The NBA season is hurtling towards its conclusion, but already fans are looking ahead to the offseason. The Dallas Mavericks won the lottery this week, and with it the rights to draft Cooper Flagg. However, there’s no bigger offseason storyline than what’s going to happen to Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Greek Freak has spent his entire career in Milwaukee, but is reportedly open to exploring trade options to send him somewhere else.
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Every team will be interested in Giannis, but most teams don’t have the assets to even begin to put a deal together. One team that does, and has been mentioned as a leading destination for the two-time MVP, is the Houston Rockets. Ime Udoka’s club is loaded with young talent and proved that they’re ready to take the next step with a 52 wins and a top two seed in the West this year.
The Rockets gave the more experienced Golden State Warriors all they could handle in the first round before being knocked out in seven games. A lack of a consistent scorer and first option was Houston’s main downfall, something that obviously wouldn’t be a problem if Giannis was added to the mix.
Shawn Marion joined last night’s Nightcap podcast to discuss what it would take to get Giannis to H-Town, and when told by host Shannon Sharpe that the Rockets were open to offering a package around Alperen Sengun, he said, “They’re gonna throw somebody else in that deal. I wouldn’t be surprised if they throw Jalen Green in that deal.”
The disconnect between how Jalen Green is viewed by Rockets fans versus the rest of the NBA world is pretty baffling. Jalen Green was a large part of why Houston went home early, as he scored as nearly many points in Game 2 as he did for the rest of the series. The Rockets would likely have to include more enticing players for arguably the best player in the world.
Sharpe agreed, and the two of them shot down Chad Johnson’s suggestion that Amen Thompson could be included instead. Still, it’s going to take some salary cap gymnastics and some draft picks heading Milwaukee’s way to make this all work.
What could a Giannis-to-the-Rockets trade look like?
Since every team in the league will be calling about Giannis, the Bucks can push for the best possible offer. The Rockets are reportedly out on Devin Booker, so if they want to push all their chips to the middle, Giannis is going to be the way to go. What would they realistically have to give up?
Houston is going to be competing against Western Conference rivals like the OKC Thunder and San Antonio Spurs to land Giannis. The Thunder have a war chest of picks the likes of which the league has never seen, and the Spurs just landed the No. 2 pick in the draft. Pairing Giannis with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Victor Wembenyama would be almost comically unfair.
Sengun and Green are a good start, but it will take even more to land the plane for Houston general manager Rafael Stone. Complicating matters is the fact that Sengun and Green together make about $13 million more than Giannis.
The Bucks can use this trade to get out of the Kyle Kuzma deal. The midseason trade that sent Khris Middleton to Washington for Kuzma was a complete disaster, so not only would Kuzma’s $22 million salary come off the books, it would allow Milwaukee to get another asset in return.
Adding Jabari Smith makes the trade work, and his defensive ability would serve as an appealing counterweight to Green’s offense-heavy game. The Rockets might also need to throw in a first-rounder or five. It’s hard to think of a deal that isn’t extremely disrespectful to the value that an MVP in their prime would command. It certainly won’t be cheap.
This trade would leave the Rockets with a core of Giannis, Amen Thompson, Fred VanVleet and Tari Eason. Thompson and Eason showed real flashes this year, and these moves would clear room for former No. 3 overall pick Reed Sheppard to step in and play a meaningful role after what amounted to a redshirt rookie year.
The Bucks would hate to lose their franchise superstar, but if Giannis requests to be traded, there are worse options than collecting the entirety of the Rockets rebuild for their own.
