There's no surprise that teams are lining up for the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, as he's one of the most dominant players in the league. With the report that Antetokounmpo is open to going to another team, and the Milwaukee Bucks are willing to move him, teams are trying to find a way to get a deal done.
Over the past year or so, teams such as the New York Knicks and Miami Heat have been the most rumored, and there is another team looking to get into the bidding war: the Los Angeles Lakers. The possibility of the purple and gold going for Antetokounmpo was talked about by Howard Beck.
“I was told recently that the Lakers were a team to keep an eye from Giannis’ standpoint just as another team of interest. But again, there’s a difficulty there in terms of trade assets. They’re another team where once the summer comes they got more on the draft capital side of things and they got more clarity once they figure out where LeBron is or isn’t and where Austin Reaves is because he’s a free agent,” Beck said on the Zach Lowe Show.
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When the Lakers first traded for Luka Doncic, there were thoughts that they could potentially go after Antetokounmpo years from then. It wasn't certain how they would make it happen, but when the offseason approaches, things could get clearer.
The Lakers reportedly are going to ask LeBron James to take a pay cut if he wants to return to the Lakers next season, and with that, there's a chance he bolts for somewhere, or he could just retire. As far as Austin Reaves, if they don't want to sign him to an extension, that's money saved in order to make a trade for Antetokounmpo.
There are definitely some other things that have to work in the Lakers' favor, and they may have to get other teams involved to make the deal enticing for the Bucks.