{"id":142360,"date":"2025-05-28T18:44:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T22:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=142360"},"modified":"2025-05-28T18:44:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T22:44:19","slug":"hawks-dominique-wilkins-giannis-antetokounmpo-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/05\/28\/hawks-dominique-wilkins-giannis-antetokounmpo-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawks Legend Speculates About Giannis Antetokounmpo Trade"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the Atlanta Hawks missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season, there are many who are starting to believe that the only way out of the rut is to make a splash move. In 2024-25, both Jalen Johnson<\/a> and Dyson Daniels<\/a> broke out as star-caliber players but that might not be enough. As a result, dreams of pairing point guard Trae Young<\/a> with another All-Star talent have started to come alive through media outlets.<\/p>\n

Dominique Wilkins Speculates About Hawks-Giannis Antetokounmpo Trade<\/h2>\n

Recently, Bleacher Report\u2019s Eric Pincus listed the Hawks as the fourth-most realistic landing spot<\/a> for Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> if he should leave the Milwaukee Bucks. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that Hawks legend Dominique Wilkins<\/a> recently discussed the possibility of his former team landing the two-time NBA MVP in an exclusive interview<\/a> with Kyle Odegard of ESports Insider.<\/p>\n

\u201cMan, that\u2019s a blockbuster deal right there,\u201d Wilkins says. \u201cWho wouldn\u2019t want Giannis? I\u2019d be lying if I said anything differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilkins, while enthralled by the idea of a Young-Antetokounmpo duo, cautions that it would come at a steep price.<\/p>\n

Though 30 years old, Antetokounmpo \u201cis not an old man by any stretch of the imagination.\u201d That being said, the Hawks chances of acquiring Antetokounmpo and keeping Young without surrendering Johnson or Daniels are slim to none. Nevertheless, \u201cthere\u2019s not a team in the league who wouldn\u2019t want (Antetokounmpo).\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking to what Antetokounmpo could bring to Atlanta, Wilkins notes that the 6-foot-11 point-forward\u2019s \u201cdecision-making and ability to get people open is next level.\u201d This is an interesting comment given that Young has long been the team\u2019s primary facilitator. Yet, having a player who Young can share that responsibility with can take the Hawks to the next level. Actually, that\u2019s one reason why the team\u2019s so bullish<\/a> about Johnson.<\/p>\n

However, Antetokounmpo is much more than another fulcrum for the offense to swing off of. Over the past six seasons, he\u2019s averaged 29.9 points per game, terrorizing his opponents on the way to the rim. He\u2019s also been a defensive weapon, making plays on and off-ball.<\/p>\n

All in all, he\u2019s \u201ca wonderful basketball player.\u201d One that could change the franchise\u2019s fortunes by transforming them into a legitimate title contender. Indeed, Wilkins believes he\u2019d \u201chave won multiple championships\u201d with Antetokounmpo himself as a teammate.<\/p>\n

Hypothetical Trade Scenario<\/h3>\n

What would the Hawks give up for Antetokounmpo in an offseason trade? What would the Bucks accept? When trying to determine hypothetical trade parameters, these are ultimately the two questions that matter the most.<\/p>\n

The best trade scenario \u2014that is, the one that works best for both teams \u2014will be the one that can find the middle ground. Neither the Hawks nor the Bucks will get everything they want. Even still, they\u2019ll rake in a huge haul.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Mar 30, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) shoots over Atlanta Hawks center Onyeka Okongwu (17) during the second quarter at Fiserv Forum. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With that in mind, the Hawks could offer the Bucks a trade package that features Johnson, Onyeka Okongwu<\/a>, Georges Niang<\/a> and four first-round picks (2025 No. 13, 2025 No. 22, 2027 first-round pick, 2029 first-round pick) for Antetokounmpo and Tyler Smith<\/a>. Such a deal allows them to upgrade from Johnson without giving up Young, Daniels, or Zaccharie Risacher<\/a>. Notably, though he\u2019s rarely seen the court in his young career, Smith tallied 20 points on 6-9 shooting from the field in his last game.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Bucks get a jump start on their rebuild with multiple first-rounders and a player who has a lot of overlap with Antetokounmpo in Johnson. Okongwu allows them to move on from Brook Lopez<\/a>, whose time in Milwaukee may soon come to an end<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the Atlanta Hawks missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season, there are many who are starting to believe that the only way out of the rut is to make a splash move. In 2024-25, both Jalen Johnson and Dyson Daniels broke out as star-caliber players but that might not be enough. As a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":142368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1608,2,15,62,3,4721],"tags":[2064,4605,306,3853,4774,2830,1349,49599],"class_list":["post-142360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hawks","category-basketball","category-featured","category-bucks","category-nba","category-news","category-trade-rumors","tag-dominique-wilkins","tag-dyson-daniels","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-jalen-johnson","tag-rumors","tag-onyeka-okongwu","tag-trae-young","tag-tyler-smith"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142360"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142370,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142360\/revisions\/142370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}