Giannis Antetokounmpo reportedly wants to stay in East

[Moranis]

If the Lakers can get Giannis for a package headlined by Reaves, I'm not sure how Derrick White and Tyler Herro are worse from Boston or Miami's standpoint? Lakers fans are calling LaRavia the worst Laker ever and Knecht has zero value. Vanderbilt could barely get minutes either.

agreed.  Reaves certainly isn't better than White and may be at Herro's level which is sub-all-star level player

There is very little actual evidence that White is better than Reaves right now.  Reaves scores more on a significantly higher efficiency (he scored nearly 7 ppg more on just 0.5 more shots).  He gets more assists despite playing on a team where he doesn't handle the ball as much given he plays with 2 of the best passers in the sport.  He rebounds better.  His WS/48 is better.  White is obviously a better defender, but defense is less important in this sort of thing and if you are going to be the primary offensive player, Reaves is simply better at that.  Reaves is also significantly younger and still improving while White has been regressing the last 3 years (and there is no reason to think that he won't continue to regress). 

Reaves has significantly more trade value that White in this sort of trade.  Now a true contender looking for players around the edges might prefer the things White provides more than Reaves (like if OKC was interested, I think they'd prefer White), but in a trade for Giannis, Reaves has way more value than White.

Any discussion about Reeves' value has to include what his next deal will be worth. This is a player who when the season started was bandied about as being worth a max deal. I don't think he's going to get that now, but he's certainly going to be making something significant. We've seen recently that teams are a lot more wary of paying big money to bad defensive players who put up impressive offensive stats but can't be hidden in the playoffs.

Also, if White were in any Giannis deal he would be going to a third team, not Milwaukee. So the question is, what could White command from another team that Milwaukee might find interesting? Would that be more valuable than Reeves on a newer deal?

Interestingly, Reeves is actually already 28 soon, since he was in college so long. He's actually less than two years younger than Jaylen, despite seeming a lot younger! So, you could make a case Reeves doesn't make that much sense in Milwaukee either.

Finally, Reeves would have to be in a sign-and-trade since he's an UFA. That means he doesn't HAVE to play ball if he doesn't want to go to Milwaukee. That and the fact that Giannis' deal needs to be matched means it's very possible Reeves' deal will come in on the higher side compared to what he might normally get.

I think if the Bucks do deal with Lakers, the biggest reason may be the future picks. Maybe Doncic and Giannis get hurt again and who knows what the team will look like in the next decade. Dealing Giannis to the West would also be less awkward than seeing him with an Eastern rival's uniform on.

oh yeah, I already said the key to the deal was the Lakers draft picks. Reaves though is a nice player and would do well there.   

Boston has to trade Brown (or Tatum) to acquire Giannis.  If for no other reason the team cannot realistically carry the contracts of Tatum, Brown, and Giannis.  Also positionally it doesn't make a lot of sense.  Now maybe Milwaukee doesn't  want Brown and he ends up at a 3rd team. 

Haven't seen one with Houston so I came up with this

Boston - Giannis, VanVleet, Sheppard
Houston - Brown, Turner
Milwaukee  - Sengun, White, Adams, 27, 39, 40, BOS 2027 1st

So Boston post trade

Starters - VanVleet, PP, Tatum, Giannis, Queta
Bench - Sheppard, Hauser, Hugo, Baylor, Walsh, Harper, Garza, Vucevic, Williams, Shulga, Tonje

Team could use a veteran stretch big and a 3 and D wing for bench, but I'd like the post season chances if both Giannks and Tatum are healthy for the playoffs.