The Cleveland Cavaliers drastically changed their timeline when they traded Darius Garland for James Harden in February. Based on a recent article from ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, the Cavs may have an opportunity to accelerate their timeline even more this summer.
The Milwaukee Bucks are at a crossroads. They’re a struggling team and they don’t have access to many of their future first-round picks. They haven’t been able to build a winner around Giannis Antetokounmpo in recent seasons. This year, they haven’t been competitive even when Giannis is on the court. They’re just 17-19 in the games he has played.
Antetokounmpo will be entering the last season under team control in 2026-27. He has a player option for the following year. From the Bucks’ perspective, they need to either trade him or finalize an extension this offseason. He’s extension eligible on Oct. 1.
According to Shelburne’s report, the Bucks are looking for trade packages centered around a young star player in a Giannis deal. There were two players that were brought up in the report as targets in a trade according to sources: the Philadelphia 76ers VJ Edgecombe and Evan Mobley.
Based on reporting at the deadline, the Cavs did have conversations with the Bucks about a possible Antetokounmpo trade. That didn’t materialize, but depending on how this summer goes for both teams, this is something that could be revisited.
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The Cavaliers would need to get under the second apron to make a trade like this work. Antetokounmpo makes just over $8 million more than Mobley next season. But it wouldn’t be impossible for Cleveland to get under the apron. If they did so, they wouldn’t need to add much in order to make the deal work.
Whether or not the Cavs should be interested in trading for Antetokounmpo is a separate question. There are two things that differentiate this from the Harden trade. First, Mobley is a higher upside player and prospect than Garland. The second is the fact that Antetokounmpo has struggled to stay healthy in recent years.
Antetokounmpo missed two of the five games in the Bucks 2023 first-round exit to the Miami Heat. He missed the entire first-round series in 2024. And this season, he’s been absent 35 games.
That said, Antetokounmpo is still producing at a high level when he is healthy. He’s averaging 27.6 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per game while completing 64.7% of his two-point attempts.
We’ll see how this develops. But based on how we expect this off-season to unfold — with the possible return of LeBron James — it’s possible that the Cavs decide to go all in on making a championship run. And even if James isn’t in the picture, Antetokounmpo is more on Donovan Mitchell and Harden’s timeline.
It is setting up to be an interesting summer.
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