Giannis Antetokounmpo might be stepping into his third year of his five-year supermax contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, but he’s openly signaled he could leave the team if it means higher title chances elsewhere.
This now pressures the Bucks to keep a top-tier roster supporting Antetokounmpo and the push for another championship. On the flip side, it allows multiple teams to anticipate a potential exit by the Bucks superstar and a chance to lure him from Milwaukee.
In light of this, several teams, among them the Golden State Warriors, are rumored to closely monitor the situation surrounding Antetokounmpo, as detailed in a recent article by ESPN.
“A few preliminary teams, who at the very least, will be watching this situation closely, could include the New Orleans Pelicans, Toronto Raptors, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors, according to Zach Lowe and Ramona Shelburne during a recent episode of the Lowe Post podcast. Each of those teams have a combination of intriguing young players and valuable draft picks available that could be packaged in the kind of trade it would theoretically take to land Antetokounmpo.”
The Warriors potentially keeping an eye on Antetokounmpo isn’t surprising given their past interest during his previous free agency situation. While they didn’t land him then, the hope isn’t entirely dead.
As speculation mounts, Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype ranked the Warriors as the No. 6 team likely to sign the 2021 Finals MVP and proposed a trade idea to acquire him.
“The Warriors can offer a combination of Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody, and first-round picks in 2026 and 2028, and pick swaps in between. They could also offer Klay Thompson or Draymond Green, but the Warriors may prefer to keep them in Golden State until the end of their careers”, Gozlan wrote.
