Giannis Antetokounmpo reportedly wants to stay in East

[slamtheking]

Washburn and Fischer pouring cold water on it, and the rumors have died down.

It'll be Miami.

If the plan is to sign glorified G League players and expect them to be important contributors then nothing changes. And if the plan is to develop young players good luck with Joe jerking their minutes around.

This team has maybe 4 great players and then a bunch of average to mid players. Just not good enough and the fact that Brad sees it and probably stays the course is disappointing.

A healthy Tatum isn't going to change the fact they have no center and they have a black hole on offense and a playoff ghost in Brown. Looks like another year of 50 3s a game!

if Brad does anything other than run it back with some moderate changes to the fringes of the roster I'd be surprised.  I have little doubt goal #1 this next season is to stay out of the tax one more year so that the repeater penalties are reset going forward a few seasons.   
having said that, at that point I don't know what tools Brad will have available to start rebuilding the roster into a contender.  The Simons TPE will be gone,  new pricier contracts will be in place for at least a couple of players on the roster which will likely leave us little but MLE options for acquiring a roster improvement.  I'm hoping for more growth from Baylor, Hugo and Harper (not Walsh - I think he's hit his developmental limit already) but that'll only be so much. 

[Vermont Green]

I have to say that I still feel that Giannis is plan A this off season.  MIL made it seem like they would get a deal done by the draft, but now they seem hesitant to do anything.  They knew what deals were offered and the deadline.  They must have thought the deals would be much better in the off season, but probably they are not.

My further guess is that BOS will let this play out a little longer.   I do feel it is likely BOS has made an offer, but who knows.  I do not think they are "dangling" Brown around the league other than as related to a possible Giannis trade.  My read of the tea leaves is they will trade Brown for Giannis but otherwise, they will keep him.  This is all taking longer than it needs to.  I don't think this will result in MIL finding better deals, more likely just the opposite.

[No Nickname]

Here are some recent "star" trades and I imagine Milwaukee views Giannis as younger than Durant was, and better than Gobert and Mitchell were when those trades happened.

Still, I think there has to be some concern about his injuries.  Although Durant tore an achilles so he had similar concerns.

1. Kevin Durant (2023)

Traded By: Brooklyn Nets
Traded To: Phoenix Suns

The Return: In a massive trade deadline blockbuster, the Nets received a massive haul of draft assets including four unprotected first-round picks (2023, 2025, 2027, and 2029), a 2028 first-round pick swap, and players Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson.

2. Rudy Gobert (2022)

Traded By: Utah Jazz
Traded To: Minnesota Timberwolves

The Return: Utah completely overhauled their roster for the future, securing four unprotected first-round picks (2023, 2025, 2027, and 2029) and a top-five protected first-round pick in 2029, alongside several veteran players.

3. Donovan Mitchell (2022)

Traded By: Utah Jazz
Traded To: Cleveland Cavaliers

The Return: The Jazz added even more draft capital to their growing war chest, acquiring three unprotected first-round picks (2025, 2027, and 2029) and two first-round pick swaps (2026 and 2028), along with guards Collin Sexton and Ochai Agbaji, and forward Lauri Markkanen.

[johnnygreen]

If I'm not mistaken, Durant, Gobert, and Mitchell never asked to be traded. In other words, the acquiring team had to overpay to get those star players or else the original team would have happily kept them. Same thing with Desmond Bane. Does anyone think he was worth all those picks? No, but Orlando had to overpay.

I wonder if Milwaukee is running into this issue. They're expecting those type of trade packages with all those picks but maybe not receiving them.

[Vermont Green]

Here are some recent "star" trades and I imagine Milwaukee views Giannis as younger than Durant was, and better than Gobert and Mitchell were when those trades happened.

Still, I think there has to be some concern about his injuries.  Although Durant tore an achilles so he had similar concerns.

1. Kevin Durant (2023)

Traded By: Brooklyn Nets
Traded To: Phoenix Suns

The Return: In a massive trade deadline blockbuster, the Nets received a massive haul of draft assets including four unprotected first-round picks (2023, 2025, 2027, and 2029), a 2028 first-round pick swap, and players Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson.

2. Rudy Gobert (2022)

Traded By: Utah Jazz
Traded To: Minnesota Timberwolves

The Return: Utah completely overhauled their roster for the future, securing four unprotected first-round picks (2023, 2025, 2027, and 2029) and a top-five protected first-round pick in 2029, alongside several veteran players.

3. Donovan Mitchell (2022)

Traded By: Utah Jazz
Traded To: Cleveland Cavaliers

The Return: The Jazz added even more draft capital to their growing war chest, acquiring three unprotected first-round picks (2025, 2027, and 2029) and two first-round pick swaps (2026 and 2028), along with guards Collin Sexton and Ochai Agbaji, and forward Lauri Markkanen.

I think you are probably correct that this may well have been MIL's expectation.  I think there are a couple of things working against them.  First, none of those deals worked out well for the team giving up the boat load for the star.  CLE probably did OK on their trade but I would still say they lost the deal.

The second thing is that MIL didn't play Giannis for a chunk of the season.  That creates the impression that he is injured, even though he probably wasn't.  If he had finished the season playing well, putting up big points and rebounds, maybe teams would look at him a bit differently.  It is a recency bias thing.  The image is Giannis sitting on the bench in street cloths, not Giannis dunking on people.

[Celtics2021]

If I'm not mistaken, Durant, Gobert, and Mitchell never asked to be traded. In other words, the acquiring team had to overpay to get those star players or else the original team would have happily kept them. Same thing with Desmond Bane. Does anyone think he was worth all those picks? No, but Orlando had to overpay.

I wonder if Milwaukee is running into this issue. They're expecting those type of trade packages with all those picks but maybe not receiving them.

You are mistaken.  KD requested to be traded from the Nets and ghosted them for like a month in the summer of 2022.  There were all sorts of rumors about Jaylen being traded for him at that time.  It never happened and he went to Phoenix at the folllwing deadline, but he definitely demanded a trade, more than Giannis has even.