The NBA offseason is almost here, and that means that the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade rumors are about to return once again. Before the February trade deadline, there was a lot of noise around Antetokounmpo possibly joining the New York Knicks.
That move never happened, but now another Eastern Conference team is slowly entering the conversation.
ESPN Insider’s Recent Revelation Regarding Giannis Antetokounmpo
In a recent episode of the “Rich Eisen Show,” ESPN insider and sportswriter Ramona Shelburne dropped a hint that the Orlando Magic will be making a push for Antetokounmpo in the offseason.
“I will look at the team like Orlando. They are close. They made a move already. They are gonna get a new coach. They have some good young pieces,” Shelburne said during the show.
Now teams trying to go after the “Greek Freak” is nothing new. Almost every franchise would love to have a player like him. But what makes the Magic situation interesting is that there are already several strong connections between Antetokounmpo and people inside Orlando’s organization.
The Magic recently finalized a deal to bring in San Antonio Spurs associate head coach Sean Sweeney as their new head coach.
Sweeney is currently finishing out the postseason on the Spurs’ bench, including Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, before he officially joins Orlando. He replaces Jamahl Mosley, who was fired after the Magic fell 4-3 to Detroit in the first round of the playoffs.
Now the interesting part is that Sweeney is not a stranger to Antetokounmpo. He was an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks back when Antetokounmpo was still a young player in the NBA.
Some reports have described the relationship between Antetokounmpo and Sweeney as “very close,” and that connection is now becoming part of the offseason discussion.
Moreover, it does not stop with Sweeney. As reported by Brandon Kravitz, Orlando Magic general manager John Hammond was the man who drafted Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee. On top of that, Jeff Weltman, who is the Magic’s President of Basketball Operations, personally scouted Antetokounmpo before he was drafted.
So you have the head coach who coached him early in his career, the GM who drafted him, and the team president who scouted him all in the same building, all now in Orlando. That is a relationship that runs deep, and the Magic will absolutely use every bit of it when they make their pitch.
Still, Orlando is far from the only team expected to make a push. NBA insider Chris Haynes recently reported that the Portland Trail Blazers are another team that could try to pursue Antetokounmpo during the offseason.
“I do believe if Portland were to come with something really serious, I do believe Giannis would at least consider it. It wouldn’t be a situation where he would just say ‘nah. Throw it in the trash,” Haynes said.
At this point, everything remains speculation. The former champion has not publicly demanded a trade, and Milwaukee will surely try to keep their franchise player. But one thing is sure, which is that the rumors are only going to grow louder.
