New Giannis Trade Rumors on How Potential Draft Lottery Changes Will Impact Talks on Bucks Star

The anticipated changes to the NBA draft lottery reportedly could make teams more reluctant to trade future first-round picks in deals for superstar players such as Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.

According to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line, multiple anonymous NBA executives have expressed their belief that fewer first-round picks will be moved, "at least until front offices get a better feel for how the looming tweaks to the NBA's lottery system affect proceedings."

Per Fischer, the "3-2-1" lottery system is widely expected to be enacted by the NBA Board of Governors on May 28, giving more teams a better chance at landing the No. 1 overall pick.

ESPN's Shams Charania explained that under that system, 16 teams would be in the lottery rather than 14, and the teams that finish with the fourth through 10th worst records in the NBA would all have an equal 8.1 percent chance to get the first pick.

While retaining first-round picks to potentially be part of such a wide-open lottery will undoubtedly be important to many NBA teams, the team that acquires Giannis would be doing so with the expectation that they won't be part of the lottery for quite some time.

When healthy, the 31-year-old Antetokounmpo is still one of the most dominant players in the league, and he is a surefire future Hall of Famer with 10 All-Star selections, two NBA MVP awards, one NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award, one NBA championship and one NBA Finals MVP Award to his credit.

Since becoming an All-Star for the first time during the 2016-17 season, Giannis owns averages of 28.4 points, 11.2 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.2 steals per game, while shooting 56.6 percent from the field.

Numerous injuries limited Antetokounmpo to just 36 games played this season, but he still produced when he was on the floor, averaging 27.6 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists per contest.

A team trading for Giannis would likely already be a contender or a team on the precipice of contention, so it is difficult to envision that team being anything other than a playoff team barring injuries.

Because of that, the Bucks figure to be able to find at least one team willing to part with multiple first-round picks in a trade for Antetokounmpo.

If not, the Bucks could potentially hold onto Giannis even longer since he is still under contract through next season, which would create an awkward situation for all parties involved.