{"id":303391,"date":"2026-06-11T02:05:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T02:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/303391\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T02:05:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T02:05:25","slug":"ten-antetokounmpo-news-items-as-heat-continues-pursuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/303391\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten Antetokounmpo news items as Heat continues pursuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 24-hour Giannis Antetokounmpo news cycle keeps spitting out bread crumbs, updates that advance the story incrementally. Here are 10 of them from this week and some thoughts on each, as the Heat continues its pursuit of a trade for the two-time league MVP:<\/p>\n

\u25aa ESPN\u2019s Brian Windhorst: \u201cThe team to watch here is Miami… And Giannis I think wants to be in Miami.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quick thought: Someone who has spent time with Antetokounmpo did not remotely dispute that relocating to South Florida is appealing to him, though the source didn\u2019t know how he stood on several other cities linked to a potential Antetokounmpo pursuit.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s interesting is that unlike with Damian Lillard three years ago, Antetokounmpo and agent Alex Saratsis have opted not to leak the teams with which he would sign an extension, a move that would discourage potential suitors that are of no interest to him.<\/p>\n

\u25aa More Windhorst: \u201cThe Heat badly wants Giannis. The Bucks want a package of established talent, prospects and draft picks. The Heat can offer that. Whether they can be beat is another [story].<\/p>\n

\u201cTyler Herro, then you have a selection of young prospects\u2026 There\u2019d be quite a few teams interested in Kel\u2019el Ware if he got shipped to Milwaukee and they were willing to flip him\u2026 Big man who can stretch the floor, block shots. If I were the Lakers and Ware got shipped to Milwaukee, I would be on the phone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quick thought: The Heat\u2019s at-all-costs bid for Antetokounmpo (short of offering Bam Adebayo) is known by the entire Western hemisphere.<\/p>\n

With regard to Ware, I\u2019m not sure why the Bucks would want to flip him, even though they have underachieving Myles Turner under contract for three more years. If the Heat simply traded Ware on his own, Miami very likely would get a first-round pick back based on interest shown in the league, a source said. (The Heat has no intention of trading Ware on his own.)<\/p>\n

\u25aa Substack\u2019s Jake Fischer, suggesting no deal will be made until after the Finals: \u201cAt this point the only two teams that I\u2019ve really heard are actively pursuing Giannis with deals and some type of framework that the Bucks are at least entertaining [are Miami and Portland]. I\u2019ve had multiple people tell me today that if Milwaukee really was getting to the finish line of a Giannis trade to Miami or anywhere else, that they\u2019re calling New York back and saying \u2018are you sure you don\u2019t want to put Karl-Anthony Towns in a trade for Giannis?\u2019…<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been told from various people around the league that Milwaukee has been telling agents and other rival teams that they\u2019re expecting to have a pick somewhere later on in the first round after their own number 10.\u201d (The Heat selects 13th).<\/p>\n

Quick thought: Whether the Knicks win or lose this series, I would be surprised if they break up a team that won 12 playoff games in a row, when Antetokounmpo\u2019s injury issues the past two years are factored in.<\/p>\n

\u25aa ESPN\u2019s Tim McMahon: Oklahoma City or Houston \u201ccould outbid Miami. I don\u2019t think either are likely to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quick thought: That\u2019s consistent with what we have heard. The Rockets, who were viewed as a potential suitor, had not pursued a deal as of a few days ago, a source said.<\/p>\n

\u25aa ESPN\u2019s Tim Bontemps: \u201cI don\u2019t think the Celtics are trading for Giannis. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the kind of move they\u2019re going to make. I don\u2019t think Jaylen Brown\u2019s going out in a deal like that. I just don\u2019t see how Minnesota gets a [Giannis] deal done. I would be stunned if the Thunder ever made that trade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quick thought: The Heat has had plenty of bad luck through the years, with Chris Bosh\u2019s blood clots and Alonzo Mourning\u2019s kidney problems surfacing during the prime of their careers. But the reported lack of interest from Boston and OKC is fortuitous for Miami, because either could easily top a Heat offer.<\/p>\n

\u25aa Windhorst: \u201cPortland has sniffed around. I\u2019m not sure that Giannis is extending in Portland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quick thought: There\u2019s delicious irony there, with Portland refusing to trade Lillard to the team he preferred (the Heat) and Antetokounmpo reportedly giving the Blazers pause because he seemingly wouldn\u2019t commit to a new contract there, while he very likely would commit with the Heat.<\/p>\n

\u25aa Bontemps: \u201cThe Heat have a fine package. I would say that if Giannis winds up on the Heat, it\u2019s… either because he puts his thumb on the scale and says \u2018I\u2019m only going to play for the Heat,\u2019 which frankly to this point, Giannis has shown no sign to do any of that stuff, and I would not anticipate that happening.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the other part is if teams are just wary of outbidding Miami. Because I think if there\u2019s other teams… that decide to get in the mix, I think they all have enough to outbid the Heat if they choose to actually say, we want to go down the road with Giannis and sign up to have a guy who\u2019s going to be on the team until he\u2019s 36, 37 with, a gigantic contract on the books and some of the potential long-term downsides that could come with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quick thought: But all it takes is one secret team to emerge from the shadows and make an offer. That\u2019s why cautious optimism is warranted for Heat fans but supreme confidence would seem excessive.<\/p>\n

\u25aa Substack\u2019s Marc Stein: \u201c<\/a>The Bucks are known to want to include Portland in an eventual multi-team Giannis trade structure if possible in hopes of somehow reacquiring some measure of the draft capital they surrendered to the Trail Blazers in the Damian Lillard trade just before the 2023-24 season<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quick thought: Aside from Antetokounmpo, what asset from the Bucks would possibly entice Portland to give Milwaukee their picks back? And with Portland already having two young centers under contract and thus not needing Ware, what from Miami in a three-team deal would necessarily entice them, either?<\/p>\n

That said, it wouldn\u2019t be surprising if a third team were included as a cap facilitator of sorts.<\/p>\n

\u25aa The Associated Press\u2019 Tim Reynolds: \u201cThere is a growing belief in some corners that the Giannis trade \u2014 if it happens, of course \u2014 will also include Bobby Portis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quick thought: Portis and Antetokounmpo are very close, and Portis\u2019 scoring, rebounding and three-point shooting would help replace the loss of Ware.<\/p>\n

Portis\u2019 contract \u2014 which pays him $14.5 million next season with a $15.6 million player option for 2027-28 \u2014 is reasonable for the production: 13.7 points, 6.4 rebounds and 45.6% three-point shooting in 67 games and nine starts last season.<\/p>\n

The Heat showed some degree of interest in Portis years ago. A hypothetical trade sending Ware, Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Nikola Jovic to the Bucks for Antetokounmpo and Portis would work within the rules of the cap because Miami is well below the tax and first apron and can take back about $12 million more than it sends out.<\/p>\n

\u25aa The Athletic\u2019s Sam Amick:<\/p>\n

\u201c[Bucks GM] Jon Horst is very good at going in bunker mode. I talked to a team today that had wondered from their conversations that maybe he was in a pinch. As far as like real strong suitors that Miami was putting itself so far out in front of the rest of the field that the Bucks weren\u2019t getting the type of package they were hoping for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quick thought: One scout said he believes the Antetokounmpo market has been smaller\/softer than some might have thought. Because teams in the 9-10 play-in game will have the same lottery chances as the teams with the three worst records (for at least the next three years), some teams seem to be thinking twice before shipping away a bunch of future firsts.<\/p>\n

A new team also would be expected to give him a four-year, $275 million extension, which also will give some franchises pause for thought.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 4:05 PM.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Barry Jackson<\/a><\/p>\n

Miami Herald<\/p>\n

Barry Jackson has written for the Miami Herald since 1986 and has written the Florida Sports Buzz column since 2002.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 24-hour Giannis Antetokounmpo news cycle keeps spitting out bread crumbs, updates that advance the story incrementally. Here…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-303391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}