Did Giannis Antetokounmpo fly 1,260 miles to Miami just to end up in the same place?
That’s the big question this morning after the Heat agreed late Monday night to a blockbuster deal to acquire the Greek superstar from the Bucks, sending Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis to South Beach in return for a crate full of assets: Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Kasparas Jakučionis, Jaime Jaquez, Jr., the 13th pick in Tuesday’s draft, first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, a pick swap in 2030 and a second-round pick in 2033. Milwaukee also generates a behemoth $25.4 million trade exception in the deal, which can’t be completed until the moratorium ends on July 6. Antetokounmpo will presumably sign a four-year, $275 million extension with the Heat once he is eligible to do so in January.
It makes sense why Antetokounmpo wanted to move on from Milwaukee. The Bucks had systematically churned through assets in an effort to keep their team in contention during his prime until finally there was nothing left. Once Damian Lillard tore his Achilles in the 2025 playoffs, it was a wrap. I wrote then that it was time for the Bucks to cash in their Giannis stock, and they finally agreed with me.
(Quick aside, for those who are curious: Yes, I believe this package was better than trading for the Celtics’ Jaylen Brown. Also, among the many ironies of this trade is that the Heat gave up a near identical package to the one they unsuccessfully used to pursue Lillard in 2024.)
Giannis is headed to Miami. What will be his legacy in Milwaukee?
Eric Nehm and Johnny Sweet
Last season, even with Antetokounmpo firing on all cylinders and posting a monstrous 32.6 PER in his 36 games, the Bucks only went 17-19 when he played. There just wasn’t enough talent for even Giannis to drag them to the playoffs. Between that and his missing half the season, the Bucks limped to a 50-loss season. The year before, with Lillard on hand, the Bucks still weren’t exactly a juggernaut, winning 48 games and falling in five games in the first round of the playoffs to Indiana.
That’s an important point to bring up because when you look at the Heat right now … they kinda look like the 2023-24 and 2024-25 versions of the Bucks, even beyond Giannis and Portis. It’s Giannis, a fringe All-Star and a lot of spare parts.
The secondary star is Bam Adebayo, he of the 83-point game last season, but more realistically a switchable frontcourt partner who could make this one of the most imposing defensive duos in the league. Antetokounmpo’s defense is no longer at the level of his Defensive Player of the Year heyday, but a Bam-Giannis duo would still rank among the league’s best.
On the perimeter around Antetokounmpo and Adebayo, we have …. questions. Lots of questions. What helps Antetokounmpo thrive is an offense that can surround him with shooters, and Miami sent some of the best candidates for that job to Milwaukee. The other two best shooters from last season’s team, Norm Powell and Simone Fontecchio, are unrestricted free agents.
Contractually, the only holdovers on the roster are lightly threatening players like Davion Mitchell, Andrew Wiggins, Pelle Larsson and Nikola Jović. They can make a shot, sure, but you’re not exactly freaking out if they get some catch-and-shoots while you double Giannis. Ditto for Bam, actually.
The simple solution would be to re-sign Powell and Fontecchio, but that gets complicated. The Heat are hard-capped at the first apron as a result of this trade, and stand perilously close to the hard cap after absorbing both Antetokounmpo and Portis.
Even if the Heat decline Jahmir Young’s team option, Miami is only $21 million from the first apron with five open roster spots to fill. If Miami pays the rookie minimum of $1.3 million to the player they take with the 41st pick and signs three other Antetokounmpo family members players to the $2.4 million veteran minimum, there is only $12 million left for Powell — not nearly enough for a guy who made the All-Star team this past season.
Miami could also take a player into either their nontaxpayer midlevel exception (worth $14.5 million) or a $16.8 million exception from last year’s Duncan Robinson sign-and-trade. Portis will have to go into one of those spots — it’s the only way he fits in the trade — but a second player can go in the other if the Heat can do that while remaining under the apron. The trade exception expires on July 7, so unless Miami comes up with an alternate use for it in the next two weeks, using Portis in that slot seems the more likely outcome.
Nonetheless, the Heat are likely in scramble mode right now as they try to generate enough room to put together a suitable, contending roster around Antetokounmpo. Remember, there was really no point in giving up all these assets for Antetokounmpo just to finish sixth in the East. It has to be full steam ahead, but with no more tradeable picks it’s hard.
Ideally they re-sign Powell, use their nontaxpayer midlevel exception on another guard, find a solid third center with the biannual exception, and maybe find some change under the sofa cushions for Fontecchio, too. That, though, requires a lot more room below the apron than they have right now.
Miami does have other potential outs here. It would be amazing, for instance, if Wiggins opted out of his $30 million player option. (An Anthony Carter-esque miracle, actually, for the old-timers.) More realistically, even convincing him to opt out and sign a longer, flatter deal (say, three years and $60 million) could generate $10-12 million in wiggle room below the first apron, where the Heat are hard-capped. Trading him might be another option, though the market is likely to be thin and require taking back salary.
The Heat also likely would want to find a taker for the regrettable four-year, $62 million extension Jović will begin this season after he fell out of the rotation in 2025-26. Alas, with no more draft picks left to trade, that may prove challenging.
Another out would be expanding the trade by dealing Portis to a third party, something the Heat have two weeks to sort out before the deal becomes official. However, Portis has two years and $30 million left on his contract, including a 2027 player option, and likely doesn’t have a ton of demand for his services at that price. He’s also the closest thing to a backup center on the current roster, so the Heat may tread carefully here.
As a last, desperate option, the Heat could look at stretching either Wiggins or Jović, though I wouldn’t recommend it. Bucks fans are nodding knowingly, because they’ve seen this movie before.
Overall, the big takeaway when you look at the roster is how similar it looks to what Giannis had the last few seasons. The Heat are absolutely strip-mined of assets, with only one tradeable first, which can’t be moved until after the season*, basically no elite young players, and only two players you’d consider top-20 guys at their position. Keeping Powell would make it three, but big picture, they’re going to go as far as 31-year-old Antetokounmpo and 29-year-old Adebayo can carry them.
(*Miami can trade its 2029 first next June as long as it conveys its top-14 protected pick to Charlotte in 2027, something that just got a lot more likely as a result of this trade.)
I’ll note that Antetokounmpo could still take them quite far, especially in the soft underbelly of the East. It’s easy to forget how good Giannis was at the start of last season because he missed so many games. It’s also easy to forget that he finished in the top-four in MVP voting seven straight times before 2025-26. With all due respect to Jalen Brunson, Cade Cunningham and Jaylen Brown, Antetokounmpo is by far the most talented player in the Eastern Conference.
Miami ground its way to two NBA Finals and a conference finals in the last seven seasons through a mix of elite player development, coach Erik Spoelstra’s wizardry, #Heatculture and a soft conference, but this is something entirely different. Yes, Miami has always chased stars and not worried about future draft picks, but the Heat are all-in in a way they weren’t in any part of the Jimmy Butler era. Getting Giannis was just the first step. Now the really hard work begins.
It’s been 16 years since a player of this caliber took his talents to South Beach, but that time the Heat were able to pair LeBron James with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh en route to four straight finals and two titles. To come anywhere close to that result, they’re going to need to find Antetokounmpo the same caliber of wingmen. On paper, they seem roughly 1,260 miles away.
