How the Miami Heat can get in the game for Giannis Antetokounmpo

The Miami Heat have had a pleasantly surprising start to their 2025-2026 campaign despite non-optimal health. The team has been scoring at a high rate and defending at an elite level. Things have been, relative to expectations, pretty good.

Meanwhile, for the Milwaukee Bucks, who were granted an extended lease on life with superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo this past offseason, things fall apart.

According to ESPN reporters Shams Charania and Brian Windhorst, the seven-time All-NBA First Teamer might soon be on the outs with the team he led to a championship in 2021.

It's been known that the Heat, for obvious reasons, have long had an interest in acquiring the two-time MVP. According to many, the prospect of Antetokounmpo eventually wanting out was part of the reason the Heat opted to not cash in their chips over the summer for Kevin Durant.

The question for the Heat then becomes: do they have enough to get into a potential bidding war with other teams if and when Antetokounmpo wants out? Well, it's complicated.

Antetokounmpo will earn $54 million this season. This means that at least one of Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro, Andrew Wiggins, Terry Rozier or Norman Powell would have to be in the deal for salary-matching purposes.

However, Adebayo has long been untouchable for the Heat, which means it's very unlikely they'd offer him alongside draft picks and young players. Additionally, Wiggins and Powell are veterans in their 30s, whose contract situations are up in the air in the upcoming offseason.

All this leaves Herro, a 25 year-old Wisconsin native who made his first All-Star team in 2025 and has been a part of trade rumors in every year he's been in the NBA. The other would be Rozier, who, for obvious reasons, is not a very appealing trade candidate, but is a big expiring contract.

After including young players and draft picks, the Heat could potentially put together a trade package that looks like this:

Milwaukee Bucks receive: Tyler Herro, Terry Rozier, Kel'el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakučionis, 2029 and 2031 first round picks, (unprotected), four first round pick swaps

Miami Heat receive: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bobby Portis, AJ Green, Taurean Prince, Thanasis Antetokounmpo

Trades where two teams send out five players each is not a common occurrence or an easy thing to pull off, but this is the best package I was able to come up with for the Heat that checked off some key boxes: the Heat staying below their first apron hard cap and the Bucks not sending out more salary than they receive, (due to second apron restrictions), and neither team having too many or too few players after the fact.

The additional first round pick swaps would be freed up with the Heat first having to lift protections on the 2027 first rounder that they owe the Charlotte Hornets as part of the Rozier trade. Unfortunately for them, if they never made that trade, they'd be able to offer as many as four first rounders as opposed to two.

Other than that, the other way to make this theoretically happen would be to involve a third team to help facilitate a deal.

Part of ESPN's reporting was that, at one point in the offseason, the New York Knicks had an "exclusive negotiating window." However, "that will not be the case moving forward." The nine-time All-Star apparently gave the Bucks another chance, waiting to evaluate if they were competitive enough for his standards. Ever since then, they are 9-8 when Antetokounmpo plays and 1-5 when he doesn't.

The Knicks, whom Antetokounmpo had interest in playing for, don't exactly have a ton to offer for the Bucks if they are looking to get a head-start on a rebuild with a package of young players and valuable draft picks. They can offer two of Karl Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby, along with a first round pick, a first round pick swap and several second rounders.

If the Bucks are willing to help their franchise player get to where he wants to go, maybe they're okay with the idea of getting back players like those that they can flip down the line. Otherwise, it's a very underwhelming package compared to what other stars (and guys who've never made an All-Star team) have gone for in recent years.

The other teams that have been mentioned as potential suitors around the league are the San Antonio Spurs, the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Atlanta Hawks, the Toronto Raptors, the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers.

The bad news for Heat fans is that many of these teams, sans the Knicks and Lakers (who also have just one trade-able first rounder), have both more and higher-quality draft picks they can choose to offer to the Bucks if Antetokounmpo is willing to play ball. After that, a multitude of questions come to mind.

Are Sam Presti and the Thunder willing to drastically shake things up considering how unstoppable they've looked? Would the Bucks have any interest in a Raptors trade package that doesn't include Scottie Barnes?

Would the Spurs offer a package centered around De'Aaron Fox and several picks if they're not willing to move on from Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper? Would the Bucks be okay with that?

Same question goes for the Hawks with a potential Trae Young and picks package as opposed to one centered around Jalen Johnson, but they fully control the league-worst New Orleans Pelicans' 2026 pick.

Would the Bucks have any interest in a Warriors package centered around Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski and draft picks? Will there be sleeper teams that try to get in the mix like the Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, Indiana Pacers or Cleveland Cavaliers? Only time will tell.

For more Miami Heat information and conversation, check out Off The Floor.

Alexander Toledo is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI and producer/co-host of the Five on the Floor podcast, covering the Heat and NBA. He can be reached at Twitter: @tropicalblanket

How the Miami Heat can get in the game for Giannis Antetokounmpo

Milwaukee Bucks receive: Tyler Herro, Terry Rozier, Kel'el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakučionis, 2029 and 2031 first round picks, (unprotected), four first round pick swaps

Miami Heat receive: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bobby Portis, AJ Green, Taurean Prince, Thanasis Antetokounmpo

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For more Miami Heat information and conversation, check out Off The Floor.

Alexander Toledo is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI and producer/co-host of the Five on the Floor podcast, covering the Heat and NBA. He can be reached at Twitter: @tropicalblanket