Report: Nets are one step closer to Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo
The Brooklyn Nets came into this offseason hoping to make significant changes through the 2025 NBA Draft and beyond following a 26-56 record during the 2024-25 season. While Brooklyn has plenty of work with in terms of draft capital and money to spend in free-agency, they also have their eyes on the trade market and it looks like one of their potential targets could be available soon.
ESPN's Shams Charania reported on Monday that Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is seriously considering his long-term future with the franchise for the first time since he was drafted by the team with the 15th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. More to the point, the Nets are one of the teams that are reportedly interested in Antetokounmpo and a pairing between Brooklyn and Antetokounmpo could happen sooner than later.
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"With NBA teams all convening in Chicago for the lottery and the NBA Draft combine, along with a host of reporters, expect to see tidbits of news coming out of the next week, if not huge news," Brian Lewis of the New York Post wrote. The 2025 NBA Draft Lottery will be held in Chicago on Monday and the Draft Combine will be going on for the rest of the week, meaning that teams can talk to each other in person over a long period of time.
There have been various reports of the Nets potentially being of interest to Antetokounmpo given that they are in New York City, one of the biggest markets, if not the biggest market in the NBA. There were also signs that Antetokounmpo could be considering a change of scenery once he commented on what his teammate, forward Bobby Portis, had to say about Antetokounmpo wanting to finish his career in Milwaukee.
Lewis has been consistently reporting that Brooklyn is keeping its eye on what happens between Antetokounmpo and the Bucks as the Nets are trying to fast-track this rebuild in any way possible. With Charania's reporting that Antetokounmpo is thinking hard about his future in Milwaukee, that could mean that a team like the Nets is able to swoop in and trade for a perennial league MVP that is still playing a dominant brand of basketball.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Report: Nets are one step closer to Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo
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