Giannis Antetokounmpo appears to be officially available in a trade, based on new reporting from ESPN's Shams Charania on Wednesday.
Can the Toronto Raptors pull off a deal for the Milwaukee Bucks' superstar? That's a two-pronged question.
There's the matter of the Raptors having the correct salary-matching structure to complete the trade.
And then there's the matter of Scottie Barnes.
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Can the Raptors trade for Giannis?
The Raptors actually have multiple two-player combinations that successfully match Antetokounmpo's salary in a potential trade.
One combo:
Brandon Ingram
RJ Barrett
Another combo:
Immanuel Quickley
RJ Barrett
But neither of those feel enough, even with picks, to get Giannis, do they?
Enter Scottie Barnes.
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The Scottie Barnes problem
Barnes would be the most straightforward way to get a Giannis trade done, and with his salary being almost the same as Ingram's, he could function above like Ingram in a Barrett combo.
But the Raptors would likely want Antetokounmpo to team up with Barnes as a superstar pairing. Trading Barnes takes away half the fun of making the deal in the first place.
The Bucks won't want to trade Giannis for less than full value. In talks with Toronto, they'd almost certainly hold out to try and get Scottie.
So in the end, the Raptors would have to decide if giving up Barnes and more assets is worth Giannis, and if it gives them a better chance to win or if it just turns them into a team constructed kind of like the current Bucks.
It's a tough conundrum.
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