MIAMI — With the NBA signing off on the formalities at Monday’s start of the NBA’s 2026-27 transaction period, Giannis Antetokounmpo now officially is a member of the Miami Heat.
While the Heat and Milwaukee Bucks agreed to all the components of the deal on June 23, the trade could not become official until the formal turn of the league’s cap calendar.
At the time of the trade, there was speculation the deal potentially might be expanded to include other components, as the Heat rebuild their roster.
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) July 6, 2026
Instead, simply a two-team deal, with the Heat sending out Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Kasparas Jakucionis, as well as the draft rights to last week’s No. 13 pick Nate Ament, a first-round pick swap in 2030, first-round picks in 2031 and ’33, and a 2033 second-round pick. In return, the Heat are acquiring Antetokounmpo and forward Bobby Portis.
With the Heat’s welcoming event for Antetokounmpo not expected until July 16, Heat President Pat Riley issued a statement when the deal became official, including thanking the ownership input of the Arison family.
“The announcement of today’s trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis Jr. is one of the great trades in Heat history,” Riley said. “In my opinion, Giannis is one of the top five players in the league and Bobby is one of the best power forwards. The difficult part is trading Tyler, Kasparas, Jaime and Kel’el who have given so much to this organization, we wish them nothing but the best.
“I also want to thank the Arisons for their continued pursuit towards winning a championship and we feel this gives us a better opportunity moving forward. I want to welcome Giannis and Bobby to the Miami Heat family.”
Antetokounmpo is expected to be formally introduced at Kaseya Center in an event on July 16.
In announcing the trade, Bucks general manager Jon Horst released a statement that read:
“Since we drafted him in 2013, Giannis has transformed the Milwaukee Bucks in every way — on the court, in our locker room and throughout the community. Over 13 seasons, he became an extraordinary leader, teammate and representative of this city, and one of the defining players of his generation. The standard he set will continue here. This was an incredibly difficult decision, made for what is best for the future of the Bucks and for Giannis.”
The Bucks are free to immediately trade any of the players acquired from the Heat, but cannot aggregate their individual salaries in a trade for 60 days, per NBA rule.
— Giannis Antetokounmpo (@Giannis_An34) July 6, 2026
The next order of business for the Heat will be an extension with Antetokounmpo, with Oct. 1 and Jan. 6 windows for such a move. The latter date is the most likely extension window (six months from Monday’s trade), because it will maximize Antetokounmpo’s potential earning power. On Jan. 6, he can opt for either a three-year, $214 million extension or a four-year, $275 million extension. The earnings would be similar, because the shorter extension would mean keeping his 2027-28 player option in place and extending off that number.
In a separate transaction, the signing of free-agent guard Tim Hardaway Jr. also became official Monday, with the Heat utilizing a $6.5 million portion of their mid-level exception on that transaction.
In a twist. Hardaway Jr. will take the No. 10 of his father, Hall of Fame guard Tim Hardaway, whose No. 10 hangs in the rafters of Kaseya Center. It is the first time the Heat have re-issued one of their retired numbers.
The Heat’s other free-agent signing was completed on July 1, with the Heat’s one-year contract for a return of forward Simone Fontecchio allowed at that time because the 3-point specialist took a one-year, minimum-scale deal.
With the Antetokounmpo and Hardaway Jr. deals becoming official, the Heat still are awaiting a decision by free-agent forward LeBron James on his next destination. James recently parted ways with the Los Angeles Lakers.
In addition to the spot that is open on the Heat roster for a possible reunion with James, the Heat also have an additional available minimum-scale slot available in an approach that likely will have them opening the regular-season with a 14-player standard roster, one shy of the NBA limit. The Heat have been precise with their cap allocations this offseason in light of being hard capped at the $209 million payroll level of the first luxury-tax apron, a hard cap created by mechanisms utilized in the Antetokounmpo deal.
With Monday’s league approval of the Antetokounmpo and Hardaway Jr. deals, where the Heat standard roster stands at the moment:
Power rotation
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Bam Adebayo
Bobby Portis
Nikola Jovic
Wings
Andrew Wiggins
Tim Hardaway Jr.
Pelle Larsson
Simone Fontecchio
Myron Gardner
Ryan Conwell
Point guards
Davion Mitchell
Dru Smith
Two-way contracts
(Teams limited to maximum of three)
Tre Donaldson
Vlad Goldin*
* – Two-way qualifying offer in place.
(This story will be updated throughout the day.)
A letter from GM Jon Horst. pic.twitter.com/M9XzqwEguA
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) July 6, 2026