If the Heat trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo, this is what needs to happen next

Just being good is not good enough for Miami if they get Milwaukee star

Mar 4, 2023; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat president Pat Riley applauds Chris Bosh during a brief ceremony during the game between the Miami Heat and Atlanta Hawks at Miami-Dade Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images | Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

These days, it seems every team wants a piece of Giannis Antetokounmpo. That likely doesn’t exempt the OKC Thunder, who lost in the WCF against the San Antonio Spurs in large part because of injuries and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander not having enough help.

Recently, NBC’s Grant Liffmann reported that The Greek Freak wants to be in Miami. There’s no doubt that is what Liffmann is hearing, but there’s smoke screens at this time of year and only time will tell if he’s correct. No one publicly knows for sure if he is going to Miami, but the Heat should be careful what they wish for. Getting him will not come cheap, and while he’s age 31, it takes a bit more for him to work himself up on defense, despite still being mostly excellent. 

If they did trade for him, they must do what they can to keep Kasparas Jakučionis out of it. He has good defensive instincts and works well as a connector going into year two. On top of that, he’s gotten jacked over the summer, which is important because the playoffs show every year that strength is a huge factor. 

Keeping him would be a big help in putting the right pieces around Giannis, yet, it would be hard to get more of the right role players like Shane Battier and Mike Miller from the Big Three days, or some like Jae Crowder and Andre Iguodala during the Orlando bubble around them in short order.

Of course, LeBron James’ meltdown in 2011 cost the Heat that ring, but consider how important a useful role player is over someone like Mike Bibby. Those are the guys that hit six trifectas in a championship game or make big buckets without a shoe. 

 In the best case scenario, the Giannis trade for Miami would be running back to the Jimmy Butler years. Who knows how 2020 goes if Goran Dragić and Bam Adebayo weren’t wounded at the end? In the worst case, it would be close to the Carmelo Anthony trade to New York 2.0.

Think about how Knicks making that move was a waste of time since they only won one series against the ancient Boston Celtics without Rajon Rondo because the pieces weren’t good enough around Anthony, and most importantly, he wasn’t that type of player.

On top of that, that trade included the first-round pick that turned into Jamal Murray, the second-best player on a championship team in 2023, to the Denver Nuggets.

Mar 12, 2026; Miami, Florida, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) drives to the basket against Miami Heat guard Pelle Larsson (9) and forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. (11) during the second quarter at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

In Giannis’ case, he has proved he is that guy and nowhere near the poor leader that Anthony was, yet he is going to be asked to do too much offensively and history will only care for results when the minimum requirements for this trade to be a success is multiple Finals trips and one ring. Unless, Adebayo does the rare thing of taking his game to another level in his 30s. No one should be surprised if that becomes an impossibility and Giannis is frustrated by year two, just like Butler was.