Giannis Antetokounmpo trade talk is heating up again, and an Eastern Conference team has quietly worked its way into the conversation after a coaching hire loaded with Milwaukee connections.
Veteran insider Marc Stein believes this move matters a lot more now. Can the Bucks star’s future be settled within weeks?
Orlando Magic Surge Into Giannis Antetokounmpo Trade Race After Sean Sweeney Hire
Marc Stein has lit the fuse in his latest Stein Line dispatch. The longtime insider connects Orlando’s latest coaching hire, Sean Sweeney, to the ultimate opening for Antetokounmpo to join the Magic.
The Magic formally named Sweeney their head coach on Monday, poaching him from the San Antonio Spurs.
Stein called it “a swift validation of his difference-making work” in San Antonio. And before San Antonio and the Dallas Mavericks, Sweeney spent four seasons as a Bucks assistant from 2014 to 2018.
In those years, he “worked closely with Antetokounmpo,” Stein wrote. So, Stein’s logic flows here, since the Greek Freak has a known affinity for him waiting in Orlando.
Stein points out the Magic “boast another Giannis link” in their senior adviser, John Hammond, the executive who drafted Antetokounmpo 15th overall in 2013.
Magic president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman still leans on Hammond for frequent counsel. That’s two direct lines to Giannis sitting inside the same building.
“The above backstory has only increased league curiosity about the Magic’s appetite,” Stein wrote, placing Orlando among the perceived leading contenders in the chase.
Orlando wasn’t a random name even before the Sweeney move.
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne flagged the Magic on “The Rich Eisen Show” as a team to watch. Sweeney’s arrival just poured fuel on this fire.
Antetokounmpo can seamlessly fit into Orlando’s drive-and-kick offense and immediately upgrade their defense as a former Defensive Player of the Year.
While Orlando becomes a team to watch in the Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, Stein also reports that Miami and Portland are in the running, too. These teams are already doing their homework and pursuing the Greek Freak.
Pat Riley has actively chased Giannis for years and has made it clear that he wants to make a splash this offseason. As for Portland, the Blazers own Milwaukee’s first-round swap rights in 2028 and 2030 from the failed Damian Lillard trade.
The Bucks have signaled they’ll move Antetokounmpo before his contract’s final year if he doesn’t sign an extension this summer, with Stein expecting a resolution within the next few weeks.
