On Monday, the New York Post’s Brian Lewis reminded us that the Brooklyn Nets still have their eye on one big prize.
The churn of the rumor mill has picked up.
On Monday evening, during the Brooklyn Nets’ victory over the Dallas Mavericks, Brian Lewis of the New York Post dropped an article detailing Brooklyn’s roster goals, and wasted no time getting to the heart of his article.
Multiple league personnel that have spoken with The Post say Giannis Antetokounmpo has been and remains Plan A for the Nets,
That’s just the first sentence!
It’s long been an open secret that the franchise is enamored with Antetokounmpo, briefly their greatest foe in the Eastern Conference. When the Nets were looking to add a centerpiece during the short-lived Mikal Bridges Era, Antetokounmpo was the dream for ownership and front office alike.
Though Brooklyn seemingly signaled full-scale rebuild last summer, thanks to those two monstrous trades, their half-hearted attempt at maximizing the value of their 2025 first-round pick has splashed a bit of cold water on that idea.
And now, with the Milwaukee Bucks sitting at sixth in the Eastern Conference and careening toward an early playoff exit, we have this. Brooklyn does own Milwaukee’s first-round pick this season, currently in the #17 slot, but it appears their attentiveness to the Bucks’ downfall is about more than just the draft.
Lewis made it clear Brooklyn’s interest in Antetokounmpo is not about short-circuiting a rebuild, but the two-time MVP’s singular talent.
If Antetokounmpo gets traded elsewhere this summer, that may make GM Sean Marks’ path simple, tanking for another year and building through the lottery,
In any case, the league seems to be readying itself for a trade request from the 30-year old Greek superstar. If that happens, Brooklyn can and apparently would make themselves heard; General Manager Sean Marks is working with 13 tradable first-round picks, the highest figure in the league, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks. (Though with four first-rounders this June, that number is set to decline sharply in late June.)
Antetokounmpo could bang his fist on the table and proclaim retirement should he get traded anywhere else but Brooklyn. And, especially given the lack of exciting young talent on the Nets, he’d still cost Marks an obscene amount of draft capital. He’s Giannis Antetokounmpo.
But what happens if the two-time MVP is in Milwaukee past the June draft, when Marks usually makes his biggest moves? Are potential lesser targets like Ja Morant, Domantas Sabonis, Trae Young or LaMelo Ball worth emptying the proverbial clip for if it means abandoning all hope for the Greek Freak?
Less than one season after swiftly entering a rebuild, but before they’ve add the opportunity to add any blue-chip young talent to the roster, trading for any of those fringe All-Stars Lewis listed feels short-sighted.
But if the Nets are so gung-ho on Giannis, that presents a different problem. Lewis also asks this question:
Do the Nets move valuable veterans that might’ve been used in an Antetokounmpo bid, hoarding more picks for the rebuild? Or keep them in hopes of bidding on him next season, but end up with wins that damage a potential 2026 lottery pick?
Brooklyn’s fascination with Antetokounmpo aside (and whether they actually have any veterans Milwaukee would want), re-taking control of their 2025 and 2026 NBA drafts was rightfully lauded as a brilliant move last summer. But it hinged on the premise that the team would maximize the value of those two picks. The Nets seem set to hold the sixth-best lotto odds in 2025. The same outcome in 2026 would feel like a real missed opportunity … potential ping-pong ball blessings aside.
Perhaps the most valuable piece of information Lewis wrote was this, previewing a summer in which Brooklyn will be the only team with real cap space:
League personnel expect them to hold their cap space for a big trade, not signings.
The Nets’ rebuild hasn’t begun in earnest quite yet. Though Jordi Fernández has exceeded expectations in his rookie year, an unquestionable positive, this is really Year Zero. Brooklyn hasn’t yet made any draft picks, or had an opportunity to add any franchise-changing talent … apologies to the Drew Timme Fan Club.
So, does their continued interest in Giannis Antetokounmpo say anything important? Does the franchise view Antetokounmpo as an exception to any team-building philosophy? Or is Lewis’ reporting indicative of an aggressive outlook for this summer?
Only time will tell. But there is a real chance that just a few weeks from now, the Milwaukee Bucks will have been eliminated from the playoffs, Antetokounmpo is publicly pondering his next move, and the Brooklyn Nets are at the center of every rumor, their assets ready for disposal.
Remember that mostly-joking Antetokounmpo quote after the Los Angeles Lakers traded for Luka Dončić?
“I want Luka to the Lakers, I want [Nikola] Jokić to the Knicks. I want all the Europeans to go to all the big markets to see something incredible. This is what I want. This is my dream.”
After all, there’s no bigger market than New York. It is after all what dreams are made of.