This post was originally published on this site.
Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Warriors
10 of 10
Warriors Receive: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kyle Kuzma and Thanasis Antetokounmpo
Bucks Receive: Jimmy Butler, Jonathan Kuminga, Ziaire Williams, a 2026 first-round pick, a 2028 first-round pick, a 2031 first-round pick swap and a top-one protected 2032 first-round pick from Golden State
Nets Receive: Moses Moody
We’ll dispense with comparing the Golden State Warriors’ pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo to that of his other suitors. There are a handful of teams that could realistically win the title this year, even after giving up a boatload to get him, if they were to trade for Giannis.
But the best story of the bunch, and the one that makes the most sense from a win-now perspective, is the Warriors. It’s the story of Antetokounmpo giving Stephen Curry one or two more legitimate shots to get his fifth championship.
And although it feels a little unseemly to discuss trading Jimmy Butler, who Golden State has suggested it won’t trade while he recovers from a torn his ACL, his injury made the path to Giannis a lot more obvious.
Butler has the exact same salary as Antetokounmpo. Jonathan Kuminga, whom the Warriors desperately need to unload, is within $100,000 of Kyle Kuzma’s 2025-26 salary, and Milwaukee should be looking to get rid of his contract in any Giannis deal.
A third team still has to be wrangled in because neither the Bucks nor Warriors can take in any more salary than they send out in trades, but Brooklyn should be happy to get 23-year-old Moses Moody out of the deal and almost for free. He’s younger and already better than Ziaire Williams.
In the aftermath of this trade, Golden State still might not be favored against healthy Western Conference powerhouses like the Oklahoma City Thunder or Denver Nuggets, but the combination of Giannis and Curry, who’s games almost seem tailor-made for each other, would give them a shot.
And for all Curry has done for that organization for almost two decades, he’s earned one last shot.
For Milwaukee, with Giannis being 31, having injury concerns, having a game that may not age beautifully and having some control over this situation by signaling which teams he would or would not extend with after a trade, getting four first-rounders out of any suitor would be a win.
But those picks are even more valuable coming from the Warriors than they’d be from most other teams. By the 2030s, Curry will almost certainly be retired and Antetokounmpo will be well past his prime. Those selections could rise toward the very top of those drafts.
That should carry a ton of value with a front office on the verge of a rebuild. And, after Butler gets healthy, the Bucks might even be able to expand the return from this trade by moving him elsewhere in 2027.
Any time you’re the team giving up the superstar in a superstar trade, it’s going to sting a bit, but there’s enough here to make it worthwhile.