The Warriors will be relying on Steph Curry more than ever this season and Paul Pierce says the team needs to go after Giannis Antetokounmpo to get him some help.
The team tried to make a big splash multiple times over the summer by going after Paul George and Lauri Markkanen and Pierce says if the team wants to return to greatness anytime soon, signing Giannis is the only option.
“The only way I see Golden State getting back to where they need to get back to is if they can find a way to get Giannis over there,” Pierce said The Ticket & Turth podcast recently.
Naturally Pierce was asked if he had any insider knowledge that Golden State were planning to move in on the Greek Freak, but he said, “Nah, I’m just putting on my GM hat and trying to say that’s the best-case scenario.”
Basketball insider Camron Smith breaks down why he thinks the Thunder will repeat as the regular season champs in the Western Conference.
Following Pierce’s comments, Give Me Sport proposed a trade where the Warriors could land Giannis, but they would be well and truly kissing goodbye to their future assets.
Milwaukee Bucks Receive: Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski, Moses Moody, 2025 1st round pick, 2027 1st round pick, 2029 1st round pick, 2031 1st round pick
This isn’t the first time Giannis to the Warriors has been mentioned. In February of this year, The Athletic reported that the Warriors consider signing Giannis to be their “dream scenario”.
So the franchise have clearly entertained, or at least thought about the idea.
Giannis is in the final year of his current $228 million contract and has a three-year $175.3 million max contract extension waiting to activate next year.
The Bucks also got Giannis some help in Damian Lillard, so the chances of him leaving Milwaukee in the foreseeable future look slim.
The Lakers are under the microscope for their lack of trade action during the offseason and one NBA insider has revealed the biggest mistake that was made.
That was the team committing to a four-year $32 million free-agent deal with Max Christie, which includes a four-year player option.
“The problem was that A) they actually tried him quite a bit (944 minutes across 67 games), and B) he wasn’t any good (8.4 PER, minus-3.6 BPM), such that C) he couldn’t crack the full-strength rotation of what was arguably the worst bench in the league,” Hollinger says.
“…What made this move particularly notable was that it took the Lakers out of other scenarios in free agency,” Hollinger writes. “Any team with LeBron James and Anthony Davis needs to be all-in on right now, and the Lakers seemingly passed up a few other opportunities to go in that direction.
“…Christie was another opportunity cost, because the $7.1 million cap number for Christie essentially took the Lakers out of using their taxpayer midlevel exception while still staying below the second apron.”
NBA analyst Cam Smith discusses whether the Lakers will be true NBA Title contenders this season.
Besides the Cavs and Celtics, the Lakers franchise was the only team that didn’t make any off-season trade moves.
Looking to the future, The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor dropped a bombshell over the weekend, claiming that the LA’s long-term plan involves bagging Dallas superstar Luka Doncic – which might explain the team’s lack of trades over the summer.
“I’ve reported on this podcast and on The Ringer how [the Lakers] have their sights set for Luka. We’ll see if that works out,” he said on The Mismatch. “Dallas just made a Finals, Dallas is looking better than ever with their supporting cast. That may not work out, but the Lakers by not trading their future picks clearly are still thinking long-term at this point. They’re not going all in like you might expect many teams to do with James.”
Be the first to comment