NBA legends call for Mavericks to trade for Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo

For the first time in his career, Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is said to be evaluating his future in Milwaukee. Damian Lillard tore his Achilles in the playoffs and is 34 years old, Brook Lopez is a free agent at 36 years old, the Kyle Kuzma trade was bad, and they have no young talent that seemingly has the potential to develop into something.

NBA legends Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce discussed the opportunity of trading for Giannis, saying if they had the chance to flip Cooper Flagg for Antetokounmpo, they'd do it.

"The name of the game is Capture the Flagg," Garnett started. "Now, I think you're entertaining the best offers... Giannis with PJ Washington and the dogs they got there, I would love that. He fits their pedigree too. Dallas is totally different from damn Milwaukee, that energy is going to be ‘woo’. Listen, I would have them winning the West, I’d have Dallas winning the West."

They kept wanting to talk about a scenario where they're able to keep Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis while bringing Giannis Antetokounmpo in, but the math for that is nearly impossible. Antetokounmpo is making $54.1 million next season, so for the Mavs to keep their two main stars and Washington, like Garnett wants, it would have to take the contracts of Klay Thompson ($16.6 million), Daniel Gafford ($14.3 million), Caleb Martin ($9.5 million), Max Christie ($7.7 million), and Jaden Hardy ($6 million) just to get the money close to matching, but that would completely gut the team with no flexibility to add to it.

Now, there could be a world where the Mavericks entertain a Davis-Antetokounmpo swap. Their salaries are the exact same for next season, and Milwaukee may not want to reset since they owe a lot of their future picks to other teams. Something like Antetokounmpo and Kyle Kuzma for Davis, Max Christie, Daniel Gafford, and a future first-round pick is something that could make sense for both sides, even if Kuzma isn't very good anymore. But that contract having negative value could help the Mavs from having to throw in too much extra capital after not getting nearly enough in return for Luka Doncic. It's unlikely that the Bucks would take this offer, though.

Antetokounmpo would be a good fit alongside Kyrie Irving, though, but the spacing may get weird since Antetokounmpo hasn't shot better than 31% from three since his rookie season, and shot 22.2% this season. Dereck Lively II hasn't developed his outside shot yet as Brook Lopez did, something that really made the Bucks work when they were healthy. But Giannis could act as the primary ball-handler until Irving returns from injury as he did when he had Jason Kidd as his coach in Milwaukee.