The Boston Celtics have an active offseason ahead as they aim to get under the second apron. Most of the discourse on their potential moves has been about parting ways with key players, but what about adding one of the league’s biggest superstars?
The Milwaukee Bucks could look to jumpstart their rebuild and move on from two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst mentioned on Get Up! that “the move for Giannis, if he has the control, is to go to the East.” Windhorst named the Celtics and the New York Knicks as the top options.
Is acquiring Antetokounmpo even a realistic scenario for Boston? NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics insider Chris Forsberg assessed the hypothetical move and came to a firm conclusion:
What would such a move look like?
“If you’re just talking about a 1-for-1 trade, the Boston Celtics can only move Jayson Tatum for Giannis Antetokounmpo based on their salaries, which are the exact same going into next season,” Forsberg said. “That is the only move. The Celtics, because they are a second-apron team, cannot take on more salary, and they cannot aggregate salary. So this is the only legal move they can make while they are a second-apron team.
“The other part of this is, if they get off the second apron, or if they were to do such as part of their maneuvering in any three-team, four-team, five-team (trade) — I don’t know, it’s gonna get complicated. They could technically make this move. … Jaylen Brown would have to be part of the deal, presumably, to make both the money work and to give the Bucks a part that they would be able to build around from there. I don’t like that on the surface, and I know everybody out there on Instagram and YouTube and everything, they don’t like when I bring that up either.”
Why would the Celtics do it?
“Well, it’s Giannis,” Forsberg said. “He’s a former MVP. He’s still got plenty left in the tank. He was third in MVP voting this season, and he would be a difference-maker for your team.”
Why would the Bucks do it?
“The run might just be up in Milwaukee, and they need to figure out what the best return is,” Forsberg said. “Some combination of young talent, picks. But it’s gonna be weird, because Giannis has been the face of their franchise for what feels like so long that they’ve got some hard questions about how to proceed forward.”
Final verdict
“I just don’t see any way that this makes sense for all sides involved, at least without getting just a bunch of different teams, revamping rosters across the NBA,” Forsberg said. “Maybe when it comes to MVP-level players, that’s what you’ve got to think about. But I think we can spend our offseason thinking about stuff that makes a little bit more sense than this one.”
Watch Forsberg’s assessment of a potential Giannis-to-Celtics deal in the video player above.
