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Who would’ve thought that the biggest sports story in the country leading up to the Super Bowl would be a Greek NBA player?
Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks’ golden boy for years, is preparing to be traded. The two-time MVP, NBA champion and finals MVP has had trade rumors swirling since the beginning of the calendar year.
Antetokounmpo recently said that he deep down wants to retire as a Buck. As the franchise player who won the team their first NBA title since 1971, he has already cemented himself as a legend. However, loyalty in the NBA doesn’t mean much; it is and will forever be a business. Just ask Luka Dončić.
The primary asset the Dallas Mavericks received in the Dončić trade last season, Anthony Davis, has just been traded to the Washington Wizards. Washington, a team that traded for four-time All-Star Trae Young last month, is telling the league that it is trying to win now.
However, in a league with the Oklahoma City Thunder and the rest of the Western Conference, it seems unlikely that a championship is within reach this year.
What makes everything more confusing is that the 2026 NBA Draft class is one of the best in a long time. The University of Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, Brigham Young University’s A.J. Dybantsa and Duke University’s Cameron Boozer make tanking look awfully appealing; if you can’t compete with Oklahoma City, there’s really no point in loading up for the short-term.
Along these lines, the Memphis Grizzlies traded former Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. to the Utah Jazz for a package that included three first-round draft picks. Memphis is completely offloading, which signifies that their rebuild is underway.
Utah is brewing something with a core of Keyonte George, Ace Bailey, Lauri Markkanen, Walker Kessler and now Jackson Jr. Can they win right now with these players? Only time will tell.
The New Orleans Pelicans are all over the news as they are still in NBA purgatory. They traded their 2026 first-round draft pick last year to the Atlanta Hawks to move up and select Derik Queen.
Although Queen has been solid thus far, it still makes no sense as to why they made this move, considering this year’s draft class.
The Chicago Bulls, who have been very active in the trade market, have been linked to looking at Zion Williamson and Yves Missi, two players who won’t help the Pelicans win a championship anytime soon.
The deadline is Feb. 5 at 3 p.m. EST, and there should be plenty more movement until that point.