The Giannis Antetokounmpo saga is finally over in Milwaukee. While it's certainly a sad day for the fans, the franchise can finally kickstart the era of Bucks basketball.
The front office decided to go with the Miami Heat's trade offer to usher in the new era. Restocking the Bucks' asset coffers and adding young players of intrigue will certainly help the rebuild, but one has to wonder whether Milwaukee chose the right trade package.
Miami and Boston were considered the two finalists for Giannis. Seemingly going down to the wire, the Heat won the sweepstakes with an offer consisting of Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware, Jaime Jaquez, Kasparas Jakucionis, three first-round picks, a pick swap, and a second-rounder.
After ESPN's Shams Charania reported the deal, he also shared Boston's offer that the Bucks passed on. The Celtics reportedly offered Jaylen Brown and two first-round picks, but the Bucks decided to go with Miami's package.
Milwaukee's decision is somewhat understandable. Miami's package offers more flexibility. The No. 13 pick in this year's draft, as well as their 2031 and 2033 picks, will likely be better than the picks they would have gotten from the Celtics. Getting four decent players, all under 26, also allows them to build slowly for the future.
Yet, there is a strong chance that the Bucks will regret not taking Boston's offer. Not necessarily because the Bucks should have built around Jaylen Brown going forward, but because it's the better offer in terms of pure trade value.
Bucks will regret not accepting Boston's Jaylen Brown offer
Herro, Ware, Jakucionis, and Jaquez are all helpful rotation players. Herro even made an All-Star team once. But it's difficult to imagine any of them making an All-Star team again. In fact, it wouldn't be too surprising if most of them were backups rather than starters. Other than Ware, who has serious effort issues and drove Erik Spoelstra crazy during his Heat tenure, none of the players has real upside.
For Brown, however, the Bucks could have gotten a stronger return. If they actively shopped him around all offseason, Milwaukee would have gotten better young players and more draft capital. Even if a deal didn't materialize this summer, would it have been the worst thing to start the season with Brown as the star?
This will be Brown's age-30 season. He is under contract for three more seasons. He is a proven, championship-caliber wing who just finished sixth in MVP voting. After having his career season last year, one has to imagine that there would be suitors for him at the trade deadline or next offseason, barring a major injury.
In any subsequent Brown trade, one has to assume that the Bucks would have gotten multiple first-round picks. Given that the Celtics had attached two first-rounders to Brown in their offer, the Bucks could have ended up with significantly more draft capital than they got from Miami.
This may be a case of Milwaukee overrating the individual players they got from the Heat. If Miami's role players were this good, they surely would have made the playoffs last year or won more than 43 games in either of the last two seasons.
While it's good that the Bucks finally made the right decision to end the Antetokounmpo era, they may have given their fans another source of frustration by picking the wrong package. Whether this proves to be the case remains to be seen, especially if Brown is traded this offseason.
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