Dubs in-depth: What could the Warriors offer the Bucks for Giannis?

The NBA still hasn’t announced any tentative plans for how the 2019-20 season will finish amidst the uncertainty with the COVID-19 outbreak.

While we are waiting, we can still get our basketball fix by discussing player movement and potential options for the Golden State Warriors.

Bleacher Report’s Preston Ellis came up with one blockbuster trade for every NBA team’s top star. His suggestion for the Milwaukee Bucks is moving reigning league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Bay Area.

Here is Ellis’ trade proposal:

Milwaukee Bucks receive: Andrew Wiggins, GSW 2020 first-round pick, MIN 2021 first-round pick (top-three-protected), GSW 2022 first-round pick

Golden State Warriors receive: Giannis Antetokounmpo

Ellis gave this explanation:

“If the 2019-20 season eventually resumes and the Milwaukee Bucks again fall short in the playoffs, they may have a tough time convincing Giannis Antetokounmpo to sign a five-year supermax extension this summer. If Antetokounmpo declines to sign an extension in favor of becoming an unrestricted free agent in 2021, the Bucks will have to consider trading him this offseason rather than risk losing him for nothing next year.”

From Warriors’ perspective, this would be an absolute home run. Myers would have to make some moves to make the salaries match, but getting the top-three-protected pick from the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Wiggins-D’Angelo Russell swap was huge.

If the Bucks do fall short in the playoffs, Antetokounmpo could look to move elsewhere. Superstar players leaving for a bigger market is part of the NBA tradition.

The 25-year-old sent out this tweet last week:

Antetokounmpo hasn’t been shy about his affinity for Warriors’ superstar Steph Curry. He has said on two occasions that Curry is his favorite player in the NBA.

The Bay Area would also offer Antetokounmpo the opportunity to get more endorsement deals and given the Silicon Valley opportunities, he can expand his footprint in the business world, similar to Kevin Durant.

No one assumed Durant would join the Warriors before the 2016-17 season, but there was always this lingering feeling that it could happen. It has been the same with Antetokounmpo, no one can completely dismiss the ideal, although I am sure Bucks fans will argue it is never happening.

Player movement makes every NBA offseason entertaining. We have seen superstars like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard and Shaquille O’Neal leave for different teams in their primes, so Antetokounmpo leaving Milwaukee wouldn’t be a total shock.

How much of a chance do you give the Warriors to acquire the Greek Freak?

Onto some more links:

Curry has established himself as one of the best NBA players of all time. Dubs’ assistant coach Ron Adams shared the similarities he sees between Curry and the great Michael Jordan in an interview with Monte Poole of NBC Bay Area.

The Warriors are all but guaranteed to have a top-five pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. Although the lottery and combine have been pushed back, Bleacher Report released its latest latest mock draft and it is no surprise who they have the Dubs taking with the No. 1 pick.

Golden State guard Klay Thompson has missed the entire 2019-20 season recovering from tearing his ACL in Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals. Head coach Steve Kerr has talked about how difficult it has been for Thompson not to be on the court. Thompson is releasing a documentary detailing his road to recovery. (95.7 The Game)

With all of the attention being paid to ESPN’s documentary, “The Last Dance,” there have been a lot of articles written comparing the great Chicago Bulls teams to other squads from NBA history. The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson wrote a nice piece looking at who on the Warriors best compares to Dennis Rodman. Hint: It isn’t who you think.