To me, if true, this is a blatant form of tampering by the Warriors. I'm sick of this kind of B.S. Even if it's untrue, it's done it's damage. Sometimes it seems the media tries to actually facilitate this kind of garbage. Sure seemed like after Kawhi Leonard trade.
So, I was going to start a thread about Giannis to respond to the new rumors that Miami AND Dallas are going to pursue Giannis hard, and then I find that I'd ALREADY started one from when it was a foregone conclusion that he'd go to the Warriors. If (when) he doesn't sign an extension, I expect the Bucks to look hard at trade offers, รก la Spurs with Kawhi, so they don't lose him for nothing. So, time to revisit my unrealistic Blazer trade suggestions: OR (The second one is more favorable to the Bucks, obviously, and assumes they want to ditch Bledsoe, which seems very likely.) This would be a huge risk on the part of the Blazers, as why would Giannis stay with the Blazers if he wouldn't stay with the Bucks? But I don't think the Raptors regret their Kawhi gamble, even though he left too.
Yeah if he doesn't sign that extension as painful as it would be the Bucks have to trade him now to maximize his value. They can ask him straight up if he will take the absolute max at any terms he wants because he's their player and it's not tampering, if he says no or that he's not sure... you put him on the market and get the best value for him on draft night, that's when the action is happening and the most teams are communicating and you can get the best bidding war going.
That's the mistake we made with Aldridge. Milwaukee can't afford to take that risk if he won't sign the extension before he's unrestricted.
I think if you trade Giannis you build an all around team. The best trade offer would likely be Wiggins, the 2nd pick, the Wolves 2021 1st and Golden State's 2022 1st. If Anthony Edwards went first, I would then trade the Wolves 2021 pick, GS 2022 pick and the 24th pick to Charlotte for the 3rd pick. Draft Ball and Wiseman. Then I'd see if Philly would swap Harris for Bledsoe and BroLo. Milwaukee would walk away with Ball, Middleton, Wiggins, Harris, Wiseman, Hill, DiVincenzo, RoLo would likely opt in and the full MLE. If you like Ball and Wiseman you'd be set for a long time with Middleton, Wiggins and Harris also all being under contract for the next four years. You could have a very long, very athletic, good shooting, potentially pretty good defensive team for a long time. You'd need one more good bench player but you'd get that with the MLE.
It's a bit different situation. I'd say the risk/reward is much different. We made that mistake with a moody borderline all-star (top ~20-30 type). Who also played a style that is antiquated. There were other players that out there who could still give you 80% of what LA did. Giannis is a top 5 player in the game. His skill set and talents are incredibly rare. Every team in the league is searching for players who could give 50% of what Giannis does. Unless Bucks think the chances of him re-signing are <50%, there is no way they should trade him.
The picks are good, but I wouldn't touch Wiggins with a bargepole. This sounds more reasonable, but who'd take Wiggins unless for someone like Horford?
OKC has a SHIT ton of picks and could offer this: The advantages are that the bucks also offload Bledsoe and all of the players they get are (a) young and (b) on one year contracts. But mostly the appeal would be the picks.
But I think the Bucks will try their damnest to fix up the team round Giannis (they're rumored to be after Bogdanovic from the Kings for extra shooting) unless he outright tells them it's over.
Then they're fucked because if they don't make the move or moves that wins them a chip Giannis bolts. If they are smart they are pressing him right now to see if he will extend and if he doesn't they get what they view as the best package possible on or by draft day. On another note if they did that three way trade with OKC and the Knicks then they would probably want to get as many young assets and picks as they can for Middleton, Hill and BroLo too because that move points towards a total rebuild. All of that said I don't know if OKC gives up all of those picks, Chris Paul's value and takes on Bledsoe when they would be in the same boat with Giannis because I think if they didn't win it all with him next season he would be out of there too and I don't think they would win the title.
