Antetokounmpo A Pipe Dream For Not-Ready Nets
This miserable Nets season isn’t quite over, but the venerable Brian Lewis of the New York Post got the offseason chatter cooking anyway with his Monday column that reported on Brooklyn General Manager Sean Marks’ “Plan A.”
Lewis’ sources indicated that Marks’ eye is on Milwaukee’s 9-time All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo, 30, who could theoretically push Bucks management to trade him if his club underperforms again in the playoffs. The “Greek Freak” is on pace to average his third consecutive 30-10 double-double but hasn’t gotten out of the second round since the Bucks won the 2021 title, beating Brooklyn in an electric (and devastating, from my view) seven-game series along the way.
Milwaukee (40-34) has been first-round fodder the past two years and, should the standings hold, are slated to face the Knicks in Round 1 this postseason. The Bucks would surely be underdogs again, with or without secondary star Damian Lillard, who is out indefinitely while dealing with blood clots. Ergo, the thinking from some around the league is that Antetokounmpo might be the next big name to ask for a change of scenery.
With the Nets holding all the cards this offseason with their overflowing cupboard of tradeable first-round Draft picks and salary cap space, they are the logical place for speculators to start running the trade machines. Marks wouldn’t even have to decimate the existing team to fit Antetokounmpo’s approximately $54.1 million cap hit for next season if he so chose (Antetokounmpo is signed through the 2026-27 season while holding an approximately $62.8 million player option for 2027-28).
Antetokounmpo is said to be enamored with New York off the court, with its sizable Greek population, diverse culture, and bountiful business opportunities. In his post, Lewis recalled Antetokounmpo’s quote after Luke Doncic was dealt to Los Angeles. “I want Luka to the Lakers, I want [Denver’s Nikola] Jokic to the Knicks. I want all the Europeans to go to all the big markets to see something incredible,” Antetokounmpo said. “This is what I want. This is my dream.”
Maybe a pipe dream, from Brooklyn’s vantage.
This all makes sense…until it doesn’t. If Antetokounmpo’s beef with the Bucks is that they aren’t doing enough to put a championship-contending team around him, why would he settle for Brooklyn, which could be years away, if that? The Nets are supposed to have five picks in the top 40 in the upcoming Draft, including one in the Lottery; how many will be ready to play at his level right away, or even within two years?
And then there’s the makeup of the returning players. Antetokounmpo, a sub-20% three-point shooter this season, likely noticed that there isn’t a floor-spacing big man like he has now with Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis on Brooklyn’s roster. Nic Claxton and pending restricted free agent Day’Ron Sharpe basically play Antetokounmpo’s position on offense as the hub at the top of the key who can drive, pass, or dribble-handoff into a roll to the basket. Only the Nets’ guys are much, much worse.
Playing this out, the thought of the packed paint resulting from either Claxton or Sharpe sharing the court with him wouldn’t be ideal for the bullying style Antetokounmpo likes to employ. That means that Marks would have to totally remake the team on the fly in one offseason, not an easy feat. That cap space will be eaten up quickly.
No, the Nets are not quite ready to go big-game hunting. Marks is correct when he hypes his flexibility in the direction and pace he can take his rebuild going forward—it’s night-and-day from when he first took the gig in 2016.
But if you recall, it was the Nets’ stunning 2019 playoff campaign that set the table for Marks to pitch Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in the ensuing free agency period. Before that, Marks often talked about not skipping steps. Going all in on Antetokounmpo from a 25-win season would be an ill-advised leap.
For both parties.