Giannis Antetokounmpo ‘focused’ on joining Heat? This is an important week on Giannis front
The Miami Heat and the rest of the NBA continue to seek clarity on the Giannis Antetokounmpo front. That clarity could come in the next week.
With Bucks co-owner Jimmy Haslam making clear recently that the team would like to make a decision on Antetokounmpo’s future with the organization by next week’s NBA Draft, a league source close to the process expects trade discussions between the Bucks and teams interested in acquiring the two-time NBA MVP to pick up in the coming days. The two-day NBA Draft will take place on June 23 and 24.
After aggressively pursuing Antetokounmpo in February ahead of the NBA’s trade deadline before the Bucks ultimately opted to hold on to him for the remainder of the season, the Heat is again among the teams most aggressively going after Antetokounmpo this offseason, according to league sources. The Heat is still awaiting final word from the Bucks on a potential Antetokounmpo trade.
The interest is reportedly mutual, as ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported Monday that Antetokounmpo “has focused on wanting to be a member of the Miami Heat.” A league source recently confirmed that living in Miami would appeal to Antetokounmpo.
“Talks have intensified over the last seven to 10 days,” Windhorst said Monday morning on ESPN”s “Get Up.” “Look, he has focused on wanting to be a member of the Miami Heat. And because he’s only got one year on his contract, he has some control over that. But the Heat and the Bucks have been talking for months and not agreed to a deal because the Bucks don’t love the Heat’s offer. There are third teams involved, there are fourth teams involved.”
The good news for the Heat is that Antetokounmpo will likely have a say in where he ends up if he’s dealt because of his contract situation.
The fact that Antetokounmpo is essentially on an expiring contract, with a player option for the 2027-28 season, provides him leverage to force his way to a specific team because of the long-term commitment teams will need from Antetokounmpo to give up the players and draft picks needed to acquire him in a trade.
Antetokounmpo, 31, becomes eligible to sign a four-year, $275 million contract extension with the Bucks on Oct. 1. But if he’s dealt, he would become eligible for that extension with his new team six months following the trade.
Antetokounmpo is due $58.5 million this upcoming season.
Getting a trade for Antetokounmpo done before next week’s draft is almost required for the Heat if it’s going to land him ahead of this upcoming season. Why?
The Heat would be able to include three first-round picks and multiple pick swaps in a trade offer to the Bucks for Antetokounmpo if a deal is agreed to before the draft.
Technically, the Heat isn’t eligible to trade its 2026 first-round pick (No. 13 overall) because NBA rules prevent teams from being without a first-round selection in two consecutive years (the Heat sent a top-14 protected first-round 2027 pick to the Charlotte Hornets in the Terry Rozier trade). But the Heat could pick a player on behalf of another team at No. 13 in the first round of this year’s draft as part of a prearranged trade.
The Heat would be able to use its first-round selection in this year’s draft to make a pick for the Bucks, and could also include its 2030 and 2032 first-round picks as part of the trade package for Antetokounmpo. NBA teams are only allowed to trade picks up to seven drafts into the future.
The Heat also has young talent on its roster such as Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Pelle Larsson, Kasparas Jakucionis and Nikola Jovic on its roster who it could include to sweeten any trade offer to the Bucks for Antetokounmpo. Heat guard Tyler Herro and Ware are widely expected to be part of any realistic Heat trade offer for Antetokounmpo.
The Boston Celtics are reportedly another team vying for Antetokounmpo, with one NBA source labeling the Celtics’ interest in trading for the future Basketball Hall of Famer as “real.” Antetokounmpo’s level of interest in being dealt to the Celtics remains unclear.
The question that could determine whether the Celtics end up with Antetokounmpo is do the Celtics really want to deal away 29-year-old five-time NBA All-Star Jaylen Brown? Even if the Bucks don’t want to hold on to Brown, they could find a third team to take him for a significant return.
Three teams that reportedly have interest in Brown — the Portland Trail Blazers, Atlanta Hawks and New Orleans Pelicans — all have the ability to return some of the Bucks’ future draft inventory back to Milwaukee. And that could entice Milwaukee in a proposed three-team trade with Boston.
The Celtics, hypothetically, could send Brown to the Trail Blazers, which — as a result of the 2023 Damian Lillard trade — has the right to swap first-round picks with the Bucks in 2028 and 2030 while also owning the most and least favorable 2029 first-round selection between their own, Boston and Milwaukee.
As part of a three-time trade with Antetokounmpo heading to the Celtics, the Trail Blazers could remove those protections and offer the Bucks a combination of young players (among Scoot Henderson, Donovan Clingan, Shaedon Sharpe and Toumani Camara) and some of their five tradable first round picks, which includes Orlando’s unprotected 2028 first-round pick. Boston also could get one of those picks, besides landing Antetokounmpo.
Atlanta and New Orleans — two other teams linked to Brown — also own some of Milwaukee’s future draft inventory.
The Hawks have four tradable first round picks, including the No. 8 overall pick in next week’s draft and the least favorable first-round selection between Milwaukee and New Orleans in 2027. That pick will not convey if either the Bucks or Pelicans have one of the league’s four worst records next season.
The Pelicans also have four tradable first-round picks. New Orleans will receive an unprotected 2027 first rounder from Milwaukee as part of the Jrue Holiday trade in 2020. According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, that pick will convey to the Pelicans only if it falls outside the top five, with the least favorable of the Bucks’ first-round selection and the Pelicans’ own 2027 first-rounder going to Atlanta.
Houston looms as another team that reportedly has interest in Brown. As part of a hypothetical three-team trade with Boston and Milwaukee, the Rockets could top any Heat offer with a combination of players who have been All-Stars (Alperen Sengun) or young players (Jabari Smith and Amen Thompson) and some of their six available first-round picks.
The Rockets have the right to swap first-round picks with the Brooklyn Nets next season and also own an unprotected first-round pick from Phoenix. Houston has two of the more favorable first-round selections of their own, Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns. The Rockets are allowed to trade up to four of their own firsts, starting the first night of the 2026 draft.
Despite just finishing his 13th NBA season, Antetokounmpo is still at the top of his game. He averaged 27.6 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game while shooting 62.4% from the field and 33.3% from three-point range this past regular season.
But injuries have been an issue for Antetokounmpo recently, as he played in a career-low 36 games last season due in large part to multiple calf strains. He then suffered a hyperextended left knee and bone bruise on March 15 that cut his season short.
When healthy, Antetokounmpo is still considered one of the NBA’s top players. Not only was he named the league’s MVP for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, but he had finished in the top four in MVP voting in seven straight seasons before injuries limited him this past season.
“We’re going to be very aggressive,” Heat president Pat Riley said in April at the start of the team’s offseason after Miami missed the playoffs for the first time since 2019. “... I just know we need to make some changes roster wise.”
This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 1:27 PM.
