So, effectively, Heat management is putting all their eggs in the Giannis Antetokounmpo basket up until draft night, when Bucks management has thankfully set a deadline for Giannis deal or no deal? Then if it’s no Giannis for whatever reason, the Heat have lots of time to go after others by trade or free agency. – Morgan, New Orleans. Ira Winderman: Exactly. Or to go with a Plan C, and wait for the 2027 offseason, when ample cap space can be created. And that makes sense, since the last thing the Heat can afford is to move a potential Giannis Antetokounmpo trade asset elsewhere and then find out they would not have enough to close a Giannis deal. All of that said, it also would not be the first time a team has set a somewhat artificial deadline and then walked back that timetable. Basically, it will be up to the Heat to either blow away the Bucks with an offer, or to turn to alternative plans, as you mention. The problem would be the Heat then losing the option of utilizing the No. 13 pick next month to select for the Bucks. What the Heat can’t afford is to draft a player they believe the Bucks eventually would want, only to see the Bucks move on to an alternative trade package elsewhere down the road. In other words, no repeat of selecting Shabazz Napier in the 2014 first round to appease LeBron James, only to have LeBron walk in free agency weeks later.
This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: All of that said, it also would not be the first time …
