Former Heat champion gets candid about the Heat's pursuit of Giannis Antetokounmpo

Gary Payton is still saying things the Heat need to hear 20 years later

Apr 12, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo looks on after the game against the Philadelphia 76ers at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn Images | Kyle Ross-Imagn Images

The Miami Heat are all in on Giannis Antetokounmpo. There aren’t many questions about fit even with him not being a dependable 3-point shooter and his teams not going past round two following their 2021 championship. Yet Heat alumni Gary Payton is skeptical about the deal. Even if the committee is rigid and doesn’t care what anyone thinks, it doesn’t mean there isn’t wisdom in an outside voice.

The Greek Freak may have diminished value because the next year on his deal is essentially expiring until he decides to commit, but he won’t come cheap. Payton sees the team building around one person if a deal were to be made, and said he doesn't “know how that’ll work,” in an interview with Canada Sports Bettings' DJ Siddiqi.

To Payton’s credit, the playoffs are showing how teams need quality depth to go far. If the team had to include Bam Adebayo to acquire him, which Payton suggested, there wouldn’t be much left over in Miami. The Heat prefer to make a deal around Tyler Herro and Kel’el Ware, but the problem is that getting Milwaukee to accept that would take some serious hardball, with the help of Antetokounmpo, because it’s an inferior package than anything around Adebayo.

Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

The team is desperate to get out of the Play-In Tournament after participating in it four straight years. In the best case scenario with Antetokounmpo, the team is the sixth or fifth seed and this a tough proposition for anyone trying to win a championship because they’d play every series without home court advantage. 

Keep in mind that since 1984, only five fifth seeds or lower have made the Finals. Still, taking into account how often coach Erik Spoelstra deploys a top defense without a two-way star like Antetokounmpo, perhaps they could be competitive as road warriors. 

Apr 9, 2026; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra instructs his team during the first half against the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images | John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

Spoelstra would also be the best coach Antetokounmpo would play for, and given his temperament plus experience dealing with unhappy stars in LeBron James and Jimmy Butler, he knows what not to do when paired with the big fish. But the team would only have the firepower to get to round two, or maybe the conference finals if Antetokounmpo goes nuclear. Not having a secondary high-level shot creator could exacerbate the issues because Giannis thrives at close range, and defenses always overload that area.

The team wants a star badly, viewing them as the bandaid to their problem when they are a partial solution. Bringing in Antetokounmpo, who will be age 32 next season, or someone like Donovan Mitchell, would make the team respectable and more exciting, but this is just another way of re-running the Jimmy Butler vs. the field strategy.