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The Los Angeles Lakers could be one step closer to adding Giannis Antetokounmpo based on trade rumors, while LeBron James’ future is bleak.<\/p>\n
The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> will always have their eyes set on the biggest prize, whether that player has been named in trade rumors or not.<\/p>\n Currently, that player is Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a>, and like pretty much every single<\/a> team in the NBA<\/a>, the Lakers are hoping the Greek Freak becomes available in a trade so they can pair him with Luka Doncic<\/a>. While Los Angeles has been linked<\/a> to several wing players amid this current trade cycle, Antetokounmpo remains the grand prize, and based on new reports, the reality of him heading to the West Coast could be closer than ever.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to Shams Charania<\/a>, the relationship between Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks<\/a> is starting to crumble, and according to a number of<\/a> other insiders, teams are waiting and watching to see how the situation plays out.\u00a0<\/p>\n Shams Charania: \u201cThe tension within the Milwaukee Bucks organization and the locker room is at an \u201call-time high.\u201d Giannis Antetokounmpo is frustrated with the losing and the overall situation.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThe frustration that Giannis Antetokounmpo has is at an all-time high,\u201d\u00a0Charania said on The Pat McAfee Show<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s frustrated with the losing. He\u2019s frustrated with the situation, and I will say this, I\u2019ve spoken to about a dozen sources on-and-off for weeks now, and the tension that\u2019s in the air within that organization, in that locker room, it\u2019s at an all-time high.\u201d<\/p>\n Lakers Get Good News On Latest Giannis Trade Rumors<\/p>\n Though the idea of both the player and team breaking up <\/a>isn\u2019t new, trade rumors surrounding the 2021 Finals MVP have ramped up significantly over the past few days after he previously said he had no plans of asking for a trade<\/a>.<\/p>\n The team is losing, they don\u2019t have a bright future. Antetokounmpo and the Bucks are at a standstill over who will budge first, and finally state the obvious: that both would probably benefit from a breakup.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBut what I\u2019ve been hearing over and over for months now is that the writing is on the wall for Giannis and the Bucks,\u201d Charania added<\/a>. \u201cThe only difference with what was going on in the summer<\/a> and right now is it\u2019s all happening in everyone\u2019s public domain, because there are games to be played.\u201d<\/p>\n Waiting for something to happen in the shadows is the Lakers, who are no strangers to blockbuster trades. A package surrounding Austin Reaves <\/a>and as many other players and picks as they can move would be the likely return for Milwaukee, if LeBron James <\/a>isn\u2019t included as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n They might not have the best trade offer for the Bucks, depending on how high they value Reaves, but if the Lakers are where Antetokounmpo wants to go, considering all he did for his current franchise, it\u2019s hard to see them not sending him to his preferred location<\/a>.<\/p>\n Los Angeles, like the Golden State Warriors<\/a>, is a team to keep an eye on<\/a> regarding an Antetokounmpo trade. While it was previously thought that a deal, if it were to occur, wouldn\u2019t happen until the offseason, now, a trade in the next two weeks before the deadline feels almost inevitable.<\/a><\/p>\n LeBron James Lakers\u2019 Future Crumbling<\/p>\n Aside from Antetokounmpo, there is James, who, as the days go on, feels more and more like his time with the Lakers is coming to an end. Along with the reports from Baxter Holmes of ESPN on his speculated relationship with owner Jeanie Buss<\/a>, the rumors on James\u2019 time in the Purple and Gold appear to be coming to an end, much like the superstar back in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n In the same Pat McAfee appearance <\/a>in which he shed light on Antetokounmpo\u2019s future, Charania gave valuable insights as to what James\u2019 next few months will look like in Los Angeles. Along with the fact that he picked up his player option for this year and is set to become a free agent this summer, Charania confirmed what many had already thought.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reality of what we have right here is the end of a relationship in terms of LeBron James and the Lakers,\u201d Charania said, per ESPN.com<\/a>. \u201cWhether that comes at the end of this season if LeBron James decides as a free agent to sign somewhere else or he decides to retire or he decides to come back for one more year and decide he wants to retire as a Laker\u2026The end is near however you wanna slice it.\u201d<\/p>\n While there have been constant rumors of James either retiring or leaving<\/a> the Lakers after this season, the report from Charania paints a clear picture of how things are now and how they could very well end.<\/p>\n Los Angeles has made it clear that Doncic is the future of the franchise<\/a>, and whether it be Baxter\u2019s reporting on Buss\u2019 relationship with James<\/a>, or another internal or external issue, him being a Laker next year looks to be off the table.<\/p>\n Reporter: \u201cHow do you think your collaboration has been with Jeanie Buss?\u201d<\/p>\n LeBron James: \u201cWhat do you mean collaboration?\u201d<\/p>\n Reporter: \u201cJust the partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n LeBron: \u201cI thought it was good. But somebody could see it another way. So it\u2019s always two sides to the coin. At the end <\/p>\n If he does leave, that would make the idea of the Lakers trading for Antetokounmpo a lot simpler, but that all remains to be played out just yet.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tEli Gregorski<\/a> is a sports journalist covering the NBA for Heavy Sports. He has years of sports writing experience covering the NBA, NFL, college football and basketball, international soccer, and Formula One. He graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder, where he was the assistant sports editor for the award-winning CU Independent student publication. More about Eli Gregorski<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Lakers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The Los Angeles Lakers could be one step closer to adding Giannis Antetokounmpo based on trade rumors,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-254688","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}