With as much focus and attention the Miami Heat has given to their Giannis Antetokounmpo pursuit in recent weeks, they'd better hope that the Milwaukee Bucks don't get cold feet all of a sudden and decide to take this bidding war into the offseason.
For many reasons, that would make the Heat's reality that much more difficult to swallow.
It won't do any favors for Erik Spoelstra and the coaching staff, and will leave the front office with some huge questions about a few of their current players.
If the trade deadline comes and goes, and there's no Giannis trade, the front office almost has to continue to play the waiting game. However, because of a few players' contract situations, they can't exactly just sit on their hands this time around.
Even if the Heat's plan is to wait until the offseason to pursue Giannis again, the Heat still have to make immediate decisions on Andrew Wiggins, Norman Powell, and perhaps even Tyler Herro.
Wiggins and Powell will almost certainly hit free agency during the summer, and Herro will be heading into the final year of his deal. This summer, he'll be looking for the extension he didn't get this past offseason.
Giannis or not, the Heat may be active at the trade deadline
It won't be an easy hand to play for the Heat, but they almost certainly have to be active at the trade deadline, no matter what happens on the Giannis front.
Theoretically speaking, if Giannis is still the plan, the move would be to try to trade two of those three players mentioned above (Wiggins, Powell, Herro) in an attempt to accumulate more assets for the summer.
Of course, the concern is, is that something this front office would do?
Would they essentially punt the second half of this season to position themselves for an all-out Giannis pursuit in the offseason?
As much as it would make sense, I can't envision this front office making that pivot. That's part of what makes it so important that there's some sort of Giannis resolution now.
Considering the type of bidding war that could be awaiting the Heat in the summer for Giannis, they'd almost have to make some moves now to give themselves a puncher's chance. But I just don't think the Heat will go down that route.
It's not something they've consistently done before, and it's hard to envision them having a change of philosophy all of a sudden.
At that point, everything becomes so much more complicated for the Heat.
For clarity reasons, the Heat needs a Giannis resolution, one way or another, before the trade deadline. Even if it doesn't fall in their favor.