When a player like Giannis Antetokounmpo officially surfaces on the NBA trade market, the entire league takes notice. The Los Angeles Lakers are no exception, even if all signs to this point indicated a quiet trade season in Hollywood. When an in-prime, two-time MVP becomes available, plans change in an instant.
While the Lakers aren't obviously equipped to win a possible bidding war, they do have a potential trump card in their hand. Playing it, though, would require the painful sacrifice of rising star Austin Reaves, and it's hard to gauge their willingness to stomach that kind of blow.
If L.A. wants Antetokounmpo, though, there's no way around it. A Reaves-less trade package from the Purple and Gold isn't getting it done, but this offer just might.
While this is drafted as a two-team trade, a real-life version might add more franchises to the mix. Because if the Bucks are bracing for life after Antetokounmpo, they might see little value in Reaves—but have major interest in the assets he'd command on the opening market.
From L.A.'s perspective, though, this offers the simplest view of the incoming and outgoing pieces. For the Lakers, they're getting Antetokounmpo, a perennial MVP candidate who could be the perfect co-star to pair with Luka Doncic for the next half-decade plus (and Giannis' brother to help the city's newest superstar get comfortable quickly). For the Bucks, they're getting draft assets, some expiring salaries (Hachimura and Vincent), and whatever Reaves brings back from a third team (plus Vanderbilt as a salary-dump).
Is this the best the Bucks can do in an Antetokounmpo trade? Probably not, though that depends on what they'd turn Reaves (and hopefully Hachimura) into on the trade market. Then again, if asset-rich franchises like the Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, and San Antonio Spurs sit out the sweepstakes, maybe the price point won't be quite as high as you'd think.
The Miami Heat reportedly think "they have a real shot" at casting the winning bid, and their best offer "is presumed to be a package headlined by Wisconsin native Tyler Herro, rising big man Kel'el Ware and tradeable first-round picks in 2030 and 2032," per Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line. Unless the Bucks are huge fans of Herro's hometown appeal or Ware's upside, that feels beatable.
But that's only true if L.A. is willing to give up Reaves. Because otherwise you're talking about only salary filler, one first, and one swap from a team with a 27-year-old centerpiece. The Bucks don't even pick up the phone for that.
Reaves would get them talking, though, and maybe even being the first to extend their hand for an agreement. There's a universe in which the Lakers have Antetokounmpo and Doncic alongside one another; it just cuts Reaves out of the picture.