Giannis Antetokounmpo is reportedly intrigued with the idea of getting traded to the Boston Celtics this summer, but that doesn't mean the team should share that same sentiment.
In a recent article for The Athletic, Sam Amick and Eric Nehm wrote about the latest updates on the Milwaukee Bucks star as his trade away from the team seems inevitable, and they made it clear that he has at least some interest in joining the Celtics.
"While league sources have long maintained that he’s interested in joining the Heat, there are also indications that he’s very intrigued with the prospect of joining a Celtics team that, by any objective measure, is deeper and more dynamic than Miami’s and could thus remain more competitive after a blockbuster deal," Amick and Nehm wrote. "And again, Antetokounmpo’s focus on getting back to title contention should not be overlooked."
The Celtics still shouldn't explore a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade
For a lot of people, this is incredible news. Antetokounmpo is still a top-tier player in the game as someone who can make a high impact in every area, and he would immediately raise the ceiling of a Celtics team whose future is a little murky following their first-round playoff collapse and the rise of teams like the San Antonio Spurs, New York Knicks, and Oklahoma City Thunder. So for him to reportedly want to come to Boston is a step in the right direction.
But at the same time, it's incredibly risky to trade for a 31-year-old who can't shoot, has a growing injury problem, relies on his athleticism, which is likely to diminish in a few years anyway, and is eligible for a four-year, $275 million contract extension in October (it seems like a bad idea paying a 35-year-old Antetokounmpo around $70 million in a season).
Plus, acquiring him would inevitably require trading Jaylen Brown. Sure, Brown isn't as good a player as Antetokounmpo is, but he has already won a title in Boston (let's not forget he won the finals MVP award in 2024 and probably would've won it had the team defeated the Golden State Warriors in 2022), and likely has about five to six more high-level years of basketball in him.
Trading for "the Greek Freak" would raise Boston's ceiling in the short term, but it also has the makings of being a long-term disaster. The Celtics absolutely need to make some changes this summer if they want to re-enter the title picture, but not like this.
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