The Miami Heat's worst nightmare might be about to play out on the Giannis Antetokounmpo front. That's because if the Oklahoma City Thunder are even just slightly interested in Giannis, the price might have just gone up.
And if the Thunder are especially interested in Giannis, the Heat could get outpriced altogether.
Considering how invested the Heat is in Giannis, it's easy to see why the timing of this all is pretty unfortunate. There have been conflicting reports about whether the Thunder would be interested in Giannis or not this summer, but even just the potential of that happening has to be keeping the Heat's front office awake at night.
Heat's offseason hopes could fall at the mercy of Sam Presti
Interestingly enough, with the way things are currently shaping up, there's a reason to believe that the Heat's offseason hopes do fall at the mercy of Thunder general manager Sam Presti. Considered one of the best in the business, the Heat will certainly be paying close attention to how Presti and the Thunder elect to operate this summer.
Because if they're going to aggressively pursue Giannis as a counter to the rise of Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs, the Heat would probably be better off exploring their plan B now.
Oklahoma City has more tradable future first-round picks and more intriguing young players to throw in a deal for Giannis than Miami does. If they wanted to end the Giannis saga today, they could. And in a way that Miami (and most other teams in the league) just can't compete with.
That's really bad news for the Heat because, theoretically speaking, any plan of action this summer that doesn't include acquiring Giannis (or another superstar) is almost certainly going to be considered a disappointment.
The Heat can't turn back now
The Heat has been building toward this idea of executing on a pipe dream for Giannis. They've floated the possibilities of pivoting to other options, but this is very much the summer of Giannis for the Heat.
And one decision from Presti and the Thunder can turn it all upside down for Miami.
But, despite all that, the Heat can't turn back now. At this point, the Heat is all-in on Giannis, and there's no denying that. Everyone knows how important this summer is. As much as the front office may want to temper expectations at this point, that'd be a really tall task to pull off.
The best that they can do now is hope that Presti isn't the type to make a rash move after falling short of expectations.
The good news for the Heat is that it doesn't appear to be the case for now, but, as we've seen time and time again, things can quickly change in the Association. If it ends up happening on the Giannis front, it would be a worst-case scenario for a Heat franchise that has seemingly put all its eggs in one basket.
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