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I promise this is going to be the dumbest intro I’ve ever done on The Bounce. DeSagna Diop turns 44 today. He played 12 years in the NBA for four teams and had a solid career. I once made a Lasagna DropPhotoshop when I was running the Daily Dime Live chat on ESPN from 2010-12. I only think of this image when I see or hear his name. I told you this was going to be the dumbest intro. Happy birthday, Mr. Diop!
Giannis trade ideas
The Buck stops here?
We know the Milwaukee Bucks are listening to different Giannis Antetokounmpo trade offers instead of hanging up on teams and blocking their numbers. Whether that means the 31-year-old Giannis is traded before Thursday’s deadline or some time in the offseason, it feels like the Greek Freak’s days in Milwaukee are essentially over. All 29 other teams are going to kick the tires on figuring out if they can get into the Giannis game.
So far, there are four teams emerging as the most likely or most intriguing options for shipping Giannis elsewhere. Based on reported trade offers and me just working the trade machine, let’s try to come up with four deals that would send the two-time MVP to Miami, Golden State, Minnesota or New York.
Trade 1: Giannis to Miami
Heat receive: Giannis, Thanasis Antetokounmpo
Bucks receive: Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Terry Rozier, 2029 first, 2031 first, 2030 pick swap, 2032 pick swap
This trade package has been thrown out as an idea or an assumptive deal. The Heat have been eyeing a Giannis acquisition since at least 2020. The idea behind the trade package here is you get a 26-year old All-Star guard, a very intriguing prospect with Ware, two first-round picks and two swaps. This is assuming Miami is allowed to deal Rozier’s contract. Wiggins could be swapped out for Rozier if not. I included Thanasis because who are we kidding? He’s ending up on his brother’s team somehow.
Grade this trade idea: B+ for Milwaukee. Probably not enough picks, but Ware could be awesome.
Trade 2: Giannis to Golden State
Warriors receive: Giannis, Kyle Kuzma
Bucks receive: Jimmy Butler, Jonathan Kuminga, Brandin Podziemski, 2026 first, 2028 first, 2030 first, 2032 first, 2029 swap, 2031 swap
To entice the Bucks, the Warriors here are including four first-round picks and two swaps. You could add a 2027 swap, as well. Butler’s contract has to be included to simplify things, and Kuminga is the young player with upside for Milwaukee, as is Podziemski. It would be a very aggressive offer, but this is how the Warriors separate themselves from the pack and make one more push for Steph Curry’s tenure. Kuzma had to be included for contract-matching purposes.
Grade this trade idea: A- for the Bucks. Not sure Kuminga and Podziemski are actually as enticing as they need to be.
Trade 3: Giannis to Minnesota
Wolves receive: Giannis, Thanasis
Bucks receive: Jaden McDaniels, Julius Randle, Terrence Shannon Jr., 2028 swap, 2032 swap, 2026 first
Marc Stein and Jake Fischer wrote about the interest from Minnesota yesterday, and how Giannis could decide to try to influence Milwaukee to send him to team up with Anthony Edwards. If that’s actually the case and on the table, the Wolves are limited in draft picks they can include. If the deal doesn’t happen until June, Minnesota could include its 2026 pick and pick swaps in 2028 and 2032. Other than that, the Wolves don’t really have draft capital. McDaniels and Randle help keep the Bucks from cratering completely.
Grade this trade idea: B for the Bucks. The lack of draft options hurts, but McDaniels and Randle are good veterans to bring in.
Trade 4: Giannis and Jrue to New York in 3-teamer
Knicks receive: Giannis, Jrue Holiday
Blazers receive: Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, Guerschon Yabusele
Bucks receive: Karl-Anthony Towns, Matisse Thybulle, Kris Murray, 2030 swap, 2032 swap
There’s this idea that Giannis might want to reunite with Holiday in New York. Pulling off a three-team deal with the size of contracts going out before Thursday’s deadline isn’t the least complicated thing I’ve tried to figure out. The Knicks send the swaps to Milwaukee here, but if they waited until the summer, then they could also include their 2026 and 2033 picks to sweeten the deal. The Blazers get a sweet deal with Bridges and Hart headed there. Towns is the headliner to Milwaukee, although that may not make Bucks fans happy at all.
Grade this trade idea: C+ for the Bucks. I don’t really understand how most of these deals of Giannis to New York happen without Giannis strong-arming Milwaukee.
More Giannis links:
• What we’re hearing about his market, plus more NBA trade intel.
• Neither side is the ‘bad guy’ in Giannis-Bucks split, David Aldridge writes.
The last 24
🏀 Shame works. Luka Dončić hurt his ankle on the Cavs’ inexplicably raised court. The team and NBA will discuss the dumb setup.
🗣️ Firing back. Former Bucks forward Jae Crowder blamed Doc Rivers for the Bucks’ downfall. Did Doc just call Jae a coward?
🔮 How’d we do? It’s time to revisit our predictions for every team from the preseason. Spoiler: We did not get 100 percent of them correct.
⭐ Star signs. John Hollinger picks the All-Star reserves. He cooked up a new formula for it.
🏆 Big men on campus. Who’ll win the men’s college basketball national title? Our CJ Moore says it will be one of these six teams.
Stream the NBA on Fubo (try it for free!) and catch out-of-market games on League Pass.
Revisiting picks
Here are three really bad calls I made
I was inspired by the preseason predictions review linked above to go back to some of my preseason predictions here on The Bounce. There were some very solid predictions I feel good about. But you’re not interested in those. You want to be reminded of the dumb predictions I made as an “NBA expert” typing out a newsletter to you. And I don’t mind being the butt of my own joke, so let’s check out a couple of the really bad ones.
The Pacers will make the playoffs. Now, I tried to include the Celtics in this one as well, but picking the Pacers to make the playoffs is astronomically bad. They have the worst record in the East (12-36) and are a half-game away from tying for the worst record in the league. Washington and Brooklyn are both a game ahead of Indiana. The Pacers could win 20 games in a row and still be four games under .500 on the season. It’s not looking great!
Zion Williamson plays 65-plus games. The Pelicans have played 49 games. Zion has played in 33 of those games. So he can only miss one more game the rest of the season for this prediction to be correct. Considering he played in 30 games total last year, his recent availability does not make this prediction likely. I tried to believe in Skinny Zion, and now this prediction is on the verge of tanking like the 12-37 Pelicans.
The Bucks win the NBA Cup. What was I thinking? I wanted a back-to-back NBA Cup champion. Why did I place my faith in a team that is relying on Kuzma and Kevin Porter Jr. to have career years? Not only did they not even come close to making the games in Vegas, but now Giannis is on his way out of there.
About last night
The Wolves tame the Thunder
The Timberwolves were pretty much dominated by the Thunder in the Western Conference finals last May. They lost in five games and got caught up in complaining about the difference in whistles and physicality by both squads. Last night in Minnesota, the Wolves were on a back-to-back and playing their fourth game in five nights. They looked ripe for getting handled by OKC.
Instead, Minnesota came out and kicked the Thunder’s butts. They played physical defense like OKC does. They shot the lights out from 3. And they continued to pepper the Thunder with big answers the same way we see Oklahoma City treat everybody most nights. Donte DiVincenzo was a monster on defense, Jaden McDaniels went 5-of-5 from deep on his way to 21 points and Anthony Edwards battled top-notch perimeter defenders while notching 26 points, five rebounds and five assists.
The Wolves won 123-111, and mostly just controlled the game from start to finish. In fact, the Thunder didn’t lead at any point in this game. Minnesota (30-19) absorbed a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 30-point night and didn’t let anybody else get going. This is the second straight game the Wolves have won against OKC (38-11), but this one felt different. They started copying how the Thunder defend, essentially mirroring the way they typically approach the Wolves. I have no idea if this will mean anything later on, but it makes me want to see a Wolves-Thunder rematch in the playoffs.
Hornets 123, Mavs 121: This was an incredible game. Cooper Flagg missed a desperation jumper to tie it at the buzzer to end his career-best 49-point night in a showdown with his college teammate Kon Knueppel. The Hornets rookie had 34 points on 10-of-16 from the field and 8-of-12 from deep. Flagg went 20-of-29 from the field and put in 10 rebounds too. Charlotte (21-28) is 14-10 in its last 24.
Suns 114, Pistons 96: Dillon Brooks put up 40 points, and the Suns (29-19) hit 10 more 3-pointers than the Pistons. This was just the 12th time that Detroit (34-12) was outrebounded in a game this season. And the second time it was outrebounded by double digits.
Rockets 104, Hawks 86: Kevin Durant scored 31 to overcome a 3-of-14 shooting night from Alperen Şengün. The Rockets (29-17) dominated the second half 61-44.
Heat 116, Bulls 113: In a preview of the Play-In Tournament, Coby White missed a game-tying 3-pointer, and Miami got 19 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and three steals off the bench from Jaime Jaquez Jr.
76ers 113, Kings 111: Tyrese Maxey scored his 39th and 40th points on the go-ahead layup with 1.3 seconds left. He also had eight assists, while Joel Embiid added eight assists and 37 points.
Wizards 109, Bucks 99: Alex Sarr had 16 points and 17 rebounds to help Kyshawn George’s 23 points to beat a Bucks team that is taking more trade calls than good shots.
Nuggets 107, Nets 103: Jamal Murray had 27, and Tim Hardaway Jr. had 25 off the bench to overcome Michael Porter Jr.’s 38-point night. I feel like this is a familiar story for Brooklyn (12-34) lately.
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