MIAMI – Giannis Antetokounmpo wants more championships. So do the Miami Heat.
Their interests are officially aligned — and the Heat finally have another superstar.
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Ending a marathon watch for the next great Miami get, the Heat landed Antetokounmpo — a two-time NBA MVP and 10-time All-Star — from the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night in exchange for a massive haul of players and draft picks.
The terms, according to a person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the move had yet to receive the required league approval: Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis are heading to Miami for Wisconsin native Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel’el Ware, and Kasparas Jakucionis.
Milwaukee also gets the No. 13 selection that will be made in Tuesday night’s NBA draft, along with a first-round pick swap in 2030, first-round picks in 2031 and 2033, and a second-rounder in 2033, the person said.
It ends a wild back-and-forth in the final days of the saga, with the Bucks considering offers from both Miami and Boston for Antetokounmpo — who led Milwaukee to the 2021 NBA title, was on the NBA’s 75th anniversary list of its greatest players ever, is a nine-time All-NBA selection, and is coming off an injury-shortened season in which he averaged 27.6 points per game.
Heat Go Star Hunting Again, and It Pays Off
There has been no secret that this is what Miami has sought, because this is what Miami usually seeks. The Heat pulled off similar moves by landing Shaquille O’Neal in 2004 (helping lead to the 2006 NBA title) and by getting LeBron James and Chris Bosh to play alongside Dwyane Wade in 2010 (leading to four NBA Finals runs in four seasons together, along with the 2012 and 2013 NBA titles).
Now, it’s Antetokounmpo’s turn. At 31, the Heat clearly believe he still has many good years left — and it’s generally presumed that by making this deal they’ll give the Greek superstar a massive extension later this year.
He was a perennial MVP candidate in Milwaukee, getting votes for that award in nine consecutive seasons before 2025-26 when too many missed games left him ineligible.
He has averaged 24.1 points and 9.9 rebounds per game in his career, with 10 consecutive seasons of averaging at least 22.9 points — with three years in there of averaging more than 30 points per game.
Only seven active players have more points in their careers than Antetokounmpo, who has totaled 21,531 to this point.
A Trade Seemed Inevitable
Antetokounmpo had been mentioned in trade talks countless times in recent years, with the Bucks always insisting — with words and actions — that they had no interest in trading their best player and one of the best players in the history of the franchise.
But this time, it seemed different.
The Bucks, who fired Doc Rivers as coach after the season, don’t have a roster that would be considered a championship contender. By trading Antetokounmpo, they can essentially start over with four players (and the Heat were high on all of them) along with draft capital.
“I just think before the draft is a natural time, right, because if Giannis does play somewhere else we’re going to get a lot of assets. … You’ve got to get it right,” Bucks co-owner Jimmy Haslam said in May, when the team introduced new coach Taylor Jenkins — who was told that Antetokounmpo may or may not be with the franchise when next season starts.
Jenkins and the rest of the NBA now has the answer: Antetokounmpo won’t be there.
Antetokounmpo had spoken highly of Miami many times over the years, even when the Heat and Bucks were going head-to-head in the playoffs. He also shares an agent with Heat star center Bam Adebayo, who was the only player Miami clearly was not willing to part with in order to make this deal happen.
“They’re going to play tough and they’re not going to stop playing,” Antetokounmpo said after Milwaukee played Miami on March 12. “That’s the Miami Heat culture.”
