Is It Giannis Or Bust?

[Goldstar88]

Giannis says he is locked in and ready to lead the Bucks but admits it is going to be hard, adding that he could change his mind,

I have said this many times, I want to be in a situation that I can win and now I am here. I believe in this team. I believe in my teammates. I am here to lead this team to wherever we can go and it is definitely going to be hard. Now, if in six, seven months, I change my mind I think that is human too

Boston Celtics:

Incoming: Giannis

Outgoing: Brown, Hauser, Prichard, Scheierman, Hugo Gonzales, multiple first round picks & first round swaps.

The only way I could see the Bucks doing this is if they flip Brown, Hauser, Pritchard to other teams. Jaylen is going to be 30. Pritchard is 28. If I?m Milwaukee I?d want young players with high upside for Giannis like Evan Mobley, Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper, etc.

[slightly biased bias fan]

Giannis says he is locked in and ready to lead the Bucks but admits it is going to be hard, adding that he could change his mind,

I have said this many times, I want to be in a situation that I can win and now I am here. I believe in this team. I believe in my teammates. I am here to lead this team to wherever we can go and it is definitely going to be hard. Now, if in six, seven months, I change my mind I think that is human too

Boston Celtics:

Incoming: Giannis

Outgoing: Brown, Hauser, Prichard, Scheierman, Hugo Gonzales, multiple first round picks & first round swaps.

The only way I could see the Bucks doing this is if they flip Brown, Hauser, Pritchard to other teams. Jaylen is going to be 30. Pritchard is 28. If I?m Milwaukee I?d want young players with high upside for Giannis like Evan Mobley, Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper, Evan Mobley, etc.

The reality is the Bucks are not getting those calibre of players, like Mobley or Thompson in a trade. Castle & Harper (especially Harper) are unknown qualities, they may never improve or become complete busts.

Hypothetically if the Bucks trade for a young star with potential, who are you surrounding them with? The Bucks do not have control of their first round pick until 2031. Milwaukee would get killed every season then hand over their lottery pick to other teams like Brooklyn did.

Like I said in an earlier post, Houston is probably the only team that can beat a Celtics trade package, with Sengun (like you suggested) and a stronger picks package. But The Rockets may not want Giannis. They have just traded for Durant and already have their own young (cost controlled) stars.

[Moranis]

I absolutely think the Cavs would trade Mobley for Giannis. Probably not much more other than filler to match salary, but the Cavs would go all in for Giannis.  Garland, Mitchell, Giannis, and Allen would be a clear favorite in the east and perhaps all of basketball.

[Phantom255x]

Houston would be a sneaky nice team for Giannis. Trade Amen Thompson, 1-2 young role players, a salary piece like FVV (already out for this season I think) and then just throw all the remaining picks at Milwaukee. Houston added Durant, have Sengun, and are led by Ime Udoka. That team makes a ton of noise in the West.

[slightly biased bias fan]

I absolutely think the Cavs would trade Mobley for Giannis. Probably not much more other than filler to match salary, but the Cavs would go all in for Giannis.  Garland, Mitchell, Giannis, and Allen would be a clear favorite in the east and perhaps all of basketball.

The Cavs could not do that trade even if they wanted to due to being in the 2nd apron of the luxury tax.

[Moranis]

I absolutely think the Cavs would trade Mobley for Giannis. Probably not much more other than filler to match salary, but the Cavs would go all in for Giannis.  Garland, Mitchell, Giannis, and Allen would be a clear favorite in the east and perhaps all of basketball.

The Cavs could not do that trade even if they wanted to due to being in the 2nd apron of the luxury tax.

well they could if they found a third team that allowed the Cavs to dump enough salary

I mean for example, something like this works

Cavs - Giannis
Bucks - Mobley, Tyson
Nets - Hunter

Cavs drop 1.8 million below the 2nd apron and thus can do that trade, though would need to add players so might have to drop a bit more salary (they could send Strus to the Bucks and get almost 18 million below the 2nd apron - as an example).  In fact, the Bucks have 3 more players than they could if they took Mobley, Tyson, Strus or with players going back Hunter, and thus could send 3 lower salary players to the Cavs (a whole bunch of vet minimum players can be traded within the next week by the Bucks).

So expanding the trade

Cavs - Giannis, Thanasis, Prince, Anthony
Bucks - Mobley, Hunter, Tyson
Nets - Strus

Picks could be added if necessary.  The Cavs would still need to add 2 free agents but have almost 10 million in wiggle room below the 2nd apron so they could do it.

Cleveland would do that even though they give up Mobley and quality depth

Starters - Garland, Mitchell, Merrill, Giannis, Allen
Rotation - Ball, Anthony, Porter, Wade, Nance
Bench - Prince, Thanasis, plus 2 FA they add to get to 14 required

If that team is healthy in they playoffs they'd cruise through the east and have an excellent chance of beating whichever team survived the western gauntlet. 

Is Mobley with Hunter and a young guy Tyson enough for Giannis, I have no idea, but Mobley is the real deal so it might be.  Bucks wouldn't full on tank so the fact they don't own their draft picks is less an issue.  I feel like they'd probably want a 1st and the Nets would need something to take on Strus, but that is a framework that could actually work.