The Athletic’s Sam Amick Breaks Down Potential Giannis Trade Destinations

The Giannis Antetokounmpo trade window is officially open. Bucks ownership has gone public. The market is wide.

The Athletic's Sam Amick joined the show from the NBA Combine and made it sound finally real.

"This is happening," Amick said. "It's all these years later. The thing that is so different right now and that makes it very transparent is that the Bucks are just shouting it in the streets."

The public push came from Jimmy Haslam. Speaking the same day the Bucks introduced Taylor Jenkins as their coach, the minority owner made the ownership posture official.

"He flat out says, you know, two very important things," Amick said. "One, we'll see if Giannis is on the team. Just kind of acknowledging that elephant in the room. And then two, that he expects clarity before the draft, which is June 23rd."

The market itself, in Amick's framing, is robust.

"These playoffs have been very advantageous for the Bucks," Amick said. "If you look at all the different teams that had disappointing ends to their seasons, the vast majority of them who fell short of expectations are teams that could use a guy like Giannis. So that helps the market."

Bucks GM Jon Horst, Amick said, will have plenty of options.

The Giannis side of the equation is the wedge.

"Giannis is not putting his foot on the scale in terms of saying, all right, these are the only three teams that I will play for," Amick said.

Rich asked Amick to take a stab at the destination shortlist.

"Last time around at the trade deadline, we were talking Minnesota, Golden State, the Knicks and Miami," Amick said.

The current state of each team filtered the list. The Knicks did not get involved at the deadline. Minnesota technically cannot talk to the Bucks until their season ends. Golden State and Miami remain interested.

The Knicks piece deserves the asterisk.

"In terms of teams that Giannis has actually showed substantive interest in joining, that list so far has only been one team long, and that was the Knicks," Amick said. "Last summer when there was a late summer discussion between the two teams that was prompted by, you know, kind of how he saw the landscape. Nothing actually transpired, but don't forget about that. If the Knicks fall short, that could get louder."

Amick added the conference-preference caveat he kept hearing.

"There is an idea that he would rather play in the East because we see what OKC and San Antonio are doing right now, and that's pretty challenging," Amick said.

That, in his framing, would cut the market.

"If that is the case, that would cut out a lot of the market," Amick said.