Brian Windhorst Says Warriors Have Path to Giannis Trade, But Can't Win 'Bidding War'

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst believes Giannis Antetokounmpo may have to express interest in a trade to the Golden State Warriors in order for the Warriors to potentially acquire him from the Milwaukee Bucks.

Windhorst’s comments come four days after ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Antetokounmpo is, “for the first time in his career, open-minded about exploring whether his best long-term fit is remaining in Milwaukee or playing elsewhere.”

“There is a package that the Warriors could use,” Windhorst said Friday on ESPN’s Get Up. “They have some future draft picks. They have interesting young players. Last year, Brandin Podziemski was off limits. Who knows if that’s going to be the case this year? But they can’t win a bidding war.

Windhorst continued: “If we do reach that point where Giannis does want to look around, he will have agency in this. He has two years left on his contract. The Bucks don’t have to listen to him. But if he were to come to Milwaukee and say, ‘I want to play with Steph,’ there could be a deal worked out.”

Windhorst added that he believes Antetokounmpo would have to express similar interest to facilitate a potential trade to other cap-strapped playoff teams with limited draft capital, like the New York Knicks or Los Angeles Lakers.

If the Bucks ultimately decide both to trade Antetokounmpo and to recoup the largest possible return, they will likely look outside the biggest markets in the NBA. Teams like the Brooklyn Nets or Houston Rockets have both the cap space and draft capital to potentially beat out an offer from the Warriors, Knicks or Lakers.

The Athletic’s Anthony Slater and Marcus Thompson II reported after the Warriors’ second-round elimination by the Minnesota Timberwolves that “there are no early indications that the Warriors will be at the front of the line of the yet-to-materialize Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes.”

“As they enter the summer, team sources said, the internal plan and conversation is about how to best reform the role players around the Curry and [Jimmy] Butler duo, not chase another star,” Slater and Thompson wrote.

If that direction changes, however, the Warriors have a maximum of four tradable first-round picks (h/t ESPN’s Bobby Marks and Jeremy Woo.) Antetokounmpo may need to be interested in playing with Curry and Butler, and the Bucks may need to hold high opinions of players like Podziemski, in order to use those picks and facilitate a potential deal.