The Golden State Warriors have discussed with the Milwaukee Bucks “their willingness to put a substantial offer on the table,” including as many as five first-round draft picks, for Giannis Antetokounmpo ahead of the Feb. 5 trade deadline, per ESPN’s Anthony Slater.
The Warriors own unprotected first-round picks in 2026, 2028 and 2032, plus a top-20 pick in 2030 (owed to the Washington Wizards if it falls from 21-30) and a first-round pick swap.
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The Bucks have expressed interest in 23-year-old Jonathan Kuminga since the summer, and 22-year-old Brandin Podziemski “could also help nudge the needle,” Slater reported. Jimmy Butler’s contract, which pays him $56.8 million next season, would almost certainly be required to make the salaries match in any offer for Antetokounmpo.
In fact, according to Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix, the Warriors made known to the Bucks that a similar package was available for Antetokounmpo, even before ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Wednesday that the two-time NBA MVP “is ready for a new home.”
This is the first of several “aggressive offers” made to the Bucks that has been detailed.
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Why might Milwaukee be interested? For starters, Kuminga is a superb talent, capable of scoring 20 points a game and doing it in the playoffs. There are questions about whether he can do that for a winning team, since the Warriors have benched him for significant stretches, even when they have needed a wing contributor who fits his exact description.
There are surely more attractive young players on the market than Kuminga or Podziemski. The Houston Rockets, for example, have either Alperen Şengün or Amen Thompson to anchor an offer, though their level of interest in parting with either player is not yet known.
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However, those draft picks — the last of which will fall when Golden State’s Stephen Curry is 44 years old — are awfully enticing. They are less attractive knowing Antetokounmpo will be in his mid-30s for most of that span, but that is also the case for most interested teams.
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The Atlanta Hawks, on the other hand, control the better pick between Milwaukee and the New Orleans Pelicans in this coming June’s draft, and that may be better than any pick the Warriors could offer. Atlanta also has more talented young players than Kuminga to offer.
We do not yet know how aggressive the Hawks are going to get.
Why the Warriors would want this deal is a little more obvious. It is a chance to pair Antetokounmpo with Curry, another two-time MVP. The Bucks are outscoring opponents by 9.9 points per 100 possessions whenever Antetokounmpo shares the court with sharpshooter AJ Green. Imagine what Golden State could do with Curry in Green’s stead.
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It is unclear how Antetokounmpo would respond to playing in Golden State, though if his past actions and comments are any indication — he once selected Stephen Curry first in the All-Star draft — it seems clear he would welcome the chance to play with him again.
The Warriors’ motives for such a bold move — one that would severely limit their flexibility moving forward — became clear once Butler suffered a torn right ACL. With that injury went any chance of Golden State contending again in the Curry era, save for a Hail Mary.
This is that Hail Mary. As Warriors executive Mike Dunleavy Jr. told reporters in the wake of Butler’s injury, “If there’s a great player to be had, we’ve got everything in the war chest that we would be willing to use.” Whether the Bucks are convinced by it is another matter.
