Three trades the Milwaukee Bucks could make to win WITH Giannis

It may seem like the writing is on the wall and the Milwaukee Bucks will be trading Giannis Antetokounmpo around the 2026 NBA Draft in a couple of weeks. That said, at this moment the Greek Freak is still a Buck and still commenting that he’d like to remain in Milwaukee.

😳😳 pic.twitter.com/Ekt7iRNoOJ
— GiannisS (@_Giannis_S) June 1, 2026

If Miami’s heavily reported pursuit of another superstar falls short and Giannis decides to extend with the Bucks, how can Milwaukee improve its roster to avoid another frustrating season? Nailing the 10th overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft will be the starting point, but using trades to re-shape the Bucks roster will be needed to.

To that end I've proposed three deals that are at least plausible and could extend Milwaukee’s window to win with Giannis. Ground rules are as follows: the deals are cap compliant and do not involve Milwaukee's 10th overall pick, as I believe the Bucks need some young, cost-controlled talent to have a successful next chapter.

Additionally, given that they’ve already been explored as trade targets fairly exhaustively, I’ve elected to skip Trey Murphy and Ja Morant here and go with some less discussed options.

Myles Turner to the Toronto Raptors for RJ Barrett

Myles Turner was the Bucks’ answer to Giannis having a wandering eye last summer, and that swing ended up being about as bad of a miss as possible in year one. Turner regressed in most statistical categories and lost ground to Jericho Sims as the season went on, and while the minutes with Turner and Giannis playing together were successful for the Bucks last season Milwaukee just didn’t get enough from their expensive (in every sense of the word) center as a standalone player.

Suffice it to say Turner’s off court fit with Antetokounmpo is likely less rosy than the connection they shared on the hardwood as well.

This trade would leave the Bucks with a large hole at the center position, but you’ve got to give to get in the trade market. Sam Vecenie reported today that the Raptors "are still surveying the market for veteran, star-quality bigs” and while Turner may not totally fit that bill, he would add some needed spacing and size for a Raptors team without many options besides injury-prone Jakob Poeltl.

Maybe Barrett was simply too good in the Raptors eventual loss to Cleveland in round 1 for Toronto to pull the trigger on this kind of deal, but the 6’6” small forward would be an ideal fit on a Bucks roster in dire need of plus level wing play and a more reliable scorer. If the Bucks could get a player like Barrett without surrendering any of their limited draft assets it’d be a serious bonus, even if a hole at center would need to be filled through an additional transaction.

Kyle Kuzma, Bobby Portis and a protected 2031 first round pick to the Brooklyn Nets for Michael Porter Jr.

The Nets had an opportunity to likely get more value than this from Michael Porter Jr. at last season’s trade deadline, but opted to keep him. MPJ slumped down the stretch and publicly said not making All-Star was part of the reason and is now a $40 million expiring contract on a terrible Nets team without any star players or a top pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.

The appeal for Brooklyn here would be to try and get additional (if meager) assets for Kuzma and Portis ahead of their own contracts expiring plus a coveted future Bucks first. Given Porter Jr. is not quite a star having some level of protection on that future first – top 3 or 5 overall – gives the Bucks some added security that they won’t be giving up a top pick to get MPJ.

The 6’10” forward’s elite shooting touch would be a potent pairing with Antetokounmpo, who always fits well with shooters. The combined size of this duo on the wing would eclipse even the Khris Middleton and Giannis pairing, helping Milwaukee to impose its will more defensively and on the glass than last year’s smaller groups were able to.

Bobby Portis to the Atlanta Hawks for Zaccharie Risacher

The idea of selecting a player first overall in the NBA Draft and then flipping them straight up for Bobby Portis just two years later may be hard to conceptualize, but if there was ever a situation where it could happen it’d be the Hawks with Zaccharie Risacher. Risacher lost his starting spot during the 2025-26 NBA season and lost his rotation spot entirely by the time Atlanta battled the Knicks in the playoffs, logging 23 total minutes in three games.

The Hawks leadership clearly doesn’t have any issue with coach Quin Snyder deciding to marginalize Risacher, as Snyder was just given a contract extension. Atlanta also has problems to solve offensively around Jalen Johnson as the Hawks shot 31.2% from three as a team in the playoffs.

Enter Bobby Portis, who amidst a mess of a season overall in Milwaukee nailed 45.6% of 4.4 attempted triples per game. That spacing boost coming from a big is even better, as the Hawks have plenty of wing options (as seen by being able to bench the forward they picked first overall) but not many talented bigs behind Onyeka Okonwgu.

From the Bucks side of things, Milwaukee has a desperate need for wing players. Risacher remains a mobile 6’8” wing who could blossom in a new environment without the pressure of being selected by his team ahead of Stephon Castle.

Risk for Milwaukee has mostly meant sending out tons of draft picks or eating dead cap in big, dramatic moves for veterans, but this is a safer kind of risk the Bucks should consider trying more often. This trade would essentially be a larger version of the Ousmane Dieng deal that went well for the Bucks, and could pay dividends as Milwaukee looks to fill out a better team around Giannis going forward.

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