Now the the NBA regular season has officially ended, it's time to fully revamp Giannis Antetokounmpo trade rumors! Yay! The Ringer's Bill Simmons was one of the first to the punch on Monday, relaying some recent Antetokounmpo buzz that pro-Giannis Los Angeles Lakers fans won't enjoy hearing.
"(Giannis) doesn't want to be on the West Coast ... that's what I heard," Simmons said. Simmons then surmised that Giannis doesn't like how far the West Coast is from his native Greece, speculating out loud about whether or not Giannis would consider the Charlotte Hornets (closer to Greece!) or the Chicago Bulls, based in one of the five U.S. cities with direct flights to Greece.
Giannis-Lakers trade potential takes hit with latest rumor
It's still a mystery as to where Giannis will end up, but it does seem likely that a trade will happen this summer. The Lakers have been connected to Giannis from the earliest hints that his relationship with the Milwaukee Bucks was going off the rails. But that connection hasn't ever been rooted in specifics. It's been more of a, "the Lakers traditionally attract every available superstar," than a, "the Lakers could really use a 31-year-old Giannis right now."
The fact of the matter is that Giannis isn't a perfect fit with the current Lakers. The idea of an offensive partnership of Luka Doncic and Giannis is salivating, as is the thought of Giannis fixing a lot of LA's defensive woes, but there would be plenty of risks associated with the Lakers throwing all of their eggs into the Giannis basket.
First of all, bringing aboard Antetokounmpo would destroy the very cap flexibility that the Lakers have been desperating looking forward to this summer, a flexibility that would finally allow Rob Pelinka to build a sustainable winner around Luka and Austin Reaves by adding multiple depth pieces. Throwing away that plan for a north-of-30 Giannis? That would be counterintuitive, especially considering how the Lakers haven't achieved anything championship-worthy with a Big 3 of Luka, AR, and LeBron James. That blueprint has proved faulty.
Lakers could help keep Giannis out of the Western Conference
The best Giannis outcome for the Lakers might be not landing him at all, but to see Antetokounmpo stay in the Eastern Conference. The New York Knicks have always felt like an appropriate destination for Giannis, and the Lakers could get involved as a facilitator in a Giannis-Knicks deal.
We're going to be hearing Giannis rumors all summer long. Simultaneously, we'll be hearing a lot of noise about what Pelinka is up to as he re-tools the Lake Show. These two storylines might not have much crossover, especially if Simmons' intel has any weight to it. A Giannis-Luka duo would have made for a terrifying core in other circumstances, but that ship may have sailed. Maybe it would've happened in Dallas. We'll never know.
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