Chicago Bulls insider pours cold water on Giannis Antetokounmpo trade idea

Bulls analyst K.C. Johnson thinks any hypothetical trade package sending Giannis Antetokounmpo to Chicago is pretty far-fetched. He said, “I see Giannis to the Bulls as an extreme long shot, but never say never in the NBA.” That said, he attempted to work something up that could get the Bucks star in Bulls red.

He believes the Bucks won’t want Nikola Vucevic. That prevents the Bulls from matching salaries more easily, so Johnson believes the team will need to sign and trade Josh Giddey. Johnson also said it’s likely that Coby White would be added to the package.

He also expects the Bucks to at least ask about Matas Buzelis, and “every” pick that the Bulls own, as well as any pick swaps, would also be added to sweeten the pot for Antetokounmpo. “What would that leave you?” Johnson asked. “That would leave you Giannis and Vucevic as your core moving forward.”

The insider then posited that fans might not even want that. “I know he’s a top-three player in the world, I know he’s a special talent… that’s not the Arturas Karnisovas I heard in the season-ending news conference.”

Johnson pointed out that management asked for patience, so he doesn’t expect them to immediately get impatient and make one of the largest trades in franchise and NBA history to land Antetokounmpo. Things can and do change, but it doesn’t seem likely in his eyes.

Because Karnisovas has been aggressive and failed before, he doesn’t think this move is realistic or likely whatsoever. It would be a huge surprise, but as Johnson said, one can never say never with the NBA.