Celtics a ‘Serious Threat’ in Giannis Antetokounmpo Trade or Are New Rumors Leverage?

by

It’s become very clear that the Boston Celtics are going to be connected to the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, no matter what their level of involvement actually is. 

On Thursday, three fresh spins on the rumors sprung forward, with Bill Simmons and Kevin O’Connor saying the Celtics are still in the hunt on their podcasts, and Jake Fischer reporting on the Marc Stein substack that rival GMs “declined to rule out the possibility of the Celtics eventually entering the fray.”

On Friday, The Athletic’s roundup of Antetokounmpo rumors suggested “Antetokounmpo’s known intrigue with the Celtics, coupled with his concerns about how thin the Heat roster might be if he makes the Miami move, makes them worth watching here.”

So let’s start with the obvious: Enough people are hearing enough things that we can’t sit here and stubbornly rule out Boston’s involvement. Even if the rumors rely heavily on outside people, there are enough informed opinions in the mix to suggest something is real. 

If Bill Simmons says Antetokounmpo “really wants to end up in Boston because he would have the best chance to win a title. Boston is not ruling out the idea is my intel. In general, I’m prepared for anything with Boston now,” then there’s something to that. 

At the same time, there’s enough couching in all of these rumors to open up a Bob’s Discount Furniture. “Boston is not ruling out the idea” doesn’t scream that anything is imminent. 

Fischer wrote “League sources with knowledge of the situation maintained that Boston had not yet seriously engaged Milwaukee on an Antetokounmpo trade … but they also declined to rule out the possibility of the Celtics eventually entering the fray.” Again, that doesn’t exactly scream “start packing your stuff, Jaylen Brown.” 

One key element to all of this is whether Brad Stevens believes in Brown’s desire to stay in Boston. His end-of-season quote stands out to me as the most solid thing in all of this: “I don’t take for granted how good we’ve been when we’ve been full. When we’ve been full, and all on the court and playing together, we’ve been a good basketball team. Those are hard to get, so we just have to be better around the margins.”

In all of the maybes and could-bes, this remains the only thing we’ve heard from anyone involved that tells us what Boston is thinking. It’s certainly possible that Stevens was laying it on thick to distract us from his real intentions, but it’s still something he said with full knowledge that the Antetokounmpo talks were happening. 

The Giannis situation is not surprising. He could have been dealt at the trade deadline, but wasn’t, so these talks accelerating in the summer was something everyone saw coming. Stevens walked into that press conference knowing who Miami had to offer, that the Knicks could be a possibility, and that some teams out west had potentially enticing offers. The only thing he didn’t know was that New York was going to catch fire and play themselves into the Finals, and presumably out of the Antetokounmpo race. 

Stevens has also had enough time to gauge Brown’s mental state. It’s a guarantee that Stevens has talked to Brown’s agent, and probably Brown himself, about how he feels about staying in Boston. Brown went on his Twitch stream and flat out said he wants to stay in Boston, so if we assume he told Stevens the same thing, then it would explain why the reporting across the board has stated clearly that Boston hasn’t had any substantive talks about Brown. 

So what do we actually know? 

We know that Stevens is making calls and shopping ideas 11 days before the NBA draft, which is something all front offices outside of a few at the top are doing … and even those teams will take the calls. This is their job. When the phone rings, you pick it up, because you never know which GM has a wild idea that changes the direction of a franchise. Just ask Rob Pelinka. 

We know that all these rumors do nothing to benefit Boston. Word getting out that the Celtics are back “in” on Giannis does nothing to help their positioning. In fact, it hurts them, because now other teams know the Bucks have another suitor for their star, and it’s a team with the best player in all of the potential offers. 

Which means this benefits the Bucks the most. Suddenly, Miami, who has been reported to be concerned by a potential Boston offer, has to throw in whatever they might be holding back, be it a draft pick or a player they’re desperate to keep. Milwaukee wants to strip Miami bare so they can keep what they want to keep, trade who they want to trade, and sit on a stockpile of picks and look like the OKC Thunder moving forward. 

Tell me, does it make the most sense to take picks from the Boston Celtics, who will be keeping Jayson Tatum in this scenario, adding Antetokounmpo, and keeping Derrick White and much of their supporting cast? Or does it make sense to strip down the Heat, take all their picks, and roll the dice on them being just good enough to get the highest odds in the new lottery reform plan? 

Again, I can’t say with certainty that Boston is out. Enough people are saying they’re in that we have to consider that. But I can say that this new batch of rumors seems pretty well-timed. The NBA Finals feel just about over and the draft is less than two weeks away. Their self-imposed deadline is almost upon us and the Heat might feel like they have some leverage as the only game in town. So here comes a little nudge to make them feel uncomfortable. 

Pat Riley hates the Celtics with a white-hot passion. He’s been chasing stars to come to Miami for a while now, with no real luck after Jimmy Butler, and that ended in typical Butler fashion. This is probably Miami’s last chance to get another superstar in the Riley era, so do you honestly think this stubborn, angry, 81-year-old is going to sit there and let the team he hates most rip his one superstar out from under him? 

My best guess is that Milwaukee knows this and is using it to their advantage, pushing Miami to make their offer better somehow. We can’t rule Boston out, but I can’t look past what makes the most sense. 

Add us as a preferred source on Google


#Celtics #Threat #Giannis #Antetokounmpo #Trade #Rumors #Leverage

Leave a Comment