The NBA offseason is underway and the first domino has fallen as the Milwaukee Bucks have completed a trade to send superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat.
This saga had been going on for almost a year, so it is nice to see that it is over with and Antetokounmpo can begin a new chapter with the Heat. Meanwhile, the Bucks are beginning their own new chapter after shipping out the face of their franchise and Bobby Portis for Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, three first-round picks (including No. 13 this year), one pick swap and one second-rounder.
The entire league reacted to the trade after it went down, and that included former Los Angeles Lakers great Magic Johnson congratulating the Heat:
Miami Heat owner Micky Arison and his son, Heat CEO Nick Arison, pulled off a major major trade for superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis from the Bucks. Put them right there with the World Champion New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference!
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) June 23, 2026
People are going to talk about Giannis Antetokounmpo, and they should because he and Nikola Jokić are the two best players in the league, but don’t sleep on how important the Heat getting Bobby Portis is. Bobby’s ability to shoot from the 3-point line and his toughness, he will…
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) June 23, 2026
And btw that Miami Heat front line with Bam Adebayo, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Bobby Portis is going to be awesome and so much fun to watch play!
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) June 23, 2026
The Heat still have a lot of work to do to fill out the rest of their roster, but there’s no denying that they are back in the mix to compete in the East after landing the former two-time MVP to pair with Bam Adebayo in the frontcourt. And as Johnson pointed out, Portis is still a quality role player as well that will give Miami some much-needed shooting.
Lakers weren’t threat to land Giannis Antetokounmpo
Antetokounmpo was on the trade block at the deadline in February, although the Bucks ultimately decided to hang onto him until the summer.
That seemed to be good news for the Lakers, who were hoping to get into the mix and have three first-round picks to trade this summer.
That, unsurprisingly, was not enough to beat Miami’s offer though as the Lakers were never truly a threat to land the 31-year-old in the end. If the Lakers had some intriguing young prospects to add to their draft pick offer then perhaps that would have been able to compete, but they have largely missed on all of their picks the last three years.
It’s possible that the trade gets expanded before its completion on July 6 and the Lakers get involved to acquire one of the other players, but one thing that is for sure is Antetokounmpo will be headed to South Beach.
If you love our reporting, choose LakersNation.com as a preferred source on Google.
