Expert Proposes Bold Blazers Trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo

The Portland Trail Blazers finished their 2024-25 season with a bad-but-encouraging 36-46 record, after having not-so-subtly tanked in the last week or two of the year with some liberal resting decisions.

Fielding a roster of mediocre veterans on solid (i.e. generally tradeable) and intriguing young players, the Trail Blazers find themselves at something of a crossroads heading into the summer.

Portland owner Jody Allen opted to ink both general manager Joe Cronin and head coach Chauncey Billups to long-term contract extensions, clear signs of Allen's confidence in their aptitude for those respective gigs.

The team will head into the lottery for the fourth consecutive season.

Does it have the assets to trade for a superstar?

A new one may have just hit the market.

Nine-time All-Star Milwaukee Bucks power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, still just 30, is under contract through the 2027-28 season. The two-time league MVP is stuck on a Bucks club that, despite another terrific season from Antetokounmpo and a 48-34 record, is on the brink of first round elimination for the third consecutive year.

Not only that, but the Bucks' long-term prospects look bleak, too. Milwaukee doesn't have team control of its first round draft picks for several years. Nine-time All-Star Bucks point guard Damian Lillard tore his left Achilles tendon early into Game 4 of Milwaukee's first round series against the Indiana Pacers, which the Bucks trail 3-1.

The 34-year-old will not only miss the rest of the playoffs, he will likely be shelved for most or all of the 2025-26 season, too. After that, it's no guarantee that, as a small guard in his mid-30s, Lillard will ever be able to recapture his All-Star form. There is almost no way the Bucks can extract value out of a Lillard trade now.

How inclined Antetokounmpo will be to spend the rest of his prime on a team with probably no chance of winning a title remains to be seen. That is the decision he will soon have to make.

Portland may not have the combination of assets and colleagues that some clubs do, writes Bill Oram of The Oregonian, but the team's draft equity could hold unique appeal for the Bucks.

Bill Oram: The Blazers have a secret weapon to trade for a former MVP https://t.co/FA5TAPiEUr
— The Oregonian (@Oregonian) April 29, 2025

"Now, the Blazers don’t have as many draft picks to trade as Oklahoma City. Or as many enticing young players to send out as Houston," Oram cautions. "Utah has more future first rounders at their disposal. Brooklyn has close to a dozen of them."

Oram notes that Portland possesses six future first round draft picks, and owe their next pick outside of the lottery to the Chicago Bulls. The big caveat: Portland has several future Bucks picks at its disposal, thanks to the team's trade of Damian Lillard to Milwaukee in the 2023 offseason.

More Portland Trail Blazers: Blazers Face Major Contract Extension Decisions on Multiple Stars

Portland possesses Milwaukee's unprotected 2029 first round draft pick, and pick swap rights with the Bucks in 2028 and 2030. If the Bucks got those picks back, they could fully embrace a tank sans Antetokounmpo.

Oram notes that forwards Toumani Camara and Deni Avdija might be the most intriguing potential current players that Milwaukee GM Jon Horst would like, over young recent lottery picks Shaedon Sharpe, Scoot Henderson and Donovan Clingan.

More Portland Trail Blazers News:

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For more news and notes on the Portland Trail Blazers, visit Portland Trail Blazers on SI.