Sources: “Golden State has been preparing for years to pursue Antetokounmpo”

[konkmv]

Bucks will never trade him.. and we will not have the salary cap to sign him in the near future as a free agent.. and the durant experience shows that these moves have problems

[tenn_smoothie]

I believe the report, and I expect GS to go all out after him, BUT, the Celtics were preparing for years for AD, and how did that turn out?

Lots of teams will be after Giannis , nobody has a clear advantage at the moment. Also, Giannis is a loyal guy, has often expressed his loyalty to the Bucks, and the Bucks are a legit contender several years in a row now. It's not like he's stuck on a mediocre team like the Pelicans.

He does appear to be a different personality than most NBA MVP-level players - not obsessed with his "brand" or with running around with Lebron or Durant during the summers. Seems to value the right things and would possibly prefer to stay with his team and win there rather than chasing other stars to team up with like the aforementioned ring chasers.

[SparzWizard]

Man I'm like rewatching the last four finals on how it ended.

2015-2016 "Kyrie it's time to dance" shut down Curry, stunned the 73-9 Warriors
2016-2017 Championship was bought, not earned aka Kevin Durant's immediate arrival
2017-2018 The Celtics should've been in the Finals, beaten the Warriors and won it all that year without Hayward, Irving, and Theis.
2018-2019 Finally a new face and the end of a dynasty.

[gouki88]

Man I'm like rewatching the last four finals on how it ended.

2015-2016 "Kyrie it's time to dance" shut down Curry, stunned the 73-9 Warriors
2016-2017 Championship was bought, not earned aka Kevin Durant's immediate arrival
2017-2018 The Celtics should've been in the Finals, beaten the Warriors and won it all that year without Hayward, Irving, and Theis.
2018-2019 Finally a new face and the end of a dynasty.

The Warriors would absolutely obliterated us...

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Bucks will never trade him.. and we will not have the salary cap to sign him in the near future as a free agent.. and the durant experience shows that these moves have problems

I don't agree that the Bucks will never trade him. If they lose him for nothing, they would become one of the worst teams in the league (I'm in the minority here, but I don't think the sum of their parts works without Giannis). If they could get something to keep them in the playoffs and keep the fans watching and hoping, as a small market team, they absolutely would make that trade.

[SHAQATTACK]

living on the east coast , i just would hate to see him go to another CA team. 

[footey]

I could see Giannis signing short term deal with Bucks or Raptors, and then going to Lakers when salary cap space clears up for a max deal; may have to wait for LBJ to retire. Pairing him up with AD would be scary.  Plus almost all these guys want to go to LA.  Sad but true.

[Moranis]

Boston with Tatum, could certainly make a pretty compelling package for Giannis this summer.  Not sure Boston would have the best package out there, but certainly would be a top contender to land him.

So under the scenario where Giannis says he won't re-sign and the Bucks decide to trade him and assuming that every team below is essentially told Giannis will re-sign, these are the most compelling (and still realistic) trades I can come up with.

Boston - Tatum, Smart, Theis, Williams (either one), Memphis, 20 Bos, 22 Bos for Giannis
Philly - Simmons, Richardson, Thybulle, Smith, 20 OKC, 22 PHI for Giannis, Hill, Ilyasova
Toronto - Siakam, Anunoby, Powell, 20 Tor, 22 Tor for Giannis, Hill
Denver - Murray, Harris, Porter, 20 HOU, 22 Den, 24 Den for Giannis, Hill
Portland - McCollum, Nurkic, Little, Simons, 20 Por, 22 Por, 24 Por for Giannis, Hill, Ilyasova

Those to me are the 5 best trades where the acquiring team isn't gutted and Milwaukee still does very well.  Obviously other pieces and picks can be included in any such trade. 

[W8ting2McHale]

Is this any different than Danny Ainge planning for years to acquire Anthony Davis?

Everyone speculated for years about what Ainge was planning and what his plans were to trade for Davis and make him a Celtic.

What number is AD wearing on his Celtic jersey again?

I don’t think the Warriors will get him, no matter how much they may wish for that to happen.

[SparzWizard]

Man I'm like rewatching the last four finals on how it ended.

2015-2016 "Kyrie it's time to dance" shut down Curry, stunned the 73-9 Warriors
2016-2017 Championship was bought, not earned aka Kevin Durant's immediate arrival
2017-2018 The Celtics should've been in the Finals, beaten the Warriors and won it all that year without Hayward, Irving, and Theis.
2018-2019 Finally a new face and the end of a dynasty.

The Warriors would absolutely obliterated us...

We had the Warriors' number that year!! Plus I think the Dubs were injured too with Curry/Green/Iguodala hampered or something? Smart/Rozier/Tatum/Brown/Horford would've been too much those guys to handle- the Celtics were built to stop GSW

[gouki88]

Man I'm like rewatching the last four finals on how it ended.

2015-2016 "Kyrie it's time to dance" shut down Curry, stunned the 73-9 Warriors
2016-2017 Championship was bought, not earned aka Kevin Durant's immediate arrival
2017-2018 The Celtics should've been in the Finals, beaten the Warriors and won it all that year without Hayward, Irving, and Theis.
2018-2019 Finally a new face and the end of a dynasty.

The Warriors would absolutely obliterated us...

We had the Warriors' number that year!! Plus I think the Dubs were injured too with Curry/Green/Iguodala hampered or something? Smart/Rozier/Tatum/Brown/Horford would've been too much those guys to handle- the Celtics were built to stop GSW

I don’t really recall any injuries for them, but the main point is that there is nobody on the planet that could have stopped Durant at that stage, given that Kawhi had lost that defensive step due to Zaza.