Giannis Antetokounmpo is holding the 2026 NBA trade deadline hostage as it approaches on Thursday, Feb. 5. Antetokounmpo’s passive trade request has forced Milwaukee to consider dealing him this week, and according to ESPN insider Shams Charania, the Golden State Warriors, Miami Heat, New York Knicks, and Minnesota Timberwolves are considered the most serious suitors. We have Giannis trade ideas for those four teams here.
The Bucks don’t want to trade Giannis, but if they do, they rightfully want a huge package of draft picks, swaps, and young players in return for their superstar forward. Milwaukee might hold onto Antetokounmpo until the summer to see if they can convince him to sign another max extension, but it seems like a long-shot that he’d actually sign it. The writing has been on the wall for years after three straight first-round exits in the playoffs, and this year’s Bucks are so bad that they are already best suited to pivot to tanking for a loaded 2026 NBA Draft while Giannis nurses a calf strain. Milwaukee could pick as high as No. 2 overall in 2026 due to a pick swap with the Pelicans and Hawks.
Antetokounmpo remains a top-3 player in the world when he’s healthy at 31 years old. He’s the type of superstar who is bound to get mystery teams involved in the bidding process, and one surprising team kept popping up in internet rumors over the weekend: the Chicago Bulls.
The Bulls jumped to the front of the betting market over the weekend if Giannis is traded in-season.
The betting surged seemed to happen after Giannis and his family were also spotted at a Greek Orthodox Church in Chicago on Sunday.
News of Antetokounmpo purchasing a $21 million apartment building in Chicago also circulated over the weekend.
It’s all starting to add up: Giannis is buying property and going to church in Chicago, which is only a 90-minute drive from his stronghold in Milwaukee. The Bulls control all of their future draft picks, and could put them on the table for a deal, plus they have the expiring salary that Milwaukee could crave.
How’s this for a trade?
NBA teams can only trade their first-round pick every other year because of The Stepien Rule — which Secret Base has a great documentary on. This trade would deliver Milwaukee the Bulls’ unprotected first-round pick in 2026, 2028, 2030, and 2032, plus pick swaps in 2027 and 2031. Chicago can’t trade Milwaukee a pick swap in 2029 because Milwaukee doesn’t own its pick.
The Bulls would essentially be giving up six years of draft control for Giannis, as well as their best player in 23-year-old Josh Giddey. It’s usually a pretty good bet to fade the Bulls, who haven’t won a playoff series since 2015 and have only won one playoff game since trading Jimmy Butler almost nine years ago. It would leave Chicago with the following rotation:
Bench: Jalen Smith, Kevin Huerter, Patrick Williams, Julian Phillips, Julian Phillips, Noa Essengue (out for season)
Trading for Giannis now gives a team two playoff runs with him before he hits unrestricted free agency. The Bulls or any other team probably wouldn’t mortgage their future like this without a backdoor agreement that Antetokounmpo would sign an extension. If Milwaukee actually accepted that package, the Bulls would have to ask themselves if they could win big with Giannis right now.
Chicago is 24-26 on the season at time of publish, and currently sits in their familiar place of the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls would have work to do just to get out of the play-in tournament range this season. Given that Giannis has battled lower-body injuries all season (and for the last three years, really), it’s an open question whether he would be at 100 percent physically to finish this year.
Does a Giannis to the Bulls trade actually make sense?
Giannis is ready to leave Milwaukee because he wants to compete for championships again, and in Chicago he would have the same problems he has right now in Milwaukee. The rest of the Bulls’ roster just wouldn’t be good enough to push for a Finals berth even in a horrible Eastern Conference. The downside of Giannis continuing to get injured, or potentially leaving in free agency, asking for another trade would be too much to give up so many years of draft control.
Antetokounmpo buying an apartment building in Chicago is just the type of real estate move rich guys make. I don’t really tell you why he was in the city to go to church, but I don’t think there’s some grand conspiracy behind it.
The Bulls refuse to tank and desperately need a superstar, so who cares about draft control? It sounds good in theory, but it would be an extremely reckless trade for Chicago with huge downside risk. The Bulls just seem to go a few games under .500 every year anyway, so who cares? While that’s a decent counter-argument, it’s a tough trade to swing when Giannis has already been unable to finish the last few seasons healthy.
The real failing for the Bulls is that they’ve been rebuilding for nine years and still aren’t in a position to trade for someone like Giannis. Chicago keeps trying to take shortcuts to rebuilding without actually tearing the down the roster, and it keeps resulting in the same outcome every year: the Bulls lose slightly more games than they win and ultimately bow out in the play-in tournament. Ownership led by Jerry and Michael Reinsdorf continues to be the biggest issue. If the Reinsdorfs don’t want to treat the Bulls like the world-class franchise they should be, they should sell the team. Michael Reinsdorf’s refusal to hold front office leader Arturas Karnisovas responsible for the team’s entrenched mediocrity is why this franchise will never be great.
With better leadership over the last nine years, the Bulls would have been in position to trade for Giannis. Now it doesn’t make sense.
I wouldn’t be shocked if a mystery team emerges for Giannis at the trade deadline, but my best guess is he stays in Milwaukee. The Bucks will probably try to sell him on a big trade that keeps him around long-term this summer, but ultimately it seems like Giannis knows he needs to leave to compete for championships again. This Bulls offer is really good, but Milwaukee probably wants a blue chip young player better than Giddey in any team. I’ll guess the Heat or the Knicks for where the Greek Freak eventually ends up this summer. Until then, expect more bizarre rumors like this one with the Bulls.
