Giannis Antetokounmpo wants the Milwaukee Bucks to facilitate a trade, and the New York Knicks are uniquely poised to benefit from that request more than any other team in the NBA.
DraftKings Sportsbook released odds regarding which franchises are most likely to employ Antetokounmpo after the trade deadline passes on February 5. Because he is injured and there is little more than a week before a deal must be made, oddsmakers still see Milwaukee as the most probable home for Antetokounmpo as of eight days from now (minus-110).
However, the Knicks have the next-best odds at plus-330, which means New York is the organization most likely to trade for Antetokounmpo over the next week, per the oddsmakers. The Miami Heat are second in line at plus-600, while the Golden State Warriors are third at plus-750.
New York is also among Antetokounmpo’s three most-desired landing spots, per Henry Abbot of TrueHoop.
"One person told me that Giannis' preferred list is three teams: the Heat, the [Minnesota Timberwolves] and the Knicks," Abbot said on Tuesday.
The Knicks’ current roster configuration and recent woes — the team posted a 2-9 record across 11 contests before its current three-game win streak — have led to speculation that New York might want to make a splash trade to truly put itself in championship contention.
At 28-18 and sitting in third place in the Eastern Conference as of Wednesday afternoon, the Knicks remain viable as a pick to win the East. However, many NBA analysts have suggested in the last couple of weeks that doing so would be New York achieving its ceiling as currently constructed given the talent of any competitor that might emerge from the Western Conference.
New York has no first-round picks to trade, though it does have swaps in 2026, 2030 and 2032. That means the Knicks would have to work out an essentially players-only deal that would likely include at least their first-round swap rights in 2030 and 2032.
“Because it is over the first apron, New York is not allowed to take on more salary than it sends out in a trade,” Bobby Marks of ESPN wrote Wednesday. “That would leave the front office with the option of swapping Karl-Anthony Towns straight up or packaging a combination of OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Mikal Bridges.”
All things considered, the Knicks would probably prefer the option of swapping Towns for Antetokounmpo straight up. However, a team like the Warriors that can offer the Bucks four first-round picks and three first-round swaps over the next seven years, plus some young talent and matching salaries, might prove too much for New York to overcome.
Newsweek