{"id":709874,"date":"2026-06-17T17:32:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T17:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/709874\/"},"modified":"2026-06-17T17:32:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T17:32:13","slug":"doc-rivers-celtics-trade-would-bring-healthy-motivated-giannis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/709874\/","title":{"rendered":"Doc Rivers: Celtics trade would bring healthy, motivated Giannis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston Celtics\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t“He’s just so motivated. He wants to win another title,” Rivers said.<\/p>\n

\"Giannis
\n\tDoc Rivers and Giannis Antetokounmpo. AP Photo\/Jeffrey Phelps\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\"Giannis\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCeltics columnist: Miami has the edge in Giannis Antetokounmpo chase\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBill Simmons changes view, believes Celtics are now \u2018in on Giannis\u2019 trade\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Doc Rivers <\/a>coached Giannis Antetokounmpo for the past two-and-a-half seasons in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

Now that he\u2019s no longer a member of the Bucks, the soon-to-be Naismith Basketball Hall-of-Famer opened up about what a potential trade may look like for the Celtics if they were to acquire Antetokounmpo.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re getting a rejuvenated, healthy Giannis,\u201d Rivers said during a recent appearance on \u201cThe Bill Simmons Podcast<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI also think this would be his first time in four years not having having Europe basketball. Giannis and I had a conversation, I want to say a month before the season ended. You remember the who should you come back [conversation]\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was honest. I said Giannis, here\u2019s my opinion. You shouldn\u2019t come back. The season is over. You need to sit, but you should look at this as a great opportunity. You can start working out now. You can bring in your guy that you work with and you can start now for next year. There\u2019s no European basketball. You can get a whole year to work on your skill and he started doing it.\u201d <\/p>\n

Antetokunmpo played in just 36 games this past season, which was a career-low. The 31-year-old forward has played in 65 games or more in nine of his 13 NBA seasons. He played in 67 games in 2025 and 73 games in 2024. <\/p>\n

Rivers acknowledged that such a trade would be a risky move for Boston. Antetokounmpo is entering his 14th season in the league and played in fewer than half of the games last season. <\/p>\n

While Rivers\u2019s comments make it seem as though Antetkounmpo could have returned sooner, the fact remains that he did have several injuries that slowed him down this past year. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s also risk in breaking up the Celtics\u2019 dynamic duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no layup,\u201d Rivers said. \u201cWith any trade, you risk chemistry. Even if you think your chemistry is not great now, you risk making it way better and you also risk making it worse.\u201d <\/p>\n

Antetkounmpo is two years older than Brown. He\u2019ll turn 32 in December. Brown will turn 30 in October. Antetkounmpo is the more accomplished player, with a pair of league MVP awards, ten All-Star appearances, and seven first-team All-NBA selections.<\/p>\n

Both players have a championship and a Finals MVP under their belts, but Brown has never made an All-NBA first team. Still, Antetkounmpo\u2019s age is another risk factor that the Celtics may want to consider. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Celtics still have a lot of players,\u201d Rivers said. \u201cThey\u2019re a much safer thing for him. The only thing from a Celtics point of view is that you are shortening your window because Giannis is older and Brown is younger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you also maybe \u2014 after that window is over \u2014 give yourself another window with Jayson Tatum. It depends on how the front offices look at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 31-years-old, Antetokunmpo is the same age Kevin Garnett was when he was traded to the Celtics in 2007.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember we thought when we did it we had a three or four year window with age,\u201d Rivers said. \u201cObviously, KG got hurt. We didn\u2019t know that was going to happen. That\u2019s why you can\u2019t take anything for granted \u2026 there are no assumptions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning in this league is brutally hard,\u201d Rivers added. \u201cYou have to play well, you have to act right, you have to get along, you need luck, you need everything to win a title. If you don\u2019t get everything, you\u2019re not going to win.\u201d <\/p>\n

During the season, Antetokounmpo seemed focused on staying in Milwaukee, Rivers said. <\/p>\n

\u201cGiannis really never said to the players that he wanted to leave and he never probably said that he wanted to stay,\u201d Rivers said. \u201cBut he did tell them once \u2018guys, I\u2019m here\u2019. He told me several times: Coach, I\u2019m going nowhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Re-signing with the Bucks remains a possibility. However, if the Celtics were able to pull off a trade, it could make them dangerous in the East. \u201cGood luck\u201d trying to guard Tatum and Antetkounmpo at the same time, Rivers said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just so motivated. He wants to win another title,\u201d Rivers said. \u201cGiannis wants to win. It\u2019s interesting, we were just talking about it. He doesn\u2019t talk a lot about his play, he talks about winning.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\t\tKhari A. Thompson<\/a>Sports Reporter\t<\/p>\n

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u26bd Get the latest World Cup news<\/p>\n

Receive updates on the 2026 FIFA World Cup<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics “He’s just so motivated. He wants to win another title,” Rivers said. Doc Rivers and Giannis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-709874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}