There's a world in which the Miami Heat are the favorites to land Giannis Antetokounmpo, and we just might be living in it. Of course, that's if we take Bill Simmons' words with any level of credibility. In his words, he believes the Heat should be the favorites to land Giannis.
Of course, he puts one stipulation on it. Unless the Atlanta Hawks are involved. Because of the intriguing young assets on their roster, they're one of the teams that could throw a wrench in the Heat's dreams.
Thinking about it, it does make sense.
Where do the Heat stand in the pecking order for Giannis?
Especially considering that there's no guarantee that the teams most assumed to have the assets to acquire Giannis will be interested. I can't imagine the Oklahoma City Thunder is going to gut their roster for Giannis. The same with the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks. That leaves teams like the Brooklyn Nets, Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, and Miami Heat.
When you look at it that way, it's not that outlandish to suggest that the Heat would theoretically be the favorites for Giannis.
For Miami, it's all about timing.
The Heat would be able to put a much better trade offer on the table for Giannis during the offseason compared to now. Because of their future draft pick situation, Miami only has two tradable first-round picks right now. That will change during the offseason.
Sure, in theory, the Heat could make other moves to open up more draft pick availability, but that's much easier said than done.
And, of course, if Miami is unlocking future picks to trade for Giannis, that's at least one less asset they'll have to include in the trade package to Milwaukee.
But even if there is a mere chance the Heat could land Giannis, you know this front office is going to explore every avenue.
At least for now, there's still no guarantee that Giannis will hit the trade block. Even though there have been whispers, there still isn't any hard evidence that Giannis would even be willing to make a concrete trade demand (and stick to it), nor whether the Bucks would trade him now.
Generally speaking, where there's smoke, there's fire. And this is certainly a storyline that almost everyone across the league is waiting to watch unravel.
The Heat are in a waiting period, like so many teams across the league. However, especially as Simmons points out, perhaps the pipe dream for Giannis isn't that laughable of an idea for the Heat after all.