Earlier this week, we proposed Giannis Antetokounmpo mock trades for the four teams most aggressively pursuing the two-time MVP: the New York Knicks, Golden State Warriors, Miami Heat and Minnesota Timberwolves. The only problem? Their packages were fairly underwhelming. 

The Warriors really only have picks to offer, and the value of those picks relies on the team falling apart in the coming years. Miami has some picks, but owes a pesky 2027 pick to Charlotte that complicates its offer, and Kel’El Ware doesn’t look quite as appealing now as he did a few months ago as a centerpiece player. The Knicks and Wolves need to rope in third, fourth, maybe even fifth teams to generate draft picks for their veterans, because right now, they don’t have any.

So today, we’re taking a different road. We’re talking Giannis sleepers. All four of these teams can make better offers than the teams we covered yesterday. Of course, we don’t know that they actually would, but our goal today is laying out what possible deals for these teams could look like rather than suggesting that any of these deals is especially likely (though in some cases, there’s seemingly a bit of momentum). So let’s fire up the trade machine and find Antetokounmpo a new home.

Cleveland Cavaliers

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said on Tuesday that the Cavaliers have indeed made contact with the Bucks about a possible Antetokounmpo deal, and given all of the wild rumors surrounding this team right now, it seems as though anything is possible. Yes, in this world, we’re assuming Antetokounmpo is comfortable playing with new Cavalier James Harden despite their long-running feud. Stranger things have happened. The chance to win a title trumps all.

Now, what are the Nets doing here? Well, despite the De’Andre Hunter trade, the Cavaliers are still around $14 million above the second apron. They need to get below that line to make this possible, because teams above the second apron cannot aggregate salary. So we’re giving the Nets an unprotected first-round swap and two second-round picks to take on the Schröder deal. Schröder thrived in Brooklyn last season, so maybe he could be a part of their efforts to get better next season.

Really, though, this all comes down to one question: would the Cavaliers trade Evan Mobley for Giannis Antetokounmpo? I’m sure they would have loved to dangle, say, Garland, Jarrett Allen and their meager remaining draft assets, but if that were feasible it probably would have happened, and now that Garland is a Clipper, it’s not possible anyway. No, Milwaukee needs Mobley, a 24-year-old All-NBA big man, to entertain a Cleveland offer. 

The obvious question here: if Antetokounmpo couldn’t win with these Bucks, why could Mobley? Well, he couldn’t. What the Bucks would really be trading for here is time. Mobley is under contract through 2030. Antetokounmpo is making noise about a trade here and now. The Bucks could get Mobley, tank for a high 2026 pick and then spend a year or two seeing what happens. Maybe they find more wins on the margins like Ryan Rollins and improve. Maybe they flip Myles Turner for assets. Maybe those Cavaliers and Clippers draft assets look better in a few years. Maybe they flip some of their own picks down the line for more help for Mobley. They’d have time to figure it out. That’s time Antetokounmpo isn’t giving them.

And the Cavaliers? Well, they’d be the most talented team in the Eastern Conference. A starting five of Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Jaylon Tyson, Antetokounmpo and Jarrett Allen would raise some questions about spacing and usage, but good luck stopping five players this good. They’d still have a pretty deep bench with Keon Ellis, Max Strus, Dean Wade and Sam Merrill available as role players. They might need to mix and match lineups a bit to figure out what works, but there’s more than enough in this cupboard to not only win the East, but win a championship. 

If the Cavaliers are all-in on the present, this makes sense. The Garland trade hints that that’s their direction, but it doesn’t guarantee it. That could just as easily be a signifier of their reluctance to extend Garland for fear of the financial impact it would have on a Mitchell-Mobley core. If their goal is a longer runway, of if they’re just really committed to the idea of Mobley as a Cavs lifer, this thing falls apart. It’s a question of priority, but with Mitchell’s free agency looming in 2027, Cleveland has already been aggressive at this deadline, and Antetokounmpo would probably make them the Eastern Conference favorite.

Portland Trail Blazers

The entire league seemingly wants to use the Blazers as facilitators in an Antetokounmpo trade because Portland controls Milwaukee’s first-round picks between 2028 and 2030. Portland has seemingly responded to this by pursuing Antetokounmpo themselves, with Damian Lillard acting as a recruiter. There is no indication that Antetokounmpo would be willing to stay in Portland to this point. If he wants to get moved by Thursday, and therefore retain the ability to extend with a new team in the offseason, this might be the sort of compromise trade he needs to accept. Nothing happens if the Blazers don’t believe they can actually keep Antetokounmpo for the long haul.

Now, let’s say Lillard and Jrue Holiday successfully recruit their former teammate to the Pacific Northwest. We still have a lot of work to do. The Bucks would obviously want their picks back. I’ve laid out in detail the complications that come with getting them here, but here’s the short version: the Blazers can’t give the Bucks their 2028 selection back without some cooperation from the Bulls, who have a lottery-protected 2026 Blazers pick. 

So here’s our solution: Portland removes the protection on that pick, ensuring the Bulls get it and Portland has access to its 2028 pick which it can trade to Milwaukee with those swap rights attached. In return for the lottery upside and the certainty of getting the pick this season, the Bulls agree to turn the expiring Collins contract into one more year of Kuzma money. Chicago has signaled a willingness to eat money for draft picks this deadline, so that sort of deal tracks.

So where does all of this leave the Bucks? Well, they still wouldn’t have a pick in 2027, but they’d regain control over their picks in 2028, 2029 and 2030 with a little bit of added upside coming from that “most favorable” language. The Blazers would throw in one more pick in 2031 to push it over the top, but that would allow them to keep most of the young talent they’d want to pair with Antetokounmpo rather than give up to get him. Milwaukee would get one very interesting young prospect, though, in recent No. 3 pick Scoot Henderson. Things haven’t worked out for him in Portland, but the Bucks actually present a very interesting situation for him. They’re loaded with shooting and should have basically no pressure to win for the next few years. That’s a great environment for a fast guard who needs shots and touches to develop. The other players are just matching money. The bulk of the value comes in regaining the ability to tank in the near future.

When the dust settles here, the Blazers will have expended most of their pick capital, essentially four picks and one very valuable swap, to secure Antetokounmpo while keeping the bulk of its young core intact. There would certainly be questions here. For instance, is Lillard comfortable coming off of the bench next season behind Holiday and Shaedon Sharpe? How would Antetokounmpo fit on a team that currently has the lowest 3-point percentage in the NBA? What sort of follow-up moves would be needed? In reality, the Blazers would probably need a transaction cycle or two to figure out the team around Giannis. But when does Portland ever have a chance to get someone this good? If he’s willing to stay in Portland, the Blazers have to consider going for him.

Toronto Raptors

• Raptors receive: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday, Myles Turner
• Trail Blazers receive: Bobby Portis, Gradey Dick, Ja’Kobe Walter, 2028 first-round pick (via Raptors)
• Bucks receive: Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, Jakob Poeltl, Ochai Agbaji, Collin Murray-Boyles, 2026 first-round pick (via Raptors)

There has not been any indication whatsoever that the Raptors are willing to trade Barnes. The Raptors have just been linked to every big name on the market, and they’ve been frequently connected to Antetokounmpo as a sleeper, so we’re gaming out what it would take. Toronto’s picks, with Barnes on the team, aren’t valuable enough to get Giannis, so this is the only realistic path. So join us as we venture into Cuckoo Bananas Land.

So, what’s Portland doing here? Well, we need to entice Antetokounmpo into actually staying in Toronto, and the Raptors without Barnes don’t have a team that can do that. So that’s why we’re bringing in Holiday, to make the Raptors attractive enough to get an extension from Antetokounmpo. Portland has the leverage here to demand two interesting young players and a good first-round pick for its participation.

Now that that’s settled, we move on to Milwaukee’s end of the equation. Much like the Cleveland scenario, the Bucks would have to eschew most of the draft value in this trade for the sake of getting an All-Star in his mid-20s. The appeal of Barnes is similar to the appeal of Mobley: they both buy the Bucks time to chart a new course. The Bucks get even less draft value here than they did in the Cleveland deal, but that’s made up for by the addition of Murray-Boyles, the No. 9 pick in last year’s draft and an extremely promising young defender.

Toronto just doesn’t have enough shooting to make a trade like this without Turner’s inclusion. With him? They’re suddenly an absolutely fascinating team: Antetokounmpo, a defense-first point guard in Holiday, two big wings in RJ Barrett and Brandon Ingram, and Turner as the spacing center to round the team out. The formula here would be eerily similar the 2021 Bucks championship team, with Ingram as the late-clock shot-maker on the wings. The Raptors would notably keep their more valuable, deep future first-round picks in 2030 and 2032 to potentially use to tinker with the supporting cast (there’s very limited depth here after making such a big trade), but the top of the roster looks strong.

Now, again, this isn’t realistic. The Raptors almost certainly won’t trade Barnes. But honestly, a Barnes-Antetokounmpo pairing, given neither is an especially consistent shooter, would probably be a bit clunky anyway. The Raptors would be justified in refusing the trade Barnes even for Giannis. He’s a very valuable player who’s significantly younger. But if they saw a chance to win it all right now, one they don’t currently have, well, it’s worth the conversation at least, even if it’s not an especially realistic one.

Philadelphia 76ers

Much like the Raptors trade, there is no indication whatsoever that the 76ers would trade Edgecombe. There’s even reporting that the Sixers won’t entertain an Edgecomb deal. Frankly, I’m afraid Philadelphia fans are going to start whipping snowballs at me for even mentioning the idea. But there has been reporting suggesting that Antetokounmpo would be interested in the 76ers, so we’re mapping out what it would look like. And what it would look like, simply, is Edgecombe. That’s it. Philadelphia would have to match money, of course, so George goes into the deal too. But Edgecombe is a future star in the first year of a rookie deal. Milwaukee could not possibly do better than that, so that’s all they get.

Where this gets more interesting is in the broader implications of a roster-build with Giannis. If the 76ers are giving up Edgecombe, they’re all-in on this season. And if they’re all-in on this season, that means they’re going to have to round out this year’s roster using draft picks. There isn’t enough perimeter defense on this team. We’re turning to the Pelicans, with Herb Jones on a team-friendly contract, to change that.

New Orleans reportedly wants a haul of picks for Jones. The Pelicans get two here, but they’re two great ones. The first is unprotected from the Clippers, who are in a state of flux as they weigh possible James Harden deals. The second is all the way in 2032. Maxey may be relatively young, but Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid are not. The 76ers will be a very different team in 2032 if they make this trade. If anything, this might even be an overpay on Philadelphia’s part, but it would be worthwhile for the final product if the only goal is to win a championship as soon as possible.

That would be a starting five of Maxey, Quentin Grimes, Jones, Antetokounmpo and the resurgent Embiid. There would certainly be some fit issues. Antetokounmpo and Embiid occupy similar spaces on the floor. Jones is an inconsistent shooter, though to be fair, he’s never had shots as open as the ones he’d get on this team. But man, the talent here is untouchable. If, and since we’re talking about Philadelphia, it’s an absolutely enormous-sized “if,” they can stay healthy, they’re winning the East running away.

But again, this is fantasy land. Considering all it took to get Edgecombe to Philadelphia, the 76ers likely wouldn’t trade for him basically anything. They have a long runway with Maxey, Edgecombe and those Clippers picks looming in the years to come. Daryl Morey obviously has a history of making all-in trades, but this probably isn’t one he’d really consider. Edgecombe is too good, too young and too cheap to trade even for Giannis.