It was only a matter of time before Giannis Antetokounmpo trade speculation reached its fever pitch, and looped in the New York Knicks. As it turns out, that time is now.
Can the Knicks really emerge from the bidding war to follow with the two-time MVP headlining the roster? They sure can. But their path to success shines the spotlight on a pretty massive dilemma: They will need Giannis to deliver his best James Harden impression, and force his way to The Big Apple.
Knicks need Giannis to have eyes for them, and only them
Though Antetokounmpo has yet to request a move from the Milwaukee Bucks, ESPN's Shams Charania reports that "for the first time in his career, Antetokounmpo is open-minded about exploring whether his best long-term fit" involves playing elsewhere. Previously, and not surprisingly, The Ringer's Howard Beck noted on an episode of The Zach Lowe Show that there are "some rumblings" Giannis' list of preferred destinations will feature usual-suspect markets such as New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and perhaps even Houston or Miami.
This gets one obstacle out of the way. The Bucks, in all likelihood, aren't sending Giannis somewhere he doesn't want to be. Generational superstars have that kind of leverage, and teams not near the top of Antetokounmpo's wish list won't pony up as much to get him, out of fear he'll leave the first chance he gets. (He has a player option for the 2027-28 season.)
Still, merely appearing on Giannis' list isn't enough for the Knicks. Other squads are on it, and there's a strong chance New York will have the weakest package of the bunch.
To be sure, they have plenty of interesting names around which to build packages. For all their flaws, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, and Mikal Bridges are highly desirable impact names. But the Bucks will likely be looking at some sort of rebuild without Giannis. That direction mandates the inclusion of draft picks, particularly when Milwaukee doesn't control its own until 2031.
After trading for Bridges and Towns, and surrendering ownership of seven first-rounders in the process, New York cannot currently include an outright first in any Giannis package. The Knicks also do not have a high-profile youngster the Bucks can view as its springboard into the future. That is inherently problematic. Some will even claim it's insurmountable.
That is why New York needs Giannis to go nearly fully James Harden. When the latter wanted a trade from the Houston Rockets to the Brooklyn Nets, he forced a deal into existence by declaring as much and standing his ground. He did the same again when he orchestrated a trade from Brooklyn to the Philadelphia 76ers. And then he did it yet again when forcing a move from Philly to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Now, those exits were messy, and filled with contentious comments. Giannis doesn't seem hard-wired in that way, and his relationship with Milwaukee's front office is certainly better than the dynamic shared between Harden and the people running the show in Brooklyn and Philly. Still, if Antetokounmpo identifies the Knicks, and the chance to play with Jalen Brunson, as his primary goal in all of this, it will to some extent force Milwaukee's hand.
Are the Knicks a more promising landing spot than any other team?
For Giannis to feel this way, the Knicks very clearly need to be the most appealing destination relative to everyone else on his (likely) list. That is a tall order. And not impossible.
The Brooklyn Nets are also in New York, and they can throw the Bucks waaay more draft picks. But they remain in the early phases of a rebuild. It will take other moves for them to compete at Giannis' desired level.
Miami offers the opportunity to play with Bam Adebayo...and not much else. The Heat do not have a ton of draft picks to dangle themselves, and if Milwaukee is forced to target win-now players instead of future-focused returns, any one of Towns, Bridges, and Anunoby may be more appealing than Tyler Herro. Things get interesting if Adebayo is on the table, but Giannis presumably won't have eyes for Miami if it's moving Bam.
Neither of the L.A. teams can offer plausible or much better packages. The Los Angeles Clippers are light on future draft equity and young players, and including Harden (a potential free agent) or Kawhi Leonard shrinks the Bucks' post-Giannis timeline by considerable margins. The Los Angeles Lakers also don't have a ton of picks at their disposal, and assembling player-centric packages gets difficult if LeBron James (who has a player option and no-trade clause) or Luka Doncic aren't involved.
Chicago has a peppering of different assets to include. But if Giannis trusts the Bulls to build a winner around him more than the Knicks' front office, New York probably shouldn't even want him. The Golden State Warriors are in California, and have more firsts and prospects to trade than the Knicks. But the math gets wonky unless the Bucks are smitten with Jonathan Kuminga (via sign-and-trade), age-35 Jimmy Butler, and/or age-35 Draymond Green.
The biggest threats to derailing Knicks' potential Giannis pursuit are...
So far, so good for the Knicks...in theory. The calculus changes if Giannis wants to play for the Houston Rockets, or even the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Both teams are already close, or in the thick of, title contention. Both have young cornerstones they can send to Milwaukee. And both have more draft picks to include than the Knicks would own even if they never acquired Mikal Bridges.
If Giannis has Houston or Oklahoma City at the top of his list, it's game over. But if he really has eyes for only the Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and New York markets, well, the Knicks have more of a chance than people think.
Dan Favale is a Senior NBA Contributor for FanSided and National NBA Writer for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Bluesky (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.