As if the stress of a playoff series was not enough, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ front office is bracing for potential changes if things go south over the next few games. One of those changes may involve the highest-profile player in the rumor mill, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Milwaukee Bucks (whose owner is Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslem) are listening to offers for Antetokounmpo with just six weeks from the NBA Draft. The Bucks will have numerous offers made for Antetokounmpo’s services, with several of those coming from teams that had interest in him at the previous trade deadline. The Cavs are one of those teams, based on Charania’s report.
The caveat to this is that offers from those teams will likely hinge on playoff performance. Charania says the Minnesota Timberwolves, Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, and the Cavs represent the teams that had called about Antetokounmpo a few months ago and would be prepared to do so again this summer. ESPN reported last October that Antetokounmpo desired to play for the Knicks, but that appeared to fizzle.
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Milwaukee is reportedly seeking a young blue-chip prospect and/or multiple draft picks, something that only a handful of those aforementioned teams can do. For example, the Lakers would have to get creative with their picks and salary to outdo the Knicks and Cavs, who both have the assets to meet what the Bucks want. New York can send almost anything but Jalen Brunson, while the Cavs could dangle Evan Mobley and draft picks and swaps.
Then the question becomes if the Cavs should push every last chip into the middle to try and win a championship. Moving on from Mobley is the most all-in the Cavs could get, even after sending out Darius Garland last year for a player a decade older — but more ready to win immediately. That gets magnified even more when the Cavs would also likely have to include two first-round picks and at least one pick swap. Suddenly, things are not only win-now, but the Cavs are mortgaging the future too.
Unless the Cavs are constructing something bigger — say, James Harden and Donovan Mitchell with Antetokounmpo and LeBron James for his farewell tour — the front office is taking on a huge risk by potentially trading Mobley and the rest of their picks into the 2030s. That will make a lot of fans uneasy to see the Cavs swing so hard for the fence, but another early playoff exit that doesn’t yield a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals may be the final straw of failure. If the Cavs lose to a team led by their former head coach (and scapegoat) J.B Bickerstaff, someone they fired for being unable to get over the hump, it may be enough to send owner Dan Gilbert into a frenzy to fix the most expensive mess in the league.
Now things can’t, and won’t, be all bad if the Cavs acquire Antetokounmpo and add him to a core of Mitchell and Harden (never mind James, who is a big if). In fact, it would likely make the Cavs the team to beat in the Eastern Conference. Antetokounmpo, who is still one of the three best players in the league, would have a dynamic scoring backcourt to rely on, and his front-court mate in Jarrett Allen, who would make the paint uninhabitable on defense. The Cavs would be a force on both sides of the ball and one of the most-watched teams in the league. Of course, they would also be a league villain — especially if James dons the wine and gold one last time.
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