The Miami Heat continue to be locked in on Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo as the NBA offseason continues to inch closer and closer. It will still be weeks before anything breaks out, given the playoffs are still rolling, but the chatter will only increase.
The Heat are determined to go into the 2026-27 season as a playoff and championship contender. Knowing full well their current roster will not get them there, offseason changes are a necessary course of action. Who remains on the roster next season is up in the air, as well as who joins it.
Antetokounmpo is the No. 1 target Miami is pursuing; that's no secret. They failed once during this season, but will certainly try again this summer. That said, is Antetokounmpo really the best option to make the Heat immediate contenders? What are the consequences of a trade of that magnitude? If you ask a former Heat champion and NBA Hall of Famer, Miami might be better off going in a different direction.
2006 Miami Heat champion Gary Payton argues too much would be given up in a Giannis Antetokounmpo traded
Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Pelle Larsson, Kel'el Ware, Kasparas Jakučionis, Nikola Jović, and even Andrew Wiggins should he opt into his final year, and the Heat then use him as a trade chip—these are the list of players the Heat would have to give up in a trade for Antetokounmpo.
Of course, not all of them (Adebayo is the least likely), but pick and choose, together with future draft picks, two or three of those players would be out the door. At the trade deadline this season, Herro and Ware were the players offered in a package to the Bucks, and that evidently wasn't enough for Milwaukee to seal the deal.
The Heat are ripe with young talent and many players with exceptional potential, and to land Antetokounmpo, they would have to give up some of them. It's a scenario that NBA Hall of Famer Gary Payton believes is too costly and would leave the Heat with a significant loss.
“I wouldn’t want to lose what they have with the guys that they got,” Payton said. “They’re gonna have to give either Bam (Adebayo) up, and then one of the other shooters, they would have to give one of them up. They have to give somebody up. So then you’re going to build around one person. I don’t know how that’ll work.
“Miami is going to give away a lot, but what are you going to do?" Payton continued. "Who are you going to put around him? And I don’t know what that’s going to be, but I think Pat Riley got it in. He knows what he needs…But I don’t think he wants to be in that situation anymore. I think he wants to be a true contender.”
Payton is right about what the Heat would have left over after a trade like this. Riley would have to do more shopping around to add more pieces around Antetokounmpo. Payton would also say that the Heat are one player away, but the question is: at what cost? And, is it worth the price?
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