Янис Адетокунбо Майами Хит рүү шилжлээ

Jimmy Haslam was bluffing. Or, at minimum, keeping the Milwaukee Bucks’ cards close to the vest.

It was May 6 at the Milwaukee Art Museum, where the team’s co-owner joined the rest of the Bucks’ brass, along with attending media, to discuss the hiring of new coach Taylor Jenkins. But the topic, inevitably, turned to Giannis Antetokounmpo and the looming possibility that these were his final days with the only organization he had ever known.

“I just think before the (June 23) draft is a natural time,” Haslam said that day regarding the team’s planned timeline to reach a resolution. “If Giannis does play somewhere else, we oughta get a lot of assets, and that’s (longtime Bucks general manager Jon Horst’s) job to do it. If (Antetokounmpo) is here, then you build the team differently.”

Yet as league sources confirmed late Monday night, after Horst agreed to an Antetokounmpo deal with the Miami Heat for the very sort of trade package of which Haslam spoke, Bucks officials already knew that there was no Milwaukee future with the “Greek Freak” in it. Antetokounmpo’s representatives, according to two sources, had long since made it clear that the 31-year-old, who had one season left on his contract, would not sign the extension for which he was eligible on Oct. 1.

In today’s NBA, where no team can afford to say goodbye to a superstar without getting something in return, that meant the prospect of Antetokounmpo’s historic 13-year run in Milwaukee coming to an end had already been deemed inevitable internally — even if, for the sake of optics and leverage in forthcoming negotiations, Haslam opted to pay lip service to the notion that Antetokounmpo might remain.

Yet the part that wasn’t nearly so certain, and which had been evolving since the trade talks at the February deadline that set the stage for this monumental Milwaukee moment, was where Antetokounmpo would go. And in the end, with the Boston Celtics’ covert pursuit providing the kind of pressure that put the Bucks in a position of strength with the Heat, Haslam’s words could not have been more prophetic. With the NBA Draft less than 24 hours away, and the Bucks having spent these past five months exploring every possible scenario in exhaustive fashion, they sent Antetokounmpo and veteran forward Bobby Portis to the Heat in exchange for Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, three first-round picks (No. 13 today, 2031, and 2033), a 2030 first-round pick swap and 2033 second-round pick.

The vastly different nature of what the top two suitors had to offer underscored the Bucks’ challenge here, as they were forced to decide between a Celtics proposal that included 29-year-old Jaylen Brown, a bona fide star in his prime, and a Heat pitch that was more voluminous in terms of assets, if not prestige. There were plenty of other suitors along the way in the past year, with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Portland Trail Blazers, Orlando Magic, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers among them, but the final choice came down to the Heat and Celtics.

According to league sources, the Bucks were very intrigued with the idea of making Brown their new franchise centerpiece but also had serious concerns about whether history might repeat itself if he came to town. Brown, the five-time All-Star who is coming off the best season of his career and finished sixth in MVP voting, has three seasons and a combined $183 million left on his current deal. But if he didn’t want to be in Milwaukee, as some signs suggested in recent weeks, then the Bucks might have been faced with the reality that they needed to trade him under duress in order to salvage a sensitive situation.

The Heat, meanwhile, were eventually willing to include the sort of players and picks that the Bucks envisioned all along, after a fair amount of deliberation. The Heat were forced to respond differently because of the threat posed by the Celtics. Here’s one such example:

Per league sources, the Heat attempted to include point guard Davion Mitchell in the deal instead of Jakucionis. Yet because Mitchell is entering the final year of his deal, as are Herro and Jaquez Jr., the Bucks made it clear that they had no interest in three of the four players in the deal having just one season remaining. So the Bucks pushed for, and ultimately landed, Jakucionis. The 20-year-old, 6-foot-5 guard has three guaranteed seasons left on his rookie deal, including two team options.

The Bucks still have work to do, as league sources say it remains unclear if Herro will remain with the team. While there is interest in making the Milwaukee native part of the his hometown’s program, sources say the Bucks will also listen to offers for the 26-year-old former All-Star. Herro is believed to have a robust market, with the Detroit Pistons known to be among the many teams interested in him. Since this trade won’t be finalized until July 6, it remains possible for additional teams to take part in its final construction.

Tyler Herro could be on the move again after Monday night’s trade. (Jacob Kupferman / Getty Images)

From Antetokounmpo’s viewpoint, almost all of the signs had pointed to Miami as far back as February. The Heat had long been known to be among his preferred destinations, with Antetokounmpo holding a deep respect for the winning — and ultra-competitive — culture created by the legendary Pat Riley, coach Erik Spoelstra, general manager Andy Elisburg and all the rest. The historical backdrop is quite fascinating here, as one of Antetokounmpo’s lowest professional moments came when his Bucks fell to the Heat in five games during a second-round playoff matchup in the Orlando bubble in 2020.

Milwaukee had finished a league-best 56-17 during that COVID-interrupted season — 12 games better than Miami — with Antetokounmpo earning MVP honors for a second consecutive time. Yet those Heat, led by the since-departed Jimmy Butler and Antetokounmpo’s new frontcourt mate, Bam Adebayo, stymied the Bucks big man with their vaunted wall and sparked a round of speculation about whether or not he would sign his next contract in Milwaukee.

Yet six years later, Antetokounmpo’s respect for the Heat program was never in question. What league sources say did cause some doubt in his mind, however, was whether Miami’s roster might be too decimated by the deal to compete for a title.

Antetokounmpo, the sources say, was genuinely intrigued by the idea of playing for the Celtics and would have been willing to sign a long-term extension there. League sources say Boston’s interest, first reported by The Athletic on April 8, was revealed to Antetokounmpo near the Feb. 5 trade deadline when he was told that the Celtics were making a late push to land him.

Two months later, he gave a rave, and somewhat random, review of Boston coach Joe Mazzulla during an interview with The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. The timing seemed too perfect to be coincidental, as if Antetokounmpo was letting it be known that the Celtics would be wise to pursue him. And that they did — to no avail.

It remains to be seen if Antetokounmpo’s reservations about the Heat scenario were well-founded. Even before any discussion about Miami’s depth, and how the Heat took a significant hit with this move, there’s the fact that Antetokounmpo and Adebayo will have wrinkles to work out as co-stars whose skillsets aren’t widely seen as complementary. What’s more, two of their most impactful players — Norm Powell and Andrew Wiggins — have contract situations this summer that need to be resolved. Wiggins has a player option for $30.1 million for next season, while Powell is an unrestricted free agent.

As such, Antetokounmpo can’t sleep well just yet without knowing what the Heat’s rotation might look like next season. Yet still, after all these years of wondering whether his days in Milwaukee might be numbered, a new chapter finally begins for Antetokounmpo and the organization that raised him.

For better or worse.