By Eli Cohen | at July 19, 2026 7:06 pm
By all indications, the Bucks worked to do right by Giannis Antetokounmpo when they traded him to the Heat, one of the teams very high on his personal wishlist.
That willingness to accommodate, at least to an extent, such a trade does beg the question of why, then, team president Pat Riley ended up having to trade everything he had to get the two-time MVP, Ira Winderman writes for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
“As far as what we gave up, we gave up a significant price,” Riley said before discussing how the addition of the 13th overall pick helped add a little value to the deal. “Was it a nickel more, a dime more, a quarter more, whatever it is. But, you know, John Horst is a great GM.”
While the Heat’s trade package, including Kasparas Jukucionis, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel’el Ware, and Tyler Herro, hadn’t been able to help lead the team to playoff victories, it’s a deal that sent out a lot of potential upside for a team that got by far the best player, but also limited their flexibility considerably moving forward.
At the end of the day, the decision to possibly overpay in a deal to bring the NBA champion to Miami comes down to one thing, according to Riley.
“He’s worth it — period,” Riley said. “*That’s how I look at it.*”
We have more from the Southeast Division:
Despite making the biggest move of the summer, the Heat still have question marks ahead, including the potentially forthcoming decision from LeBron James. Outside of James, the biggest question remaining is how the team will generate enough three-pointers to keep up with modern offenses. One player who has gone somewhat overlooked in this regard is 30-year-old wing Simone Fontecchio, according to Winderman. The Italian forward’s re-signing to a one-year, minimum contract this summer received little fanfare, even by Riley, but he’s a career 36.7% three-point shooter who has likely never seen looks as open as he’ll get this season playing off the Antetokounmpo-Bam Adebayo tandem.
There are three goals for a second-year player at Summer League, Jason Beede writes for The Orlando Sentinel: look like a standout player on the floor, show improvement on both ends, and give flashes of what the upcoming season could look like. Magic forward Noah Penda accomplished all three, according to Beede, showing a much-improved outside shot and improved defense. “Being able to space the floor was a big improvement that I had to [make] during the summer,” Penda said. “*… As a second-year (player), you just want to make the right play and show that all the things that are categorized as rookie mistakes — you want to raise that and show growth and poise during the games.*“
By swappingZaccharie Risacher for Luguentz Dort and Ryan Nembhard, the Hawks were able to add even more toughness to their increasingly gritty identity, Lauren Williams writes for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Dort enters a rugged perimeter unit with Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Dyson Daniels, and third-year guard Devin Carter, all of whom pride themselves on their toughness and physicality defensively. Nembhard is small but feisty, with quick hands and a high work ethic. He also posted an approximate 5-to-1 assist-to-turnover rate as a rookie last season. It’s unclear how the suddenly very deep roster will shake itself out in terms of depth hierarchies, but Atlanta has given itself an impressive amount of lineup versatility and mix-and-match ability with its move over the last couple of years.
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