The NBA's latest trade, draft, free agency and coaching carousel chatter
After a monster two-trade Monday
It is Tuesday.
It is officially Draft Day (1.0) in the NBA.
And it finally happened.
It.
The seemingly interminable trade saga that at times made Orlando's infamous Dwightmare feel like a short story is finally over. After 13 consecutive months of speculation about his Bucks future, which has in truth been an on-and-off topic for the past five-plus years, Giannis Antetokounmpo is really South Beach-bound. Barely six hours after what seemingly had the look and tone of a this-is-it tweet from No. 34, Milwaukee agreed to trade Giannis and Bobby Portis Jr. to the Heat for Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakučionis, three first-round picks — including No. 13 on Tuesday night — as well as a first-round pick swap and a future second-round pick.
The Heat and the Celtics, who we've been writing about since late May as Antetokounmpo's two preferred destinations, were locked in battle through the weekend and into Monday trying to convince the Bucks to choose their offer before the start of the draft, which Milwaukee co-owner Jimmy Haslam had established in early May as the team's deadline to finally lock into a keep him-or-trade him resolution for the franchise.
Our latest around-the-league spin takes you inside those negotiations and covers numerous additional trade, draft and free agency topics after we actually saw two significant trades on NBA Draft Eve: Minnesota, Brooklyn and Chicago went through with their own three-teamer without waiting for a Giannis resolution to make Julius Randle a Net.
Some key takeaways from — it actually staggers you to read these words out loud with finality — Antetokounmpo to Miami:
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