The difficult decision that helped Heat close deal. And more post-trade intel
The Miami Heat didn’t want to include guard Kasparas Jakucionis in its trade offer for Giannis Antetokounmpo, but ultimately added Jakucionis to the deal in order to land the two-time NBA MVP.
A league source confirmed the Heat’s reluctance to sending Jakucionis to the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Heat traded guard Tyler Herro, center Kel’el Ware, forward Jaime Jaquez Jr., Jakucionis, three first-round picks, one pick swap and one second-rounder to the Bucks to acquire Antetokounmpo and veteran forward Bobby Portis. The deal was agreed to late Monday night.
Jakucionis, who turned 20 on May 29, was selected by the Heat with the 20th overall pick in last year’s NBA Draft. He’s due $3.8 million this upcoming season and is under team control through 2028-29 season.
He tantalized at times, shooting 42.3% on three-pointers during his rookie season — making nine in a row at one point — while finishing his rookie season averaging 6.5 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 52 appearances and 12 starts.
The Athletic reported that the Heat preferred to include guard Davion Mitchell in the trade instead of Jakucionis, but the Bucks didn’t want Mitchell’s short-term deal. Mitchell is due $12.4 million this upcoming season before becoming a free agent next summer.
Unlike the Heat, the Boston Celtics didn’t budge when the Bucks asked for some of their young players in trade discussions. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the Celtics didn’t want to add 20-year-old Hugo Gonzalez and 25-year-old guard Baylor Scheierman to their offer for Antetokounmpo
The Celtics’ final offer to the Bucks included 29-year-old five-time NBA All-Star Jaylen Brown and two unprotected first-round picks, according to Charania. The Heat and Celtics were the two finalists in the Giannis sweepstakes.
Draft fallout
After this week’s draft, the Heat will own its first-round pick in three of the next four drafts.
Here’s another way of looking at it: The Heat will have a first-round pick before Years 3 and 4 — and before either Year 1 or 2 — of the four seasons of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s expected four-year, $275 million contract extension that will take effect in the 2027-28 season. He is eligible to sign that extension exactly six months after the trade is announced. If the deal is announced July 6, he could commit long-term to the Heat on Jan. 6.
The Heat’s 2027 first-round pick will go to Charlotte if it’s between picks 15 and 30. If the Heat’s pick in next year’s draft falls between 1 and 14, Miami would keep that pick and send Charlotte an unconditional first-round pick in 2028. The four teams in the play-in will be eligible for the draft lottery for the first time next season.
The Heat has its own first-round pick in 2029. The Heat, in 2030, will get the worst pick of its own and Milwaukee’s.
The Bucks will get Heat first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, but Miami will keep its own pick in 2032. The Bucks don’t have the right to swap picks with Miami in 2032.
If Charlotte ends up with Miami’s first-round pick next year (which will happen if it’s between 15 and 30), then Miami’s 2029 first-round pick becomes trade eligible.
This and that
Per a source, Portland was aggressive in its pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo and was willing to dangle a package with multiple first-round picks and young players, a package that might have been appealing to Milwaukee because the Blazers were positioned to cancel their right for pick swaps with the Bucks in 2028 and 2030.
But Portland was made aware that Antetokounmpo would not commit to a long-term deal with the Blazers and opted not to move forward.
A source who works for Antetokounmpo said he very much wanted to join the Heat but would have been fine with Boston. Those were the only two teams that he was willing to commit long-term to.
▪ Per Yahoo’s Kevin O’Connor, Bucks owner Jimmy Haslam advocated the Heat deal over the Boston offer in part because he was afraid that Brown would be unhappy. Haslam owns the NFL’s Cleveland Browns and recently traded star player Myles Garrett, who had been unhappy at times about the team’s inability to win.
“Haslam didn’t want to risk Jaylen Brown wanting out of Milwaukee in a year after dealing with Giannis and Myles Garrett trade demands,” O’Connor said. “Haslam wanted certainty, and the Miami deal provided more of that with more total assets in return to Milwaukee.”
ESPN’s Marc Spears, who has reported extensively on Brown and his off-court interests and community work, said Brown did not want to play in Milwaukee.
▪ According to Sportico’s Robert Raiola and Michael McCann, Antetokounmpo — during the next five seasons – will pocket about $17 million more with the Heat than he would have had he been traded to the Celtics — even though his contracts would be identical.
Because Massachusetts recently instituted a 9% millionaire’s tax, Antetokounmpo would clear $181.7 million (after federal income taxes) if he had joined the Celtics and signed a four-year, $275 max extension with Boston, after playing this season for $58.4 million.
With the Heat, he would pocket $198.8 million for those five seasons, after accounting for federal income taxes. Those figures are based on his tax bracket for married couples filing jointly.
The two-time MVP has earned $338 million in NBA salary during his career.
▪ DraftKings Sportsbook improved the Heat’s odds to win the NBA title from 30-to-1 (before news of the trade) to 18-to-1, which is fifth best in the league.
Draftkings raised the Heat’s odds of winning the Eastern Conference from 13 to 1 before the trade to plus 600, which is third in the conference behind only the Knicks and Celtics - and ahead of last year’s No. 1 seed, Detroit. “That’s laughable,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said. “They don’t have anything close to a team right now. Even the Heat would be like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’”
This story was originally published June 23, 2026 at 3:18 PM.
