Heading into the offseason, the Miami Heat are going to need some sort of lifeline to have a real shot at landing Giannis Antetokounmpo (in the event that he does hit the trade block). Good news for the Heat, there may be one emerging.
If there's any uncertainty about Giannis' health moving forward, it could drastically lower his overall trade value across the league. It could also limit the number of teams willing to make great efforts to trade for him.
If that were to happen, it would certainly change the Heat's chances of landing the superstar forward.
Considering the type of bidding war that could break out in the offseason, if teams begin to shy away from an all-out pursuit of Giannis, that would absolutely work in the Heat's favor.
Giannis' trade value is impossible to predict right now
While it may be difficult to believe that teams may not want to go all-in for Giannis this summer, there could be hints that his trade market may not be as robust as perhaps it should be.
For one, there weren't a ton of teams strongly pursuing Giannis at this past year's NBA Trade Deadline. Teams like the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, and Oklahoma City Thunder weren't interested. Even the New York Knicks decided to sit out that pursuit.
How much of that was the fact that they simply didn't believe that Giannis was genuinely available remains to be seen, but it could also be a preview of what his trade market could look like in a few months.
Giannis' injuries will certainly factor into his trade market
Secondly, Giannis will be coming off arguably the worst season of the prime window of his career thus far. While a lot of that has to do with injuries, it's also not something that will be easily glossed over.
There's a chance that Giannis will not play another game this season for the Milwaukee Bucks, and if he doesn't, he will have ended the season with a career-low 36 games played. Battling lower leg injuries all season long, it's certainly not a great trend for a 31-year-old wing whose game is largely built on athleticism.
He'll also have averaged the lowest minutes per game average of his career thus far, with the exception of his rookie season, and his lowest point-per-game average in eight years.
I wouldn't go all the way to say that Giannis' career is trending in the wrong direction, but this season has certainly been a difficult one for him - and it goes well beyond just the injuries.
Teams know that. And so do the front offices.
And if that moves them enough to shy away from an all-out pursuit, it. could put the Heat in a great position to take advantage. And if there's one front office that has done some of its best work when they've taken advantage of the market inefficiencies, it's the Heat.
A surprise twist in Giannis' trade value heading into the offseason could end up changing everything for the Heat's chances. Suddenly, it may not be that outlandish a possibility.