The East is open, so trade Giannis?

The Knicks, safe to say, are goin' for it. All those first-round picks for Mikal Bridges, who wouldn't check himself out of a Turkish prison if given the option.

Bridges performs as if aware of the package New York let loose for him, he appreciates the commitment and wants to make it worth his partner's while. This earnestness was in place long before Bridges became a Knick: New York's front office identified its Sorta Guy and went after him.

The rest of the Knicks stay on the court for 46 minutes of a 20-point blowout win because that is who New York's coach is. New York hired Tom Thibodeau to win, immediately.

Indiana, goin' for it. The Pacers packed it all in for Pascal Siakam a year ago, mindful that the man who led the NBA in minutes per game (for another team) in 2021 and 2022 was about to turn 30.

These are great basketball teams, fighting for a shot in the 2025 NBA Finals. Neither is built to last but might have to, because the rest of the East just fell the heck apart.

With only two Eastern teams currently scheduled for hoops, we can't help but wonder about the other creatures. Banished, some also beaten in ways well beyond four losses in seven playoff games. Boston and Milwaukee experienced actual sadness this spring, hurt for the humans they watched fall, followed by recognition and frustration over what appears to be a lost 2025-26.

But, is it? The Knicks will be good in spite of running everyone for 42 minutes, Indiana has no reason to fall off, yet it ain't as if the rest of the East is full of comers.

Cleveland may not look the same again. Miami embarrassed itself in 2024-25, the Hawks haven't figured it out, the full-health Sixers still do not frighten. Detroit and Orlando could bound up if injuries stay at bay, but these are not top-tier outfits. The only toppermosts we can see are the ones playing in Manhattan and Indianapolis (same time zone) this week, plus whatever Cleveland fields in fall.

BOSTON

Boston lost its star and its Eastern semifinal series and its title defense, sudden and traumatic. The immediate idea was to stay in bed for all of 2025-26.

Why? The Celtics still play the Nets four occasions next season, the Wizards and Hornets several additional times. Also, sun will rise.

The East is not good, a competent team featuring a recovered Jaylen Brown taking on far too much of an offensive and defensive burden will play in the playoffs in 2025-26. Cut all the ex-champions you want from Boston's 2025-26 roster, avoid those luxury tax straps, doesn't matter, the East stinks and the C's will make the playoffs.

That's the problem with playing GM in the wake of Jayson Tatum's injury. There exists the work of dozens of Eastern Conference owners and general managers over the last quarter-century, digging the East into a state such as this.

Boston's No. 2 seed is up for grabs, but Boston's spot in the playoff bracket isn't. Unless the C's are truly interested in choosing Tatum and trading Brown – and Game 5's cheering rows of bros in Jaylen Brown jerseys would argue against it – the C's will be relevant in the 2025-26's East with Brown and a few well-meaning C's in place.

Also, if Larry Bird dove the way Jaylen Brown dove for a loose ball in Game 5, NBA Entertainment would already have a VHS tape out, celebrating the achievement.

Can't trade Brown, wouldn't trade Tatum, but something has to give.

The Celtics need to clear the second luxury tax tier and Boston's only free agents (Al Horford, Luke Kornet) are players and positions the Celtics really, really need to keep. Boston will be about $17 million over the second salary cap apron if it keeps every player but Al, Luke.

Horford can go, find a title contender to tag onto. Kornet is good but was somewhat revealed when not afforded the luxury of Kristaps Porziņģis sopping up starter's minutes ahead of Luke in the rotation. Kornet blocked 10.6 percent of the shots he was around in this series, but Josh Hart and the Knicks had him sweating gobs the other 89.4 percent of the time.

There may not be a green parachute, something obvious to roll with, the Celtics may have to attach one of the first-round picks it can trade to an important rotation player in a deal, not the other way around. Any NBA team would want sensible, 35-year old Jrue Holiday, but not with three years and over $104 million left on his contract.

Typically gap years come with a large payoff, obvious salary cap space and/or a lottery pick. Not here, the payoff is the ability to evade the second salary cap apron and make future moves. The draft pick will be better but not great, because the East is full of scheduled Celtic wins in 2025-26.

A prevailing core of Tatum, Brown, Derrick White and a re-signed Porziņģis is pricey, but a properly-done 2025-26 puts the Celtics in a position to compete in the trade market, where they've been ignored since cashing out on Porziņģis and Holiday in 2023.

Unless they're dealt to grease the gap year, the Celtics will have Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard at a combined $18 million a season, a serious bargain. Horford may take a hometown discount to stay, same as Porziņģis, and to clear room for this some other team may really, really want to pay Jrue Holiday over $37 million at age 37.

Or not, maybe Holiday is only regarded as salary cap ballast. That's what four-team deals are for, to help NBA teams who can't easily trade under the tax.

The lottery? That's where losing teams hang out. Want to be around Danny Ainge? Visit a golf course.

MILWAUKEE

Milwaukee lost its star and the resonance of its regional voice, suddenly ESPN did all the talking on the Bucks' behalf, nobody needs that.

Giannis Antetokounmpo wants to make as much money as possible, he can't threaten that earned endeavor with a trade. This is on Milwaukee's side, as is the idea that Milwaukee can keep Antetokounmpo and make 2025-26 a memory as soon as the 2026 offseason perks up.

The problem with exploring the ol' Warriors rebuild is that the Bucks are not making the lottery with Giannis Antetokounmpo on the team. Retaining Giannis means retaining a winner and good, the Bucks needn't give away at least two home playoff receipts along with the team's best player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

We all watched Dirk Nowitzki wander the wilderness from 2007 through 2010 before busting out a surprise champion in 2011. Stephen Curry won another title in 2022 because the Warriors traded for Andrew Wiggins, what. The Spurs chipped titles in three different decades with Tim Duncan. You can go home again to that second act inside your American life.

The Bucks are out of money and draft picks but you've seen the way the Bucks draft, nobody needs to give the Bucks any more first-rounders.

If teams offer six potential players (two actual prospects, four future first-rounders via trade or swap) for a 30-year old, though, the Bucks need to take the deal. If teams offer deals for the sake of deals, however, packages noted for size and not precision, then the Bucks need to move along.

You'll learn I also feel the same way about most other potential trading partners.

SAN ANTONIO

The Spurs have players and first-round picks, their own 2025 selection at No. 2 plus Atlanta's at No. 14, plus Atlanta's unprotected first-rounder in 2027 and four potential first-round swaps to deal over the next six summers. The lure of Giannis tempts, but if I'm the Spurs I've no interest in making anyone's day.

If Milwaukee wants Dylan Harper (19 for all of 2025-26) for Giannis Antetokounmpo (31 for most of 2025-26), fine, the Spurs are under no obligation to fill their salary difference with Stephon Castle or even Jeremy Sochan.

Giannis moves mountains, so what. Why are we as media or the Spurs as an organization under the obligation to match admiration for Antetokounmpo with the combined potency of the players sent out in return? This isn't supposed to be a win-win.

If Milwaukee wants the second-best prospect in all of basketball for a 30-year old with a large contract, the less-large and very tradeable contracts of Devin Vassell (under $27 million a year until 2029) and Keldon Johnson ($17.5 million next season and in 2026-27) and Harrison Barnes' expiring $18 million should suffice.

That's the tangible market. The real push is the picks, San Antonio can send Milwaukee all manner of swaps and first-rounders from other clubs, plus San Antonio's own (increasingly less spectacular) selections. Great front offices (Milwaukee GM Jon Horst just got a great, big contract extension) turn these smaller pieces into large ones, combining them with incoming salary for unprotected selections from desperate teams in the future.

If Milwaukee doesn't like that deal, fine, every NBA season has its third-best player and the Spurs have enough in the trade tank to go find some other season's third-best player. No NBA team is required to re-reward the Bucks after Milwaukee fielded Giannis Antetokounmpo's most productive NBA seasons.

The Bucks own significant leverage with Giannis: Milwaukee is average with him, at least one average NBA team will make the Eastern Conference semifinals in 2026. Milwaukee may pay more to him than any other player.

Good for Milwaukee. Milwaukee's bargaining advantage doesn't mean San Antonio clicks on names it shouldn't – Stephon, even the so-so Sochan – simply because Giannis was one of the best NBA players of the last ten years.

Unmentioned is De'Aaron Fox, he rarely makes me want to flip over to the second side of his album. Fox can do great things in the San Antonio system, provided the system remains as prominent without Gregg Popovich in charge of minute-to-minute operations. Fox should be a third star, the Spurs should try to make him a third star, but not at the risk of giving up possible back-to-back-to-back Rookies of the Year.

These trades aren't supposed to be even!

PHILLY

The Sixers are different. If Castle turns into Michael Carter-Williams (he won't), he'll still poke and prod and produce more on his rookie deal than Paul George's best and healthiest efforts these next few seasons. Philly has to get off that contract and onto Giannis' deal.

Say PG plays 72 games a year, we're rooting for him, three years and $162 million is a drag for a player at ages 35-through-37. The volume will return but not the efficiency, the defense dwindles. As a holdover who doesn't embarrass a team, however, George certainly fits in Milwaukee green. And he could keep Milwaukee in the playoff bracket while the front office re-tools.

Giannis (and a random minimum-paid Buck) for George, two future Clipper firsts (one for getting Giannis, one for taking George), plus the 2025 No. 3 pick and Philly's unprotected 2028 selection is fair. The Sixers should not have to give up Jared McCain in a deal like this because the Sixers are sending along three future chances at the next Jared McCain in this hypothetical scenario, plus next month's No. 3 selection.

A selection which wouldn't have to stay in Milwaukee. The Bucks don't need someone in the 2025 draft's top five that the front office sweats over, they just need to know which teams badly want into that top five and loop them in the call.

The Sixers could finally sit Joel Embiid for most the season while competing with Giannis. If I were a Sixer fan I'd be wary of another home run swing and might prefer a greater haul of instant veteran depth in exchange for the No. 3 selection. Though thanks to the picks plucked in the James Harden deal, there might be enough in the cupboard to make this cake, eat it too.

If Milwaukee asks for too much, Philly should move on. There is still so much to swing, with all those picks in place and the East weaker than ever. The teetering East should be of paramount consideration, well before taking upon the franchise-altering outta nowhere appearance of a No. 3 pick in a draft. The Sixers have one last chance to make a champion out of Joel Embiid.

HOUSTON

The Rockets have absolutely no reason to deal Amen Thompson for Giannis, because Amen Thompson is what Giannis is coming to Houston for.

Not Ime Udoka, or Rocket Culture, nor new courtside seats for Thanasis. Maybe that seat that Dusty Hill used to sit in, near the scorer's table. Near that seat George H.W. Bush sometimes sat in.

This may have been the same seat.

Wait. Did late ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill and George Bush share Houston Rocket season tickets?

A big Houston Rockets fan, [Hill] once shared season ticket seats with Compaq computer CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer and socialite Carolyn Farb. 

Farb and Pfeiffer? That's enough for me: ZZ Top bassist Dusty Hill and former CIA head George H.W. Bush once shared Houston Rocket season tickets.

Houston plays in the West, the Rockets should trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Teams in the West cannot rely on internal improvement to sustain playoff seeding. It shouldn't trade Amen Thompson and should pay picks through the nose to protect him. Draft picks Houston earned because James Harden is the only Trickle-Down Effect which provably works.

Bush knew this.

TORONTO

Maybe it is the milligram count on my anti-depressant but I am not nearly as put off by the pairing of Brandon Ingram and Scottie Barnes and Giannis Antetokounmpo as others. Giannis is exactly what Barnes requires to stay motivated for all those open jumpers he'll shoot with Antetokounmpo on the team. Ingram can teach Barnes how to actually use that motivation, and keep his elbow under the ball.

If Toronto must deal Barnes for Giannis, fine, the Raptors' middle parts are sneakily overloaded anyway. Barnes plays each of Brandon's positions, Ingram is nice but often injured, Gradey Dick is supposed to step into a second contract soon but can't with R.J. Barrett moving right to left, R.J. may have trouble dribbling around Barnes, who is glaring at Ja'Kobe Walter for being in his way.

Does Milwaukee want to be in the Scottie Barnes business? Do they see something to work with through a second and into a third big Barnes contract?

If Giannis asks for a new home, securing a star is necessary. There are only enough talents to go around, dominating an NBA game is a rare skill. But the Bucks better be sure of what skills they'll have to surround Scottie, who is unique and unorthodox and as unpredictable as Giannis is straight up the kilt.

Do they want Barnes, or Dick or Walter or Barrett? Are there pre-existing opinions in place within Milwaukee's front office?

Toronto has all its first-round picks to offer, including next month's No. 9 selection. If guaranteed reasonable health, a Giannis-led Raptor team should fight for a top seed. Toss the No. 9 plus two extra firsts at Milwaukee?

Raptors didn't give up enough? Muttering over Mikal Bridges? Reminiscing over the summer of Anthony Davis? Not me. Nobody has to offer bank for anyone, these trades don't require approval on social media nor a balance in talent.

And I ain't sayin' Milwaukee should take that deal.

NOLA

Nor any pleas from New Orleenz.

New Pelicans GM Joe Dumars will try and create a win-win, which is why I would engage with New Orleans. Taking upon the cut-at-any-time provisions of Zion Williamson's contract tempts, the Bucks should fight for a No. 6 seed with Zion in and out of the lineup per usual.

Zion and Bruce Brown and Kelly Olynyk creates cap space for Milwaukee, who would clear Kyle Kuzma in the same deal. Milwaukee gets the No. 7 pick in this draft plus its 2026 pick back, not the 2027 pick.

Any trade with an Eastern Conference club, like Philly and Toronto above, must include Kuzma. The Bucks have to rope in a third or fourth team but the team acquiring Giannis must accept Kyle.

The NBA put Joe Dumars in charge of the Pelicans because they want to create something in New Orleans. Giannis Antetokounmpo is something, even if he has to play all those games in the West. But Milwaukee has to want Williamson, and shouldn't.

BKN

The Nets are rather charmless at the moment, the team worked hard and plucked well for most of the season (20-34 start) before heartlessly committing to the tank (6-22 finish). It didn't pay off, the lottery spat out a No. 8.

Giannis isn't out to inspire a new line of shoe or clear his entryway into the world of co-hosting daytime talk shows, he wants to win another title. Maybe Giannis' representation can connive something Kawhi-style, Clipper-style, and ensure a second star forces his way to Sean Marks' club.

Brooklyn's best player is Cameron Johnson, a forever trade target who turns 30 a few days after the next trade deadline. Cameron is no Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but his value can turn comically high in an offseason.

OKC

If this were any other top-ranked team, I'd be offended at the inclusion. But Oklahoma City is different, no other franchise in history has been in this position, irrespective of OKC's bracket seeding. This enough is worth remarking upon.

The record doesn't matter, the Thunder may not lose again in this postseason, but the opportunity does. The Thunder can identify a weakness and toss many, many first-round draft picks at a tangible player who remedies the peculiarity.

They haven't done it, yet. Chicago didn't make them bend a single pick (nor swap) in exchange for Alex Caruso. Gordon Hayward came for expiring contracts, Isaiah Hartenstein was a free agent acquisition. The Thunder have the No. 15 and N0. 24 pick in this draft and 2026 first-rounders from four other teams (Houston, Clippers, Philly, Utah; OKC's goes to the Wizards) and will likely have the Clippers' and Nuggets' first-rounders in 2027. OKC can combine these, or deal with the owners of the original picks, offer to decimate them in exchange for their old picks back.

Or, Giannis.

They don't need him, but OKC has the opportunity to acquire him without losing Jalen Williams or any other Jaylin Williams. Swap in another team with those draft picks, send another team's expiring contracts around to satisfy cap demands. The Thunder don't have to play by any rules but Sam Presti's own.

Sam's course, this entire time, may have been to whittle the picks down into unmistakable, unprotected assets in the next decade. Unsexy, hardly provocative, but a far surer payoff than middling Clipper or Sixer picks next year, or a Jazz pick which turns to nothing if it falls inside the top eight. Another draft night may come and go and little happens out of Oklahoma City outside of a whirlwind of minor intangible instances of trade you this for that for this for that. No actual players. And "that" is protected 1-to-4 in 2032. In 2031 Presti will trade "that" for an unprotected first in 2035. It is a whole operation, illegal in any regulated business.

Break it for Giannis? I wouldn't touch anything on the Thunder. So Jalen Williams has to get better in the playoffs, so what, Williams was better on Sunday and might get better in the playoffs next week and then again next month. Say Aaron Gordon never pulls a hamstring, holds Williams to a 4-15 on Sunday, Russell Westbrook banks in a few threes, the Nuggets steal Game 7. Worth panicking, dealing for a 30-year old? Nah. But it is worth talking about.

If you don't want us talking about your unprecedented stash of first-round draft picks, OKC, then let loose that unprecedented stash of first-round draft picks.

We've all seen backyards with sheds, to augment garage storage, and we've seen normal-sized backyards with two sheds, because there is that much stuff. Or mini-sheds, or sheds explicitly for toddler toys. Even the smaller yards, apartment yards in cities, one or two sheds.

Now, imagine a yard with, like, eight sheds.

Win all the titles you want, OKC, we're still going to talk about all those sheds.

THE OTHERS

I'm out of room.

Detroit and Orlando could use a supreme star but the perimeter marksmanship in each situation is rank. Milwaukee dealt with Detroit GM Trajan Langdon before and knows Orlando's front office well. It wouldn't make ESPN happy but each side could find their win-win. Giannis in Memphis is a dream, and I wouldn't mind trying to spot Antetokounmpo attempting to save Domantas Sabonis' career, on whichever team that might be.

RIDIN' THUMB

Thank you for reading!

For those that hit CTRL-F and typed in "chicago" or "bulls," we apologize. The East is not open for the Bulls.

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