NBA
Insider Reveals Knicks Chances at Giannis Antetokounmpo
New York Knicks fans silly enough to yearn for a repurposing of their Charles Oakley jerseys have been offered a rude awakening by Stefan Bondy of the New York Post.
The NBA insider has reported that the Knicks landing Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo would be a “very unlikely” proposition considering what has transpired in recent developments on the New York transaction ledger: the Knicks are relatively bereft of assets after some major deals over the offseason that acquired Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Another insider, Marc Stein, had previously suggested that the Knicks could throw their hat into the Antetokounmpo ring by potentially including Towns in a hypothetical deal. Towns was previously acquired from Minnesota in exchange for notable contributors Donte DiVincenzo and Julius Randle while the Knicks sent a plethora of picks across the Brooklyn Bridge to acquire Bridges’ services.
Discussions around Antetokounmpo’s future have re-opened after his Bucks (1-5) have struggled to make any progress toward a return trip to the NBA Finals. Milwaukee sits in last place on the very early Eastern Conference leaderboard and faces undefeated Cleveland on Monday night. That’s a follow-up to consecutive first-round exits, including last year’s six-game ousting at the hands of the Indiana Pacers.
Stein’s report also includes the Brooklyn Nets, Golden State Warriors, and Miami Heat as contenders for Antetokounmpo, whose Bucks are set to visit Madison Square Garden on Friday.
Despite some slow starts, Bridges and Towns have performed as advertised for the Knicks (3-2), who are in the midst of a four-game road trip. Towns has earned four consecutive double-doubles while Bridges overcame some early frigidness from the field to become one of the Knicks’ top shooters.
Two road games separate the Knicks from Milwaukee’s visit, the first landing on Monday night in Houston (8:45 p.m. ET, MSG).