With the NBA\u2019s moratorium period officially over, the Milwaukee Bucks have finalized their trade to send franchise icon Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat, along with fan favorite and former \u201cMayor of Milwaukee\u201d Bobby Portis. Due to first-apron restrictions, with Miami hard-capped at the first apron after using more than 100% of the traded-player exception, this trade couldn\u2019t be completed until today, per ESPN\u2019s Bobby Marks.<\/p>\n
All three Bucks owners, Wes Edens, Jimmy Haslam, and Jamie Dinan, issued a statement<\/a> in the team\u2019s official announcement of the trade, expressing how much Giannis meant to the team and the city at large. Bucks general manager Jon Horst, who has known Antetokounmpo since he was drafted back in 2013, also reflected on the move:<\/p>\n \u201cThis was an incredibly difficult decision, made for what is best for the future of the Bucks and for Giannis. On a personal level, Giannis and I have shared this entire journey together, and he has been an exceptional partner, friend and inspiration. All of us at the Bucks have been impacted by his presence and influence and are deeply grateful for everything he and his family have given. We wish them continued success and are excited to see them soon.\u201d<\/p>\n Horst also mentioned Portis, the other Bucks staple included in this trade:<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the moment Bobby arrived, he embraced what it means to be a Buck and quickly became a fan favorite through his passion, competitiveness and unwavering commitment to winning. Bobby played a vital role in helping our franchise capture the 2021 NBA Championship, and his performance throughout that historic playoff run will forever be part of Bucks history.\u201d<\/p>\n Regarding the deal itself, somewhat surprisingly nothing has changed from what Shams Charania first reported<\/a>. The Bucks are still receiving a package of Tyler Herro, Kel\u2019el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, Nate Ament (courtesy of the 13th overall pick in this year\u2019s draft), a 2030 first-round pick swap, two unprotected first-round picks (2031 and 2033), and a 2033 second-round pick. In his statement, Horst emphasized his enthusiasm for the four newest members of the Bucks:<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re excited to welcome Tyler Herro, Kel\u2019el Ware, Jaime Jaquez and Kasparas Jakucionis to Bucks basketball. Each brings talent, versatility, competitiveness and a team-first mentality that builds our culture and identity.<\/p>\n We\u2019re confident in the foundation we\u2019re establishing under Coach Jenkins and excited about the opportunities ahead. Our team will compete, play together and get better.\u201d<\/p>\n According to reports, the Bucks had been looking to trade Herro, with Marc Stein and Jake Fischer stating that they were already in talks with the Detroit Pistons in the immediate aftermath of the reported trade. They can still trade Herro; they couldn\u2019t reroute him as part of this initial deal.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to believe that the Giannis era in Milwaukee is now officially over. How fortunate we were to have 13 years of watching a skinny Greek kid turn into one of the greatest players the league has ever seen. Giannis finishes his Bucks tenure as the franchise\u2019s all-time leader in points (21,531), rebounds (8,882), assists (4,484), blocks (1,088), and several other major statistical markers. His impact on the franchise is something we\u2019ll likely never see again. And for this, we are forever grateful<\/a>.<\/p>\n For more of our thoughts on the trade, check out Episode 247 of Deer Diaries, where Jack Trehearne, Finn Kuehl, and I look back on Giannis\u2019 career in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n As things stand, the Bucks now oficially have 16 players on standard contracts after they waived<\/a> Pete Nance on Friday and signed<\/a> former second-round pick Bogoljub Markovic. They also filled out their final two-way slot after signing former Marquette Golden Eagle Kam Jones on Saturday<\/a>. Milwaukee can carry up to 21 players through the offseason, and only needs to trim the roster to 15 standard contracts by opening night. The only player who still needs to be signed is the 13th overall pick, Nate Ament.<\/p>\n Now that this trade is official, what are your final thoughts? Let us know in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the NBA\u2019s moratorium period officially over, the Milwaukee Bucks have finalized their trade to send franchise icon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[136767,123,125,124],"class_list":["post-331379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-bucks-news","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331379","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=331379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}