Giannis Antetokounmpo reportedly wants to stay in East

[jambr380]

Evan Sidery
@esidery
A potential three-team Giannis Antetokounmpo framework involving the Bucks, Celtics and Clippers:

Boston: Giannis, Bobby Portis, Brook Lopez

Milwaukee: No. 5, No. 27, Hugo Gonzalez, Isaiah Jackson, Derrick Jones Jr., Bogdan Bogdanovic, Future 1st (via Boston)

LA: Jaylen Brown

No way Milwaukee would do this

No way we would do this. We are giving up a 1st this year, a future 1st, and Hugo for the privilege of taking on Brook Lopez? I can see Portis, but he's not exactly cheap making $30M over the next two years. Lopez looks super-cooked and it would put us well into the tax.

We are the only ones giving up any value here, too. LAC basically getting Brown for just the #5. I don't think so.

[Who]

Jim Owczarski: "Jon Horst does not leak. He has a very small front office and he does not discuss anything. Quite famously, and this might not be known to Celtics fans, the Damian Lillard trade, he literally created a bunker in the Bucks locker room in the offseason. There were people on his immediate staff that did not know what he was doing."

He said Horst did something similar with the Jrue Holiday addition in 2020. Lillard in 2023. Same with the waive and stretch of Lillard & signing of Myles Turner. Nobody knew anything about them. Not even many people in the Bucks organization. None of the players knew.

[jambr380]

Windhorst is saying his focus is Miami and they are the frontrunners going into this week. Feels odd there's mixed reporting from even the reputable reporters around the league (Stein, Windhorst, Fischer, Amick, etc.). Would love to hear from Himmelsbach or some reliable Celtics reporters soon.

It seems Windhorst is kind of playing both sides right now. He also had this to say:

Boston is also out there because Giannis from what I am told is willing to extend his contract in Boston. I think the Celtics are gonna be very, very cautious with making any firm offer and I would be very careful before saying anything has truly been offered

It honestly sounds to me like Boston is very much in this thing, but they absolutely do not want Jaylen's name leaked in case things going sideways. Either way, happy to see several reports that Giannis is in fact willing to extend in Boston. That means he likes us and there have at least been some actual talks.

[Celtics2021]

Jim Owczarski: "Jon Horst does not leak. He has a very small front office and he does not discuss anything. Quite famously, and this might not be known to Celtics fans, the Damian Lillard trade, he literally created a bunker in the Bucks locker room in the offseason. There were people on his immediate staff that did not know what he was doing."

He said Horst did something similar with the Jrue Holiday addition in 2020. Lillard in 2023. Same with the waive and stretch of Lillard & signing of Myles Turner. Nobody knew anything about them. Not even many people in the Bucks organization. None of the players knew.

I believe he told the Blazers if it leaked the deal would be off.  That said, part of that was because the Blazers needed a third team and the Bucks did not want to ruin the relationship with Jrue if it fell apart.  The relationship with Giannis is definitely not something they are working to preserve at this point, so I do not think they have the same incentive for secrecy this time around.  Not that they will go around blabbing (I think few teams do), but I do not think it will be quite like Fort Knox.  And Giannis and his team probably do want to force his way to one of a few teams.  Boston seems to be one, which is great, for once, but that means they are incentivized to leak things that will make a deal more likely.

[Phantom255x]

Windhorst is saying his focus is Miami and they are the frontrunners going into this week. Feels odd there's mixed reporting from even the reputable reporters around the league (Stein, Windhorst, Fischer, Amick, etc.). Would love to hear from Himmelsbach or some reliable Celtics reporters soon.

It seems Windhorst is kind of playing both sides right now. He also had this to say:

Boston is also out there because Giannis from what I am told is willing to extend his contract in Boston. I think the Celtics are gonna be very, very cautious with making any firm offer and I would be very careful before saying anything has truly been offered

It honestly sounds to me like Boston is very much in this thing, but they absolutely do not want Jaylen's name leaked in case things going sideways. Either way, happy to see several reports that Giannis is in fact willing to extend in Boston. That means he likes us and there have at least been some actual talks.

Kinda wish Brad or Himmelsbach or someone would just come out and squash this stuff but it's making me think there's real smoke. The Durant stuff to me in 2022, while I'm not saying was entirely made up didn't feel as "smokey" either. It still didn't feel as likely at the time as this one. And the local reporters + team came out just days later to say Jaylen was their guy and basically that the Durant stuff was not true.

[SparzWizard]

Windhorst is saying his focus is Miami and they are the frontrunners going into this week. Feels odd there's mixed reporting from even the reputable reporters around the league (Stein, Windhorst, Fischer, Amick, etc.). Would love to hear from Himmelsbach or some reliable Celtics reporters soon.

It seems Windhorst is kind of playing both sides right now. He also had this to say:

Boston is also out there because Giannis from what I am told is willing to extend his contract in Boston. I think the Celtics are gonna be very, very cautious with making any firm offer and I would be very careful before saying anything has truly been offered

It honestly sounds to me like Boston is very much in this thing, but they absolutely do not want Jaylen's name leaked in case things going sideways. Either way, happy to see several reports that Giannis is in fact willing to extend in Boston. That means he likes us and there have at least been some actual talks.

Kinda wish Brad or Himmelsbach or someone would just come out and squash this stuff but it's making me think there's real smoke. The Durant stuff to me in 2022, while I'm not saying was entirely made up didn't feel as "smokey" either. It still didn't feel as likely at the time as this one. And the local reporters + team came out just days later to say Jaylen was their guy and basically that the Durant stuff was not true.

Jaylen's our guy that lost us 2022 and 2023. Heh