Celtics now favorites to land Giannis Antetokounmpo prior to tomorrow's NBA Draft

Brad Stevens and the Boston Celtics are in the driver's seat if they want to acquire Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Bucks have let it be known they are only negotiating with the two teams that Giannis has said he'd sign an extension with, the Miami Heat and the Celtics. They also reportedly have a deadline of tomorrow's draft.

Considering that the Miami Heat offer is quite underwhelming and would result in a Bucks team with a pay-in tournament ceiling while Portland gets to use all their picks (acquired in the Holiday for Lillard swap), Boston is being called the overwhelming favorite to land Antetokounmpo.

Now it just comes down whether the Bucks will blink and accept Stevens offer of Jaylen Brown, take the lesser offer from Miami, or how much extras Milwaukee will be able to extract from Brad Stevens. Reports are that the Bucks are asking for a lot of sweeteners in Hugo Gonzalez plus two additional first round picks and Boston taking on the negative asset of the contract of Kyle Kuzma.

Would I trade Jaylen for Giannis straight up? Yes. I'd be willing to kick in the Celtics #27 pick in tomorrow's draft or maybe one future first rounder instead, but I'd draw the line there. No multiple first round picks and no Hugo. Fans tend to criminally devalue the asset strength of future first round picks, but for all GM's they are NBA currency gold. You want a Trey Murphy? Well the Pelicans asking price is one first rounder. Danny Ainge held out on kicking in sought after young player in Rajon Rondo when he dealt with Seattle and Minnesota in 2008. By the Celtics not including both the #5 pick and Al Jefferson in their deal for Kevin Garnett, they were able to also acquire Ray Allen.
The key to winning a title (or titles) in the somewhat short window you'd have with Giannis and Tatum is the ability to surround them with cost controlled talent. The Big 3 had Rondo, Kendrick Perkins, Tony Allen, Leon Powe, Big Baby, James Posey, Eddie House, and PJ Brown all on team friendly contracts. The Tatum/Giannis Celtics would also need players like Hugo and other first rounders to fill out the rotation.

As much as it would suck to lose out on Giannis to an inferior offer from Miami and have to deal with the potential Jaylen Brown upset feelings, you can only go so far negotiating versus yourself when you have the best offer.


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