MIAMI — A franchise seemingly adrift at sea for years in hopes of harpooning a whale on the NBA personnel market now has its trophy catch, with the Miami Heat late Monday night reaching an agreement to acquire two-time MVP and 10-time All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo in a trade with the Milwaukee Bucks.
In search of a big-game move since the franchise’s time early last decade with the Big Three of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, the perseverance of Pat Riley and the Heat’s front office paid off in the form of the 31-year-old Greek superstar.
The cost was significant, with the Heat parting with players Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kasparas Jakucionis, as is somewhat of the risk, with Antetokounmpo coming off an injury-limited season and in line for a contract extension that would pay in excess of an average of $71 million per season.
In addition, the Heat sent first-round picks to the Bucks for Tuesday night and 2031 and ’33, as well as a first-round swaps in 2030. The Heat also sent out their 2033 second-round pick.
The Heat also acquired forward Bobby Portis from the Bucks in the deal, sliding him into the trade exception created last July when the Heat dealt Duncan Robinson to the Detroit Pistons.
While the transaction currently is a two-team deal, it could be further expanded before the start of the 2026-27 NBA cap calendar on July 6.
Because of that timing factor, the Heat likely will not be positioned to address the deal until next month.
While the transaction left the Heat below the NBA luxury tax, it also left them having to replace the dealt players. With Herro dealt, it now grows more likely that both Norman Powell and Andrew Wiggins return. Powell is an impending free agent, Wiggins holds a player option for next season.
At the moment, the Heat stand poised to field a starting lineup of Antetokounmpo, Adebayo, Wiggins, Powell and Davion Mitchell, with a bench led by Portis and Pelle Larsson. The Heat also have Nikola Jovic, Dru Smith and Myron Gardner under contract for next season.
In the end, the Heat prevailed over a Boston Celtics trade package built around All-Star forward Jaylen Brown and two first-round picks.
In the wake of the Heat missing the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons, Riley made clear in his season-ending media session that he would push whatever levers necessary to again put his team in position to contend.
That had the Heat seemingly offering anything and everything other than center Adebayo, who shares the same agent as Antetokounmpo, with Adebayo and Antetokounmpo having expressed mutual respect over the years.
The result of the trade leaves the Heat with one of the NBA’s premier power rotations, with Riley and his front-office staff now left to balance out the remainder of the roster.
While the Heat added team leaders such as Goran Dragic and Jimmy Butler since the team’s Big Three era, those rosters proved able only to advance to the NBA Finals, with the Heat’s most recent championship remaining the second of consecutive titles won by the Big Three Heat in 2013.
In Antetokounmpo, the Heat now have a Top 5 player for the first time since James, with Antetokounmpo an All-Star this past season and first-team All-NBA player just a season ago.
Antetokounmpo was named NBA Most Valuable Player in 2019 and 2020, leading the Bucks to the 2021 NBA championship, named the NBA Finals’ MVP. In addition, he was named Defensive Player of the Year in 2020, a five-time selection to one of the NBA’s All-Defensive teams. He was selected as a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team in 2021.
A member of the Greek national team, he was one of his country’s flag bearers for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The son of Nigerian immigrants, he was born in 1994 in Athens as Giannis Sina Ugo Adetokunbo. He then was granted Greek citizenship on May 9, 2013, with his official Greek name translating into Giannis Sina Ougko Antetokounmpo. He retains Greek and Nigerian citizenship, with Adebayo also of Nigerian ancestry.
Beyond basketball, Antetokounmpo has ownership stakes in both MLB’s Milwaukee Brewers and Major League Soccer’s Nashville SC. This past season, he became a shareholder in Kalshi, the predictive market.
For years in the wake of the Big Three, Riley had spoken of harpooning another “whale,” defining such talents as, “certain types of players that, no matter what, if they come up and they’re available, you make the move that you gotta make to get ’em.”
Such a move again has been made, adding to the lore of a franchise that over Riley’s three decades of franchise stewardship also has included trading for players such as Shaquille O’Neal, Alonzo Mourning and Tim Hardaway, in addition to Dragic and Butler.
The respect for Antetokounmpo has been in place for years, with Heat coach Erik Spoelstra saying of Antetokounmpo’s attacking style before one of his team’s playoff series against the Bucks, “You can’t simulate that in film sessions or even in a walkthrough. It’s the sheer speed and momentum he creates from the perimeter to the paint.”
The relentlessness of Antetokounmpo’s game similarly has impressed Adebayo.
“The thing about him is he doesn’t stop,” the Heat center said. “He doesn’t look at the scoreboard and say, ‘Oh, we’re down 10, let me chill.’ He keeps coming at you at 100 miles per hour every single possession. You have to respect that type of motor.”
Now those motors get to work in tandem.
“Seeing what he does up close, his ability to handle the ball at that size and make the plays he makes, it’s special,” Adebayo previously said. “We’re both guys who try to impact winning in every single column of the stat sheet.”
The Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) and the Miami Heat’s Tyler Herro (14) during the second quarter at American Airlines Arena in Miami on Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020. Antetokounmpo poured in 54 points to help topple the Los Angeles Clippers Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, in Milwaukee. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images/TNS)