![\"Mike](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2224143208-1.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The New York Knicks were in the right place at the perfect time for a signing, but they missed out to another team.<\/p>\n
The New York Knicks<\/a> enter the 2025-26 season with the fourth-shortest odds to win the NBA championship<\/a>, and the most expectations they\u2019ve had to hoist the Larry O\u2019Brien Trophy since the turn of the century.<\/p>\n While the team, as constructed, is primed to represent the East in the NBA Finals, it may be a piece away from dethroning the reigning champion, the Oklahoma City Thunder. Enter Giannis Antetokounmpo, the nine-time All-Star, two-time MVP and 2022 NBA Finals MVP, who is rumored to become available at the trade deadline.<\/a><\/p>\n Sports Illustrated\u2019s Jake Brown<\/a> floated an ambitious trade that would see the Knicks part with All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns in exchange for \u201cThe Greek Freak.\u201d<\/p>\n Knicks would receive: Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/p>\n Bucks would receive: Karl-Anthony Towns, Tyler Kolek, two first-round draft picks<\/p>\n The Move that Guarantees an NBA Title<\/p>\n If the Knicks can pair Antetokounmpo with All-Star guard Jalen Brunson<\/a> and dynamic 3-and-D wings Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Josh Hart, they will become the overwhelming favorites not just to win the East, but potentially the NBA title.<\/p>\n \u201cGiannis would give the Knicks a premier one-two punch with him and Brunson,\u201d wrote Brown, while reflecting on New York\u2019s loss to the Pacers<\/a> in the 2025 playoffs.<\/p>\n \u201cLate in games, it felt like it was mostly Brunson doing the heavy lifting, being the Knicks Captain Clutch. Giannis would really give them another option to hand the ball and let him get to work. His downfall has been the free-throw line, but he can cause plenty of foul problems for opponents and give the Knicks some flexibility down the stretch of games.\u201d<\/p>\n To Brown\u2019s point, Antetokounmpo\u2019s late-game free-throw woes may not be an issue for a Knicks team that already has a certified closer in Brunson, the reigning Clutch Player of the Year. Furthermore, Antetokounmpo could focus on being a defender and a playmaker in crucial moments rather than forcing his way to the basket, which often proved to be a burden for both himself and the Milwaukee Bucks in recent years.<\/p>\n Bucks Get a Star to Build Around<\/p>\n The Bucks are unlikely to trade Antetokounmpo unless it\u2019s for a player of KAT\u2019s caliber. Towns averaged 24.4 points and a career-high 12.8 rebounds for the Knicks last season, numbers that earned him a spot in the All-NBA Third Team.<\/p>\n \u201cKarl-Anthony Towns would give the Bucks a bit more shooting ability in a big man,\u201d wrote Brown. \u201cThey added Myles Turner as their center in the offseason, which would give them two big men that can shoot from downtown. Towns has an almost identical contract to Giannis, where the numbers would easily work in a trade. Towns has two years left and a $61 million player option for 2027-2028.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Bucks would also get a young backup guard in 24-year-old Tyler Kolek, who is under contract for two more years plus a club option for $2.5 million in 2027-2028. Plus, they would get two future first-round draft picks from the Knicks. This would make the loss of Giannis a bit easier to stomach. It\u2019s still a massive trade and change for the organization, but getting a star like KAT, a young guard and draft picks would be a nice return.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tSai Mohan<\/a> covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Knicks\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The New York Knicks were in the right place at the perfect time for a signing, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-82670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}