NBA Rumors: Raptors Could Acquire Giannis Antetokounmpo For Trade Offer ‘Built Around’ Lowry, Anunoby & Davis
Though he won’t become an unrestricted free agent until the summer of 2021, several teams are already closely monitoring the current situation of reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo on the Milwaukee Bucks. If the “Greek Freak” declines to sign the massive contract extension that they are planning to give him this fall, the Bucks could be forced to start listening to offers for the face of the franchise. Among the potential suitors of Antetokounmpo on the trade market in the 2020 offseason is the reigning NBA champions Toronto Raptors.
In a recent article, Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report created a list of one offseason deal every team should already be thinking about. For the Raptors, it’s the blockbuster deal that would bring the “Greek Freak” farther north. To acquire Antetokounmpo, Buckley suggested that the Raptors could offer a package “built around” Kyle Lowry, OG Anunoby, and Terence Davis to Milwaukee.
“It’s a bold proposition, but it’s close enough to the realm of possibilities that SI.com’s Chris Mannix included a Giannis-to-Toronto trade as an ‘outlandish prediction’ in an NBA notebook. The scribe even took things a step further by predicting another title run for Toronto, this one led by Antetokounmpo and Pascal Siakam. Could this really happen? If the Bucks are forced to listen to offers, the Raptors could make a compelling one, likely built around Kyle Lowry, OG Anunoby and Terence Davis. Add a few draft picks to the equation, and it might be Milwaukee making the best of a tough situation.”
Trading all those players, together with multiple first-round picks, is undeniably a no-brainer for the Raptors if it means acquiring a player of Antetokounmpo’s caliber. Pairing Antetokounmpo with Pascal Siakam would dramatically change the Raptors’ fate in the 2020-21 NBA season and strengthen their chances of winning their second championship title. At 25, the “Greek Freak” is already considered one of the best active players in the league and is currently making a strong case to be one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
The successful acquisition of Antetokounmpo would tremendously boost Toronto’s performance on both ends of the floor, giving them a very reliable scoring option, incredible rebounder, facilitator, and defender. This season, he is averaging 29.6 points, 13.7 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.0 block, and 1.0 steal while shooting 54.7 percent from the field and 30.8 percent from beyond the arc. The departure of Lowry from the north would definitely break the hearts of their fans, but right now, they must be aware that Raptors President of Basketball Operations Masai Ujiri wouldn’t mind doing such a thing as long as it would give them a realistic chance of bringing home the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
