After years of rumors, posturing and inaction, the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo appear on track for a divorce in the summer of 2026. They made one last gasp to try and persuade him to stay with their offseason acquisition of Myles Turner last summer, but the team stumbled and missed the playoffs. Now, a league-wide bidding war is expected, including the Los Angeles Lakers.
L.A. has shown reported interest in Antetokounmpo many times over the years, and will again be one of the suitors in line to land the 31-year-old superstar. However, their ability to land him will be at the mercy of the market, and they are likely to get outbid:
“The Lakers expressed interest in Giannis Antetokounmpo at the deadline. Right now, what they’ll be able to offer is three first-round picks in cap space and essentially absorb Giannis’s contract,” Shams Charania of ESPN reported on The Rich Eisen Show. “Now, if you’re the Bucks, are you just going to trade Giannis to the Lakers for cap space for three first-round picks? Like, my sense is they’re going to get better in the marketplace than that. I think there’s a bigger appetite than that. And so, time will tell. We’ll know in the next six weeks.”
It’s an open secret what the Lakers best offer for Antetokounmpo would be, simply because they have a complete lack of significant assets and have virtually no players under contract for the 2026-27 campaign. Charania notes that the Lakers’ offer to the Bucks would effectively be cap relief and draft picks.
Other teams like the Miami Heat have just as many picks to offer, but also some appealing young players they can throw in a deal as well.
Of course, Antetokounmpo could try the route that Anthony Davis did, forcing his way to L.A. by leaking that he would not sign a long-term deal with any other team. But that has not been rumored in any way and seems to be an unlikely outcome of this saga.
If the Bucks want to hit a complete reset button and become among the worst teams in the league for the foreseeable future, getting some potentially valuable draft picks from the Lakers could be appealing.
Luka Doncic doesn’t want Lakers trading Austin Reaves for Giannis Antetoknoumpo
If the Bucks are looking for a star-level player to build around in Antetokounmpo trade talks then the only Laker who would fit that billing is Austin Reaves. He is expected to be a free agent though, so the only way to make that happen would be for him to agree to a sign-and-trade.
While that may be a possibility, Luka Doncic reportedly told the organization he does not want them trading Reaves for Antetokounmpo.
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