Boston Celtics
“The Heat and the Celtics are the only two teams involved that have gotten the commitment from Giannis that he is willing to sign long term.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo smiles as he picks his team before the NBA basketball All-Star game Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023, in Salt Lake City. AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
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NBA insider: Celtics ‘all in’ on Giannis Antetokounmpo and have offered Jaylen Brown for trade
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Celtics reportedly targeting Trey Murphy III as backup option amid Giannis trade pursuit
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s contract situation gives him leverage as far as his next destination.
With one year left on his current deal before a player option kicks in, the risk of him leaving after a short stay would be a deterrent for teams looking to trade for him.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Celtics and Miami Heat have both received word from Antetokounmpo that the two-time league MVP would sign a contract extension with either franchise if a trade is completed.
“You have a lot of control of you future, you get to determine a lot of it,” Charania said of Antetokounmpo during a recent appearance on the Pat McAfee Show. “They need to know that Giannis will sign long term. The Heat and the Celtics are the only two teams involved that have gotten the commitment from Giannis that he is willing to sign long term.”
“That’s allowed Milwaukee to really leverage both of these teams against each other.”
Charania said he expects a deal to be done by Tuesday afternoon. Miami has been the frontrunner for months, but the Celtics have made a strong late push and have reportedly included Jaylen Brown in their offer.
“Bucks executives are literally in right now their offices figuring out which direction they are going to go,” Charania said Monday afternoon. “Because there are two offers right now that it has come down to at a serious level.”
“That’s the Celtics offer led by Jaylen Brown who is a superstar and there’s other additional pieces to that deal. Or, an offer from the Miami Heat that consists of several players that you have control over on rookie scale contracts, guys that you can extend at a reasonable number and a surplus of draft capital.”
Antetokounmpo is expecting that a trade happen, though it’s not exactly clear yet which team will land him, Charania said during a separate appearance on ESPN”s NBA Today.
“My understanding is at this moment (3:03 p.m. ET) that Giannis Antetokounmpo is somewhere abroad ready to be traded either to Boston or to Miami and the expectation is that we’ll know here soon,” said Charania.
Khari A. Thompson
Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.
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