Giannis Trade Coming Before Draft; Celtics, Heat Are Finalists: Report

Giannis trade coming before draft; Celtics, Heat are finalists: Report originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Will Giannis Antetokounmpo be a Boston Celtic? We’ll likely have our answer to that question before Tuesday night’s NBA Draft.

ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Monday’s Get Up! that the Giannis sweepstakes will end before the draft, and that the Celtics and Miami Heat are the finalists to land the Milwaukee Bucks superstar.

“Sources tell me a trade and a resolution is coming for the Milwaukee Bucks with Giannis Antetokounmpo before the NBA Draft on Tuesday night,” Charania said. “The Bucks are in serious conversations with two finalists, the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics.”

Charania also confirmed the speculation that the Celtics included star Jaylen Brown in their trade offer for Antetokounmpo. However, as of now, it would be a standard 1-for-1 trade with no third team involved.

“Both teams are Giannis’s preferred trade destinations, but both of these packages are different deals,” he added. “The variance of these deals is drastic. It’s dramatic.

“With Boston, it’s a Jaylen Brown-led package. It’s around a veteran player, obviously a superstar-caliber player. In Miami, it’s a group of cost-controlled players, rookie-scale contracts, significant draft capital in that deal. I do want to make this clear, though: whichever deal occurs, whether it’s today or tomorrow, it is going to be a 1-to-1 deal. It’s going to consist of Milwaukee and likely one of these two teams, and that’s how it’s going to be. There’s no third or fourth team in any construct right now.”

Trade rumors have swirled around Antetokounmpo over the last few months. The Celtics entered the conversation as a serious suitor on June 11, when insiders Bill Simmons (The Ringer) and Kevin O’Connor (Yahoo Sports) both mentioned Boston being “in on” the two-time NBA MVP. O’Connor added that the C’s were “open to trading anyone but Jayson Tatum.”

“These have been intense negotiations,” Charania said. “The Bucks engaged in conversations at the deadline. They’ve been open for business since the draft combine in May. They’ve narrowed in on these two teams right now.

“Giannis, my understanding right now, he is ready to be traded. Either Boston (or) Miami, and we’ll see what happens over the next 24 hours.”

Acquiring Antetokounmpo could raise the Celtics’ ceiling over the next couple of seasons. The 31-year-old would address Boston’s biggest need as an elite two-way big man, and it’s scary to think about how Joe Mazzulla’s offense could look with him paired with Tatum.

Still, parting ways with Brown would hurt, and it’d be risky. The 2024 NBA Finals MVP has been among the biggest reasons the Celtics have sustained success since they selected him with the third overall pick in 2016. With Tatum sidelined for most of the 2025-26 campaign, Brown proved capable of being the No. 1 on a contender, propelling the Celtics to the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference despite many expecting a “gap year” without Tatum.

The 2026 NBA Draft tips off at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday night.