It was already going to be a difficult trade to pull off, but the competition might be too intense for Brad Stevens and company.
If you go anywhere this offseason, Boston Celtics fans and media are talking about the idea of acquiring Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks.
Trading for Antetokounmpo is certainly a tantalizing thought for Boston fans, but it's also a difficult trade for the Celtics to actually pull off.
For starters, they'd probably have to part with Jaylen Brown, which would be an incredibly difficult decision. After all, Brown has spent a decade with the organization and is on track to possibly get his number retired in the rafters.
And if they didn't part with Brown, they'd have to part with most of the role players on their roster. And at that point, is it even really worth it?
And while the logistics are hard anyways, Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports Radio thinks that the competition for Antetokounmpo will be fierce, which could price the Celtics out of the sweepstakes altogether.
Speaking on Friday, Cowherd said that he thinks that Antetokounmpo is the only player that can really match up with Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs. Therefore, teams that need to be able to beat him in the playoffs might look to go extra hard after Antetokounmpo. Cowherd specifically cited the Oklahoma City Thunder as a team that should be interested if they are unable to beat Wembanyama in the Western Conference Finals this year.
Obviously, teams like the Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Dallas Mavericks are all teams in the Western Conference that want to take down San Antonio in the future, in addition to OK. So the price tag for Antetokounmpo should only grow as teams begin to evaluate their situations.
The one thing working in Boston's favor?
Let's make this clear. Milwaukee doesn't really owe Antetokounmpo anything. If he wants to be traded, they owe it to themselves to get the best deal possible. But if they do feel that they owe Antetokounmpo something, he may not want to go to the Western Conference, which is the more competitive conference.
He may want to stay in the East, which would make Boston more appealing.
Of course, Milwaukee may not want to oblige that and may want him out of the Eastern Conference entirely.
Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) drives to the basket against Miami Heat guard Pelle Larsson (9) and forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. (11) during the second quarter at Kaseya Center. Sam Navarro-Imagn ImagesWhat's the timeline?
The Bucks have said they want to have the situation with Antetokounmpo settled by the NBA Draft, which begins on June 23. That means teams have about one month to figure out how they want to try to acquire Antetokounmpo, including the Celtics.
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