Ranking the 5 NBA Teams Most Desperate for a Giannis Antetokounmpo Trade
In some ways, all 30 NBA teams are desperate to see a Giannis Antetokounmpo deal get done by the Feb. 5 trade deadline.
Everyone's tired of the waiting game—perhaps even the Milwaukee Bucks, who have their reasons to drag this thing into the offseason, but who might also benefit from finally ripping off the Band-Aid.
Obviously, the teams feeling the most urgency are the ones with an actual shot at landing the two-time MVP. They are, in some order, the Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves and (recently entering the chat) Portland Trail Blazers.
Let's assess all of those squads and rank them in order of who needs to swing a swap for Giannis most.
5. Portland Trail Blazers
1 of 5
Jake Fischer and Marc Stein reported that the Blazers might fire an offer at the Bucks to acquire Antetokounmpo, which introduced a bit of a wild card to a trade landscape that had previously been confined to four key teams.
Portland's interest is compelling for a couple of reasons, the first of which being its status as something less than an aspiring contender. All of the Warriors, Knicks, Heat and Timberwolves have either had high levels of success in the recent past or want to contend immediately. The Blazers are hanging out around .500 and should be relatively satisfied with that status, as they've undergone a bit of a retooling in recent seasons and profile as more of a rising threat than a one-piece-away contender.
Giannis would certainly change that.
The second reason the Blazers stand out owes to their control of Milwaukee's first-round picks in 2028, 2029 and 2030. The Bucks' best hope for engineering a rebuild once Giannis is gone may involve getting those selections back from Portland. It's a lot harder to justify tanking when you don't get to make the resulting high lottery picks.
Portland is going to benefit regardless of where Giannis lands, though, so its urgency is pretty minimal. The Blazers profile as surefire winners whether they get Giannis or not. All that matters to them is that Antetokounmpo no longer plays for Milwaukee, which will spike the value of those picks and swaps.
4. Miami Heat
2 of 5
The Heat already have Bam Adebayo, who might not make for an ideal fit next to Antetokounmpo, and their squeaky clean books make them perhaps the biggest threat in the league to sign him outright in 2027. If any of the four main suitors can afford to wait for Giannis' free agency, it's Miami.
In fact, it's not much of a leap to argue the Heat have been planning to sign Antetokounmpo or someone in his megastar class all along. There are other big names ticketed for free agency in 2027, which gives Miami plenty of fallback options if Antetokounmpo gets traded and extends with another team. The Heat would certainly love to land Giannis via trade or free agency, but they have alternatives other squads don't.
Both Minnesota and New York have major financial commitments and can't free up max cap space in 2027 unless they shuffle their rosters in advance or watch key figures like Julius Randle, Rudy Gobert or Karl-Anthony Towns decline lucrative player options.
The Warriors could have even cleaner books than Miami in 2027-28, but they're frantically trying to maximize what's left of Stephen Curry's prime. If they wait until the summer of 2027 to sign Giannis, there's a good chance Curry will no longer be a superstar—or on the roster at all. His deal expires after 2026-27.
Miami can afford to be patient.
3. Minnesota Timberwolves
3 of 5
The presence of Anthony Edwards, already an All-NBA fixture who has led his team to two straight Conference Finals at age 24, means the Timberwolves aren't exactly in a tough spot.
At the same time, Edwards' current stardom and the team's "close, but not quite" success over the past couple of years means they've got good reason to believe they're one major addition away from ultimate success. While the Wolves don't need Antetokounmpo to remain highly competitive for the next several years, they could also convince themselves that, as the best team currently in the mix for Giannis' services, they should be the one pushing hardest to land him.
There's also the fact that the West is perennially a gauntlet, which means the difference between very good and great is bigger than it seems. Anyone sharing a conference with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Thunder and Victor Wembanyama's Spurs should always be in the market for additional talent.
Although the Wolves might be the only inner-circle suitor that could make the leap from contender to title favorite by adding Giannis, they're also the only one that might be able to win the whole thing without him. Edwards is that good, and the high floor he gives Minnesota prevents maximum desperation.
Lastly, the Wolves don't have enough draft picks to win a bidding war against the field. They'd have to involve a third team and trade away at least 40 percent of their starting five to even get in the conversation for Giannis. That's a bigger risk than they may be willing to take.
2. New York Knicks
4 of 5
It may not feel like it, but the Knicks currently have a better winning percentage and higher point differential than they did a year ago. The sense that they're in trouble or otherwise falling short of where they should be is at least partially a result of unreasonable expectations.
They have their owner to thank for those.
Having said that, the vibes in New York have consistently been a little off this year. Towns' flaws as a defender and reported unhappiness with being included in trade talks for Antetokounmpo over the summer have created real issues within the team. Lack of depth at the guard and wing spots also make the Knicks seem vulnerable on certain nights.
A blockbuster trade for Antetokounmpo would shift the narrative and offer something of a fresh start, though it would be even harder for New York to put a suitable offer on the table than it would be for the Timberwolves.
The Knicks are currently second in the East and know from last postseason that they can beat the top-seeded Detroit Pistons in a series. That makes them a bit like Minnesota in the "we're close enough to swing big" sense, but the Knicks are different in that their current roster feels topped out. All the key players are veterans who don't figure to improve going forward, and that's without even considering the potential for Towns' unrest to become an even more significant issue.
If this roster is going to get blown up in the relatively near future, it might as well be for a player as potentially transformative as Antetokounmpo.
1. Golden State Warriors
5 of 5
Every second that Stephen Curry plays without a puncher's chance at contending is a second wasted, which is why the Warriors should be more motivated than any other team to acquire Giannis.
Curry is still an All-NBA player who spent much of this season performing like a top-five superstar at the ripe old age of 37. Trading him is not an option, so the Dubs are forever on his timeline.
If the Warriors don't add Giannis, what's their Plan B?
Assume Jimmy Butler will somehow improve when he returns late next year at age 36 coming off a torn ACL?
Bank on Jonathan Kuminga netting a star in a trade? Believe Brandin Podziemski will deliver on his own expectations to one day be better than Curry? Hope the NBA starts awarding teams points in a one-to-one ratio based on a roster's cumulative age?
Golden State will be in a full rebuild sooner than later. Curry's time as a superstar has already stretched well beyond any reasonable expectations, and his contract expires after 2026-27. Ditto for Draymond Green. Steve Kerr is in the last year of his deal and may be done coaching in a matter of months.
Everything about the Warriors—from their lack of promising young talent, to Curry's finite future, to Kerr's own admission that they are a fading dynasty—screams desperation. If Golden State doesn't land Antetokounmpo, it has nothing to look forward to.
Stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference and Cleaning the Glass. Salary info via Spotrac.
Grant Hughes covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, where he appears with Bleacher Report's Dan Favale.
