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The Los Angeles Lakers, like many teams, have been linked to Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks over the past few months in NBA trade rumors.
While they were previously thought to have a strong chance at landing the two-time regular-season MVP, with the ever-intriguing idea of him paired alongside Luka Doncic, that might no longer be the case, at least for now.
Writing for ESPN, Bobby Marks discussed how, at this point in the season, the Lakers do not have enough assets for flexibility to compete for an Antetokounmpo.
“The Lakers have the expiring contracts to make the math work and can include Austin Reaves and their 2031 or 2032 unprotected first-round pick in a trade,” Marks wrote. “But considering Reaves will likely command top dollar as a free agent, and the pick is at least five years out, it is difficult to see Milwaukee interested in what the Lakers could offer.”
Let alone the fact that the star hasn’t reportedly asked for a trade, but any deal Los Angeles would offer before the February 5th deadline would likely have to blow Milwaukee out of the water, and how things stand now, that seems pretty impossible.
Lakers Giannis Trade Update
Their relatively minimal assets mean bad news for the Lakers right now as it relates to a trade for Antetokounmpo in the next few weeks. Strictly speaking, they don’t have anything close to the types of assets teams around the league could offer, and even if the star himself asks to be moved to Los Angeles, the idea of it happening before the deadline remains extremely unlikely, just based on what the Bucks could, and would, get back.
However, there is another way for Antetokounmpo to end up in Southern California by the end of the year, and it isn’t anything too wild.
Writing for The Stein Line, Jake Fischer discussed how the Lakers would have three of their first-round picks available to be traded over the offseason, much different from the only one they can trade right now. That would be crucial for an Antetokounmpo trade, as a package would include the newly-extended Reaves, a few other contract fillers, and all three of those picks for the 2021 Finals MVP.
“Said one league source particularly well-versed in Bucks matters: ‘This is shaping up to be a draft-day kind of thing.’ Said another: ‘It’s happening.’ Meaning a trade in conjunction with the draft if not now,” Fischer wrote. “Waiting until after the NBA’s lottery drawing in May to truly launch into the process of parting with their Face of the Franchise via trade would at least enable the Bucks to know exactly what potential trade partners can offer in terms of 2026 draft capital.”
So, a trade for Antetokounmpo right now feels nearly impossible. But a trade this summer, once some of the uncertainty has played out, remains way more likely. The Lakers have never been a team to focus on their draft picks, rather using them consistently as trade chips, and that might once again be the case for their next target.
Lebron James’ Lakers Future On The Brink Of Collapse
The future of LeBron James in Los Angeles has been a major question mark hovering over the franchise this season. But, at the same time, the team appears to be targeting a new superstar in Antetokounmpo; another one could be out in James.
There has already been mass speculation about him either retiring or moving teams after this season, as he is set for free agency this summer, but most recently, insider Shams Charania poured gasoline on that previously small flame of an idea.
Speaking on the Pat McAfee Show, the chief league insider said that the ‘end is near‘ between James and the Lakers. Despite James and Buss denying the claims in the report from ESPN’s Baxter Holmes on the Buss family drama, Charania said the relationship between the player and the star seems to have run its course.
“The reality of what we have right here is the end of a relationship in terms of LeBron James and the Lakers,” Charania said, per ESPN.com. “Whether that comes at the end of this season if LeBron James decides as a free agent to sign somewhere else or he decides to retire or he decides to come back for one more year and decide he wants to retire as a Laker…The end is near however you wanna slice it.”
The Lakers have a lot of decisions to make over the next few months, but any regarding James appears out of their reach. While nobody still knows what he’ll do this offseason, the idea of him returning to Los Angeles to close out his career feels like a fleeting one.