their pick. But Paolo Banchero is a clunky fit, and if the Magic couldn’t get him shooting before a blockbuster like this, it seems hard to imagine they’d do so afterward with their assets spent.
13. Indiana Pacers: The Magic have more to trade. Wagner is obviously a good deal younger than Pascal Siakam, and Andrew Nembhard and Benedict Mathurin haven’t proven nearly as much as Suggs has. But the fit with Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner is so clean that a guy can dream. The Pacers control all of their picks, so their offer would at least be competitive.
12. Atlanta Hawks: No team has risen higher up this list throughout the process than Atlanta. Trae Young is an obvious fit as a half-court shot-creator, and Onyeka Okongwu‘s growth as a shooter makes him an ideal center for Giannis. Even without them, the Hawks could offer a future All-Star in Jalen Johnson, Defensive Player of the Year runner-up Dyson Daniels and a recent No. 1 pick in Zaccharie Risacher alongside several future picks. That’s a pretty compelling package.
11. Detroit Pistons: Cade Cunningham is better than Trae Young, and Isaiah Stewart could theoretically be the shooting big man here. What edges Detroit past Atlanta is that its young players, while not quite as good as Atlanta’s, are more diverse. Jaden Ivey can be your perimeter scorer, Ausar Thompson can be your defensive ace and athletic upside play, and Jalen Duren can be your long-term center. That the Pistons have a bit more pick control than the Hawks seals the deal.
Tier VI: Normal rules rarely apply
10. Miami Heat: Octagon represents three superstars. One of them is Antetokounmpo. Another is Bam Adebayo. We’ll get to the third later. Agency packaging is a real thing in the NBA, just ask the Klutch Lakers or CAA Knicks. Miami has pulled rabbits out of the star hat before, and the Heat have been linked to Antetokounmpo every time his name has hit the rumor mill. Making a fair offer to the Bucks is the hard part, especially if Adebayo isn’t involved. Tyler Herro is a Wisconsin native, which helps, and Kel’El Ware showed a lot of promise as a rookie. But the Heat owe out two first-round picks and the rest of their young players have disappointed. They can sneak into the top 10, but no further.
9. Los Angeles Lakers: Oh, that’s cute, you don’t think the Lakers have enough to trade for another superstar? You must be new here. NBA history is littered with lopsided Laker trades. We just saw one three months ago. Can you name anyone they gave up to get Abdul-Jabbar? An offer of Austin Reaves, Dalton Knecht, cap filler and some deep future draft assets shouldn’t get a normal team Antetokounmpo, but we can’t rule out that it might get the Lakers Antetokounmpo. If he wants to go there and is willing to make things uncomfortable enough for other suitors, it’s possible even if it’s unlikely.
Tier V: Flattered but spoken for
8. Cleveland Cavaliers: Cleveland just won 64 games. Could it trade Evan Mobley and Darius Garland for Antetokounmpo? Maybe, but they have a good thing going here with a pretty young team. Something would have to go very, very wrong in the coming weeks for Cleveland to decide breaking it up would be worthwhile. This is the higher-end version of the “it would have made more sense a few years ago” argument we made for Denver.
7. Oklahoma City Thunder: You’re going to hear a lot about the Thunder in these conversations, but it would be so out of character for them to do this. They’ve been so methodical in this rebuild, with Sam Presti saying last season that they “have to finish our breakfast before we start acting like we’re on the cusp of something.” They could probably sew up two or three titles with an Antetokounmpo trade if they stayed healthy, but that’s never a guarantee, and the Thunder like to bake risk into their roster-building. They’re hoarding these picks so they can replace cheap players when they get expensive, not so they can take one, massive swing. Why break up a 68-win team for an older one? The Thunder already have everything they need right now.
Tier IV: I’m quirking an eyebrow
6. New York Knicks: The Knicks don’t have picks and they don’t have youth. That right there might be eliminating. But they do have veterans. Milwaukee is a small market. Ownership might want to emphasize ticket sales. A package of, say, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges and Josh Hart could help them do that. Remember, the Bucks don’t control their picks. There’s no incentive here to be bad. While I wouldn’t argue for intentional mediocrity, it could at least help them pay the bills while they ride out their outstanding pick debt.
5. Boston Celtics: Scrap this concept if Boston defends its championship. Obviously the Celtics wouldn’t break up a back-to-back title winner. Just consider the situation holistically if they don’t. Boston has a new owner coming in, and new owners often want to make a splash. Wyc Grousbeck is retaining governorship for a few years in the transition, but that doesn’t mean Bill Chisholm won’t have influence. The Celtics also have a historic luxury tax bill coming next season and figure to be prohibitively expensive moving forward because they have five players who are either on or deserve pricey long-term deals. Trimming that number down to three or four through trades would be a sneaky way to save money, and obviously getting Antetokounmpo helps mitigate the negative effects of lost depth. Boston controls most of its picks, so it can put together a diverse trade package. And Jaylen Brown is probably the best player we’ve talked about seriously in this space so far. Again, this only becomes viable if the Celtics lose at some point in the playoffs. But we live in a world in which three of this decade’s five championship coaches have already been fired. Change comes quickly in this sport, and good luck stopping Antetokounmpo and Jayson Tatum on the same team.
Tier III: Team Unicorn
4. San Antonio Spurs: There’s a bit of Thunder-esque hesitance to consider here. The Spurs are built to win for the long haul, not just to go all out for a few years. But they’ve already traded for De’Aaron Fox, and Victor Wembanyama is theoretically going to be such an effective long-term recruiter that they could just reset the roster around a different co-star for him in five years when Fox and Antetokounmpo age out of their primes. The Spurs don’t have veterans to dangle here, but they do have youth (Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, Jeremy Sochan) and a mountain of picks from other teams. Just put all of it on the table. You have your point guard in Fox. You wouldn’t need to invest anything else in defense with Antetokounmpo and Wembanyama together. Just use whatever resources are left to go get shooters and you’re good to go.
Tier II: How these things tend to work
3. Golden State Warriors: Remember when Anthony Davis went to the Lakers? It wasn’t because they had the most to offer (they didn’t) or because they were the best basketball situation for him (they weren’t). It was because, in a back room somewhere, he and LeBron James decided they wanted to play together in a cool city. That is very often the way these things work. Two stars have a preexisting relationship, decide they want to team up, and do everything in their power to make it happen. Who could that star be for Antetokounmpo? The obvious answer is Stephen Curry, the other Octagon All-Star we mentioned earlier. The two frequently picked each other in All-Star drafts. They’re incredibly complimentary of one another in interviews. By all accounts, the two are friendly. Do the Warriors have that much to trade? No. But they control most of their picks, have a few decent youngsters, and could probably generate some more value by flipping Jimmy Butler or Draymond Green. The Warriors have been after Antetokounmpo for years. If they have a real chance, they’ll do what it takes to get him.
Tier I: The asset-rich favorites
2. Houston Rockets: The Rockets can afford any superstar they want. They control their own picks. They control future picks from the Suns, Mavericks and Nets. They have a lottery pick this year (courtesy of, you guessed it, the Suns). They have a young All-Star in Alperen Sengun. Amen Thompson is even more promising. There’s plenty of other young talent. Their team option on Fred VanVleet creates an easy, expiring matching salary. Antetokounmpo is not a snug fit with the current roster, which barely has any shooting, but the Rockets can retrofit as needed given all of the assets they’ve accumulated. If Milwaukee has its pick in a vacuum, it would probably be the Rockets. But there’s another asset-rich team that might be just a bit more appealing.
1. Brooklyn Nets: Our own Bill Reiter was the first to report the Nets as a Giannis favorite all the way back in October. The rumor mill hasn’t slowed down since. The Nets aren’t as good immediately as the Rockets, but they play in a more desirable market. Think of them as the big-city version of the Jazz. The plan would be to divide its assets in half, using some to snag Antetokounmpo and the rest to get him his co-star. If they happen to get Flagg, then all the better, they could preserve even more assets for the co-star. Would this necessarily be Antetokounmpo’s cleanest path to another ring? No, probably not. But it’s a chance for him to build his own team in one of the NBA‘s two most player-friendly markets. This logic got Durant to Brooklyn six years ago. It could very easily do the same for Antetokounmpo.
