Giannis' Commitment to Heat or Celtics Long-Term Contract Revealed in New NBA Trade Rumors

The Miami Heat and Boston Celtics reportedly are the frontrunners in trade discussions for Milwaukee Bucks star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, and there's a key reason why.

During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Monday, ESPN's Shams Charania reported that the Heat and Celtics are the only teams that have received a commitment from Antetokounmpo that he would be willing to sign a long-term contract.

"There were a ton of teams that made offers, that have robust interest in Giannis, but a high, high level it comes down to Giannis for a guy that's got one year left guaranteed on his contract, you have a lot of control on your future," Charania said. "You get to determine a lot of it because any team in this second apron, we hear those words second apron in this collective bargaining agreement, they need to know that Giannis will sign long-term, and right now, the Heat and the Celtics are the only two teams involved that have gotten a commitment from Giannis that he's willing to sign long-term. That's allowed Milwaukee really to leverage both teams against each other and now they have a decision to make and both deals are totally different."

It sounds like Antetokounmpo is inching closer to landing in Boston or Miami, as Charania reported that there's an expectation that the Bucks will trade him before the first round of the NBA draft on Tuesday.

"This has been something that's been going on for 13 months, but at a serious level since February, when the Bucks took a bunch of calls, got a bunch of offers that really laid the groundwork for what we're seeing right now," Charania said. "They've done the work. They did the work in February, and then they opened it up at the May draft combine, listened to a bunch of teams."

The Heat and Celtics have remained the most aggressive teams in pursuit of Antetokounmpo over the last few weeks. NBA insider Jake Fischer reported earlier this month that Miami's expected offer to Milwaukee includes guard Tyler Herro, forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. and center Kel'el Ware. Meanwhile, Boston's trade package is centered around star guard Jaylen Brown and other assets.

Trading Antetokounmpo would shift the balance of power in the Eastern Conference, and it appears that things will look very different by the start of next season as teams try to keep up with the arms race.