If the Miami Heat ever had any dreams of trading for Giannis Antetokounmpo, they are over now. Shams Charania of ESPN reported that Antetokounmpo would only be interested in leaving the Milwaukee Bucks for one team: The New York Knicks.
“Ever since the NBA draft combine in mid-May, Alex Saratsis, an Octagon managing director and Antetokounmpo's U.S.-based representative, has fielded rampant interest in Antetokounmpo and conducted serious due diligence on best possible outside fits should the star and his reps push to be traded from the Bucks,” Charania wrote. “Several teams were discussed internally, but one emerged as the only place Antetokounmpo wanted to play outside of Milwaukee: the New York Knicks, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the situation told ESPN.”
From the sound of it, any dreams Heat fans had of landing Antetokounmpo are over.
Would Giannis have worked in Miami?
Though there were never any direct rumors linking Antetokounmpo to Miami, whenever a major superstar is mentioned in trade talks, the Heat come up.
They are a major market, they have established a winning culture over the years, and they always seem to be interested in chasing trades for stars (even though almost nothing ever comes to fruition).
Bleacher Report has written up trades mocking Antetokounmpo to Miami, and plenty of Heat fans have undoubtedly Photoshopped him into Heat jerseys.
But based on what Charania reported, Antetokounmpo doesn’t want to head to South Beach, and if he were to leave Milwaukee, it would only be for The Big Apple.
Unfortunately for the Heat, Antetokounmpo’s thought process definitely makes sense, especially with what the current state of the East looks like.
For years, Antetokounmpo has made it painfully clear that he wants to compete for championships, and right now, the Knicks are set up much better than the Heat are when it comes to pushing for titles.
Where the Heat would likely be left with Antetokounmpo and one of Bam Adebayo or Tyler Herro after a trade, the Knicks could still probably have a Big 3 of Antetokounmpo, Jalen Brunson, and Karl-Anthony Towns.
The only thing holding New York back is its lack of tradable picks, especially after the Mikal Bridges trade, but if Antetokounmpo doesn’t want to go anywhere else, then that doesn’t really matter.
For the time being, it seems like Antetokounmpo is going to stay firmly in Milwaukee, but even if he did want to leave, Miami doesn’t sound like it would be a realistic destination.