We are on the precipice of a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade materializing, with the 2026 NBA Draft — the Bucks’ self-ordained deadline — a mere eight days away.
As the date nears, the noise has only gotten louder — and it will only continue to escalate.
The Miami Heat have long been seen as the frontrunner for Giannis Antetokounmpo, despite increased noise from the Portland Trail Blazers, Orlando Magic and, most recently, the Boston Celtics. But the two-time MVP appears focused on joining the Miami Heat, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.
“Talks have intensified over the last 7-10 days. He has focused on wanting to be a member of the Miami Heat,” Windhorst said on Get Up Monday morning. “And because he has one year on his contract, he has some control over that. But the Heat and Bucks have been talking for months, [Mike Greenberg], and have not agreed to a deal because the Bucks don’t love the Heat’s offer. There are 3rd teams involved, there are 4th teams involved.
“In recent days, we have seen that the Boston Celtics have shown some interest there. But a Celtics offer has a stumbling block — you’d be breaking up [Jayson Tatum] and Jaylen Brown. Number two, it would mean changing the entire structure of the way the Celtics play basketball. So stay tuned, there will be more on that as the week unfolds.”
Heat must find another suitor for Tyler Herro:
Much has been made about the Heat’s offer, spearheaded by Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware and three first-round picks, including the No. 13 pick in next week’s draft. But the most likely domino that’s going to have to fall to complete this deal is Miami finding another team willing to take on Tyler Herro.
It’s worth mentioning that Herro, coming off a career-low 33 games, is on a $33 million expiring contract and will be extension-eligible up until the start of the 2027-28 league year. But according to Five Reasons Sports’ Ethan Skolnick, the Bucks don’t love the idea of extending him.
From the Bucks’ perspective, it doesn’t make much sense to extend Herro. If the Heat can’t find a third team, it may be worthwhile for the Bucks to acquire Herro and rehabilitate some of his value before next February’s trade deadline. Though at that point, it may be worth exploring another package entirely — such as the Celtics’ package that includes Jaylen Brown (who could be re-routed for much more).
Herro, 26, averaged 20.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game last year. He shot 48.0 percent from the floor, 37.8 percent from 3-point range and 91.7 percent from the free-throw line. He dealt with myriad injuries last season and underwent a minor foot procedure earlier this offseason.
It’s imperative that Miami finds a third team willing to absorb his contract, as well as potentially extend him. That may be easier said than done, but that may be the tipping point as to whether Antetokounmpo lands in Miami or somewhere else, for now.
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- Insider claims Giannis Antetokounmpo is ‘focused’ on joining Heat
- Why Heat should target this 2026 NBA Champion in free agency
- Miami Heat’s best move in the 2026 NBA draft is painfully obvious
- Why evaluators are split on Heat’s ‘momentum’ for Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Why the inclusion of this young guard could decide Heat’s fate for Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Heat are intensifying workouts for first-round prospects as draft nears
- 2026 NBA Draft Tracker: Who do Heat plan to work out?
Wemby needs a physical sidekick ? Trade Bam for Harper + anybody but Fox + some picks. Bet Spurs wouldn’t do it !
One Week……..
This week, one way or another, it’s Giannis or bust. NBA is a cutthroat business where there is no loyalty. Players want max money and rings. So do owners. Make no mistake, money comes first. Some players go through their whole careers chasing the money first without ever getting a shot at a ring.
It is so refreshing to see an old school player like Brunson, who isn’t greedy or using his contract amount to stroke his ego. He just wants to win and bring his teammates along with him. He realizes that sacrificing a few million dollars or more, won’t make a difference one way or another in the grand scheme of things. He, his family, children and grandchildren are set for life.
Giannis wants max money, a warm climate, no state taxes and maybe even a ring at some point. He and most other players are not cut from the same cloth as Brunson, who deserves everything he gets.
Latest rumor. If Giannis deal falls through, the Heat will pivot to Kawhi, Ja, and (GULP!) Trae Young.
I think it’s gotta be Giannis and, not Giannis or.
Ja or Trae gotta be the third player to add to Giannis & Bam combo. Otherwise the Heat would have done it at the trade deadline, when those guys were being given away.
Heat can always use another one way player who scores OK during the regular season and gets targeted defensively during the playoffs.
Gotta be giannis or kawhi, we’re looking for a 2 way talent with the ability to be a #1 scoring option, they both check those boxes. Getting giannis would gut the team too much to get ja or Trae, and besides Trae arguably is one of the the worst defenders in the game, and inefficient high volume chucker, and ja not a shooter, so his game doesn’t mesh well with giannis. Would just be better off signing powell for a reasonable deal without trading more assets for ja or Trae. 1st option would be giannis,2nd option is Norman, 3rd option is bam, 4th option is wiggy. Also I think we can scrape up a better bench than finals Knicks. Assuming we still have pelle,jaku, tpe(tbd), 2nd round pick, a ring chasing vet that can shoot the 3 above at least 36 percent, with adequate D if possible. Also myron,kj,and Smith in the wings.
We ride!
They are both still being given away and I’m not aware of any takers. Maybe Spurs will trade Fox for one of them.
Latest rumor. If Giannis deal falls through, the Heat will pivot to Kawhi, Ja, Trae Young, RC, HFL, SunMan, 30, Manila……
I’ll be happy to sign for the veteran’s minimum. I used to have a pretty good hook shot.
I can dribble with both hands.
I started career as a kid at center (starter) , and finished 10 year later as a point guard (3th string) . So if there is a need for someone use to play 1 to 5 , here I m.
Wow! I have a chance of making the 15 man roster as think I’m 14th on this list. Look, ma. Top of the world!
You are not not enough around here. G league and two way for you.
Huge dropoff. It’s like getting turned down for a prom date by the most popular girl in school, then settling for the ugliest, most promiscuous one. The skankier the better.
If you want to be happy for the rest of your life…
Miami’s package has centered on Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., a rotation piece such as Pelle Larsson or Kasparas Jakucionis and draft capital. That hasn’t been enough on its own to satisfy Milwaukee, which is seeking (more) young talent and future picks to expedite a rebuild.
According to NBA insider Brian Windhorst, the Bucks don’t love what the Heat are offering.
We know they’ve been talking for months, and they still haven’t done the deal. And even if they do the deal tomorrow, even if they do the deal tonight, just because they do the deal doesn’t mean that Milwaukee’s in love with it. If they loved what Miami was offering, they would have done it already because it’s been there for so long.
Hey Pat, if that isn’t good enough for Milwaukee, f’em!!! Move on before your other options are gone!
Giannis wants to play for Heat and Bucks don’t want what Miami has to offer. Now what? Who’s gonna blink?
givem jovic say hes related to jokic 3 rd cousin
of the nephew of his aunt’s third husband on his mother’s side, once removed.
they made a slight mistake on his birth cert
i think milw is looking to get the best offer.all they have to say to giannis were sending u to a team that has better chance for jewelry than miami.if he bitches and moans maybe theyll adhere to him but usually team looking for best offer.hope he comes here been doing my nightly prayers
There isn’t any reason to believe Giannis wouldn’t go to the strongest team after the trade that he can find. There is no other reason for him to play than to compete for jewelry. I doubt a preference for Miami or anywhere else will override that desire.
If possible, I see him wanting an Eastern Conference team with a warmer climate. There aren’t that many choices. Miami, Orlando, Charlotte, Atlanta. Charlotte has a bunch of draft picks available and a team on the upswing.
he likes the city very international warm weather he has to trust pat will build the team up i think is a key
Jewelry and money. The question is, which is more important to him. We’ll find out soon.
Giannis would need to agree to an extension wherever he is sent. No team wants to gut their roster for a one year rental. Heat should stick to their guns/offer. Until there is evidence that a higher offer is required, there is no need for Miami to bid against itself.
If Herro won’t cut it, they can send Wiggins instead. Bucks could probably flip him much easier to a team with young assets/draft picks. Heat would then have until the trade deadline to find Herro a new home. I’m thinking Detroit or Houston.
Speaking of Houston, if all else fails, Herro and Jovic plus a pick for KD works for me. Houston would probably jump at the offer.
If Milwaukee isn’t careful, by waiting for a better offer, Miami may just pull their offer and go in another direction. Bucks could end up screwing themselves the way Caleb Martin did. After all, Giannis is holding all the cards, they aren’t. Study long study wrong.
The difficulty in moving certain players, players that we signed to generous contracts, keeps impacting us. It’s usually not my style to mention this, but I could have sworn someone predicted something very similar to this new information regarding Ty a couple days ago. It isn’t easy to be a guy saying something that is hard to hear. But, stay tuned, there may be more coming.
nice to hear from u 30 the reason of logic in football u can eat some of the salary not sure about bball.when u see the defense that was played in the finals u realize how tyler cant be on a champ contender. u cant hide him .send him to my generals we dont care about winning.
Nice to hear from you too.
If Miami can’t trade Herro, Heat can keep him and try to trade him before the deadline. Otherwise, keep him until his contract expires and free up $33M in cap space next summer that can be used to help sign a ss.
Another of the unlikely scenarios I saw was Giannis to Boston and Brown to the Heat. As far as trade rumors go (as opposed to building through the draft and strategic trades), I actually prefer this one. Brown is younger, carried his team all year, and the proposal shows only 2 draft picks and no swaps.
Which players and picks would Miami give up for Brown? Same as for Giannis or fewer?
I saw the same ones, just fewer picks, specifically 2026 and 2030 with no swaps.
Milwaukee Bucks receive:
milw doesnt want zero d i thought
They can flip him or get a third team involved.
Four younguns and 2 picks for Brown. Hell TF no! He probably doesn’t even want to play for Miami.
I dont want him to play for Miami.
Somebody is gonna get reamed on that deal. Guess who? Three guesses and the first two don’t count.
greek top 2 brown top 10
Who are the other 9 and who did you leave out?
joker greek wemby sga ant brunson luka tatum steph dipos nightmare 10th. jovic (450)
Kahwi, Cade, Siakim, Haliburton, Maxey, Mitchell, Durant, Townes?
kawhi durant yes
8……
The fun police does not allow this article. Please pull it down. 😛
Sorry I forgot it’s 2010 and Miami is in process of putting together the big three. This isn’t a team that’s be trapped in mediocrity for a number of years now. It’s a fun and exciting franchise where winning doesn’t mean the 8 seed, it means a title.
Also don’t forget all those ss whales that have came here after Mia was either the only place they wanted to play or just plain old whale hunting. The lillards Mitchell’s kds kyries giannis all played for Mia and we thank them for all the success they’ve brought to this franchise.
A team stuck in purgatory and its fanbase stuck in the past.
Many looking for immediate gratification rather than long term success. Yet, those same people have tolerated years of mediocrity. Go figure.
Let the record show the Knicks ran it back several years in a row to get to where they are at after several trades. Go figure.
They showed annual progress. However, Heat have steadily declined since 2022. Go figure.
Right, but they did two things many here have been adamantly against. Giving up tons of picks and RIB. They kind of had no choice since they gave everything up outside of more trades.
Make no mistake, the league is setup to do it in a variety of ways. You just need a plan and then for several things to go your way.
like youve mentioned luck plays a factor who knew brunson and sga would be this good.luckiest thing to ever happen in any sport was getting brady in 6th round
Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Good executives make their own luck rather than waiting for it to drop in their laps.
The Knicks made some terrific moves and they also went 180 degrees different from us in so many ways. And the results speak volumes. Have to give the Knicks a ton of credit and also realize that we went ever so wrong. And, it’s just my opinion, but the way I see it is any thought that the Heat would have any chance against the Knicks in the playoffs is absurd. They would make our Cleveland series from the year before look like a nail biter. .
And it seems to me like the GM has a lot to do with the way things are. I do believe it is his job to choose the players. So, it’s funny, because three years of going nowhere would get a lot of guys canned in this league.
But hey, I’m just one guy who is a Heat fan so I’m getting used to it. We did almost beat Charlotte, so there’s that.
Absolutely right 30. The past few years, Riley has been running in place and falling further and further behind. How many teams have been re-tooling or rebuilding while Miami was “running it back.” There are several in both the Eastern and Western Conferences.
jimmy quitting set us back have to get a replacement for him
The problem up to now is that Riley has had no plan B. His “all or nothing” then “run it back” approach hasn’t worked. Giving away most of Miami’s second round picks and several firsts just to keep Miami’s head above water/stay marginally relevant/mediocre hasn’t worked either.
Thanks, Walter Mercado.
he cant be a heat fan this dude 2q.marlins on a nice run btw .might be a wc team
Crazy streak. Not sure they can take 2 of 3 from Philly but let’s see. Fun June so far.
meyer who would have thought how good he would be.sandy rounding into form get eury back soon thats quite a top 3.lopez all star ss edwards might be an all star ditto hicks.keeps the sports interest going until dolphin season starts.then heat panthers in october.great to be a so fla sports fan.hope u like all so fla teams not sure if your a local 2q
How bout dem Dodgers?
marlins lowest payroll in baseball .dodgers just by every player they want .
Isn’t that what Miami is doing by going after Giannis. Going from the Marlins to the Dodgers in one move? From what I’ve seen around here, the sentiment appears to be if winning is your only objective, who cares how you do it?
no salary cap in baseball
Marlins have a bright future. If we keep this up, we could be buyers at the deadline. Bendix is a genius. Amazing what a brilliant GM can do on a shoestring budget. We have two great GM’s in this town, along with the Panthers.
Riley was younger and wiser back then. Unlike today, more brain cells were coming in than going out.
more brain cells were coming in than going out.thats a good one lebron
Thangya vera mush.
im gonna use that now when somebody says something dum to me.cant wait to use it on rc my buddy.
You may want to try using it first on that fellow you see in the mirror. Those cells are jumping off like lemmings.
LMAO. At this stage of our lives, I think that applies to several of us. I’ve been afflicted with CRS disease for several years (Can’t Remember S**t).
another great one ill use that in life lebron.i have crs except in sports
I think we’ve reached a point where the Heat simply can’t come up empty handed this offseason. They’ve struck out too many years in a row
Lots of rumors about the Spurs maybe wanting to get off D’Aaron Fox. Can the Heat trade their whole team for a “Big 3” of Bam, Giannis, and Fox?
I thought we were trading the whole team to get Giannis…
Math doesn’t work unless you throw Bam in there. Fox is not a two way player. Like Herro but more expensive.
Considering Fox’s recent play and contract, that has to be a pass.
Exactly that contract alone is a no go. That shit is ridiculous. But that’s the type of mediocre dumb move Mia have made in the past couple of years. (Norm, the contracts to players who suck jovic etc etc) so I wouldn’t put it past this team if and when they strike out with Giannis that would be their plan b
Shot 14% from 3 for the series. If he just shot a mediocre 35%, they might have pushed the series to 7 games.
i said if he played average they would have swept the nyk.not playing harperm more also might have cost them the series.good old deep voice was bad
See heat, coaching does matter. SA should have been fouling Robinson any time he was in and NY in the bonus. Why didn’t he call timeout at end of 107-106 game before Wemby threw the ball away? Why didn’t he tell players to hold on to ball when up by 1 with 12 seconds to go rather than trying to score? Many questions
You’re confusing him with facts again. Go easy on that youngster.
He’s gotta learn sometime and clock is ticking.
thats on dum ass players more than coach .if fox doesnt know what the f to do hes a dum mofo.why wemby made the pass when hes got a decent handle dum mo fo.some coaches call to some just play it out.have faith in theirplayers why not much harper throughout the playoffs until 5 th game.why leave the big great white hope in who so obviously bad.why not play the solid vet harrison barnes over low iq bryant all.those are all on deep voice.the physical plays i blame the players more than deep voice.both failed ultimately at crunch time so they deserved to lose if pop was coaching they win.if fox kornett bryant played less they win.im not sure spurs dont change their coach he sukd
I felt very similar about Harper, Barnes, and Bryant. But I also felt their coach did a poor job.
Why a coach leaves an unused timeout on the books in closing seconds to give his players a breather, calm them down and give them a plan of attack is beyond me. That was like Spoelstra calling timeout at end of a tied game against Detroit game with 1.8 seconds left, when he had no timeouts to call…costing Miami the game.
The way Brunson played, there would not have been a sweep, maybe not even a title for Spurs, but it would’ve been closer.
double digit leads every game,coming in with kornett bryant way to much should have realized how bad these two were little quicker.goes to show bb iq and experience just as important as athleticism
Thank you. Now you are finally coming around. Athleticism is important but it isn’t the “be all to end all.” BBIQ, skill, experience, tenacity, toughness, winning attitude, availabilty, off court behavior, work ethic, etc., etc., are all also very important.
ware gets a zero in those attributes .bruson gets a 100
Between his poor play and team’s poor coaching, San Antonio should have won in 5, not NY.
If Riley did that, I for one would boycott. A poorly run organization doesn’t deserve fan loyalty.
Desperate people do desperate things. Can’t prevent the Titanic from sinking so we may as well rearrange the deck chairs.
No shit. $50M plus for each of the next 4 years? SA overpaid and it’s going to come back and bite them squarely in the @$$.
i would think he would restructure contract so they can keep castle harper when theyre due for lotss$$$
Bro, this ain’t football, there is no restructuring of contracts.
Pay to play, now!
that was versus the knicks rc.theyre team defense second to none.id take fox anyday except $$$ to high so id have to pass on him.fox or dav same $$$ who u got?
No way. He played poorly, others did not. And you can’t separate him from his contract. Veterans minimum? Mid level? Sure.
SA should be giving up picks to get rid of him. Herro, Jovic for Fox and 2 picks.
wemby in the 4th for most games was garbage.like 2q and others have mentioned no super teams anymore.get greek were back in the chase.
Wemby played like the young novice he is, and he lost his composure. Should have had that flagrant for throwing Brunson.
also getting in brunsons landing zone was very very dirty he did it on purpose.guys a dirty player cute face though.
During the regular season Wemby played 29.7 mpg. Against NY, because of Kornet’s ineffectiveness, he was forced to play 39.7 mpg. Maybe that had something to do with why he was getting tired in 4th quarters.
maybe in the finals bench is shortened to.but the great white hope really sukd.legler said he was the best backup big in nba during the playoffs think hed like a do over on that statement
He did have an ankle injury his coach said he wouldn’t be playing on if it weren’t for being in the WCF and Finals.
He played bad too.
and brunson how many times did he get hurt.
Toe infection or the clap, same antibiotic. Who you got?
the clap thats a 70s term i do have a toe fungus infection sweaty toes from tennis no biggie dont look so good