Milwaukee set their own June 23 deadline on a Giannis trade and now reportedly “doesn’t love” the best offer they’ve received, which is the most 32-50 thing a 32-50 team can possibly do.
The Heat’s package is Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., and up to three first-round picks including the No. 13 pick. No Bam. No Herro extension guarantee. Just a real offer from a real team with real assets. The Bucks looked at that, looked at their four-day countdown clock, and went: “We’re not crazy about this.”
You created the deadline, fellas. You’re the ones who went on record saying you’d figure this out before draft night. Nobody put a gun to Jimmy Haslam’s head and made him say “sometime over the next six or seven weeks” on a public stage. The Bucks manufactured their own urgency and are now somehow surprised they don’t have the upper hand in the negotiation they called.
The Celtics entering as a credible third option doesn’t help Milwaukee. I need everyone to understand that. The conventional wisdom is that a bidding war helps the seller, but only when the seller can actually walk away. The Bucks can’t. They’re four days from the draft, thirteen months from Giannis declining his player option and walking for nothing, and they finished 32-50 this year. They are not in a position of strength here. A second bidder doesn’t give Milwaukee leverage — it gives Giannis options.
https://x.com/ShamsCharania/status/2016546876267372738
And Giannis has made his preferences known. Per ESPN’s reporting on the Celtics angle, Giannis would actually extend his contract if he goes to Boston. He won’t commit to that in Miami. So what the Celtics entering this conversation really does is hand Giannis a veto card he can use on any Milwaukee deal he doesn’t like. “Trade me to Boston or I’m not extending.” The Bucks don’t love Miami’s offer, but the scarier scenario is that Giannis doesn’t love it either.
I, a person who texted his dad “they’re getting Giannis” about the Knicks approximately zero times because the Knicks just won the Finals and do not need him, am watching this unfold with a very specific kind of dread reserved for seeing your division rival potentially acquire a two-time MVP with championship motivation. The Celtics already have Tatum. Adding Giannis to that roster while Jaylen Brown walks out the door is a nightmare I wasn’t prepared to have in June.
But that’s a problem for later. Right now Milwaukee’s problem is that they’ve built a trap with themselves inside it. The NBA offseason doesn’t care about your self-imposed deadlines when you’re the desperate party. Chris Haynes is already saying this could drag into July. July means Giannis’s leverage compounds, Milwaukee’s position weakens, and the “we don’t love it” energy starts to look less like negotiating and more like denial.
Accept the offer or get Giannis for free in 2027. Those are the options. The Bucks don’t get to hate both.
