The Cavaliers did not have acquiring Giannis Antetokounmpo on their official offseason bingo card.
The Milwaukee Bucks agreed late on the night of Monday, June 22, to trade Antetokounmpo, an NBA champion and superstar forward, to the Miami Heat, ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported.
Boston was the other reported finalist in the Antetokounmpo sweepstakes, which wrapped up on the eve of the 2026 NBA Draft. The first round of the draft is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 23. The Celtics offered 2024 NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown and two first-round picks in their proposal to the Bucks, ESPN reported.
The blockbuster deal shakes up the Eastern Conference and ends speculation about the Cavs trading forward Evan Mobley in a package for Antetokounmpo. According to ESPN, the Bucks will trade two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis to the Heat for Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, three first-round picks (No. 13 overall this year, 2031 and 2033), a pick swap in 2030 and a second-round choice in 2033.
After trying to make it work for several years, the Cavs broke up their core four in February by trading Darius Garland to the Los Angeles Clippers for fellow point guard James Harden, an 11-time All-Star and, like Antetokounmpo, a future Hall of Famer. But with Harden and All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell in their backcourt, the Cavs were swept by the eventual NBA champion New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Instead of taking another massive swing by trading Mobley, the Cavs stopped short of going all in for Antetokounmpo, who has just one season left on his contract and a player option for the 2027-28 season. Any team trading for him would want to be assured he would sign a long-term deal with the franchise. Antetokounmpo was open to signing an extension with Miami, Boston and Minnesota, NBA on Prime insider Chris Haynes reported.
Why did the Milwaukee Bucks trade Giannis Antetokounmpo?
Antetokounmpo, who will turn 32 on Dec. 6, is considered one of the top players in the league and will now join forces with three-time NBA All-Star Bam Adebayo in Miami.
“The Greek Freak,” as Antetokounmpo is known, has been named to 10 consecutive NBA All-Star teams. He has made the All-NBA First Team seven times and the All-NBA Second Team twice.
But after Antetokounmpo led the Bucks to the 2021 title, Milwaukee had trouble keeping its roster intact, and the torn Achilles tendon guard Damian Lillard suffered in the 2025 playoffs threw another wrench into those plans. Last summer, Lillard re-signed with the Portland Trail Blazers.
Then in the 2025-26 season, Antetokounmpo played a career-low 36 games while dealing with groin, calf and knee injuries. He was reportedly ready for a trade as the Bucks considered offers before the Feb. 5 deadline, only for no movement to occur. The Bucks eventually shut down Antetokounmpo for the season, but he told reporters in March he wanted to play. The league launched an investigation into the injury dispute.
Ultimately, the Bucks were in a position of needing to reload and moving on from a fractured relationship as well as the best decade of basketball in Milwaukee in a long time.
Jimmy Haslam’s teams trade Giannis Antetokounmpo and Myles Garrett in same month
Adding a Cleveland wrinkle to the Antetokounmpo trade, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam is also a co-owner of the Bucks. In the same month, Haslam-owned teams traded two men who are widely considered to be among the best athletes in the world, Antetokounmpo and future Hall of Fame defensive end Myles Garrett.
On June 1, the Browns sent Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for defensive end Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round selection and a 2029 third-round choice.
On May 6, Haslam publicly stated the Bucks had set a deadline for a Antetokounmpo deal. Haslam said the Bucks would decide to either trade Antetokounmpo or continue to build around him by this year’s NBA draft.
Where does the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade leave Evan Mobley and Cavaliers?
For an NBA team to gain a player of massive value in a trade, it usually needs to surrender a player or asset of value.
If the Cavs were going to land Antetokounmpo, all signs pointed to Mobley, who has four seasons remaining on the five-year, $269 million contract extension he signed with Cleveland in July 2024.
Mobley earned All-Star, All-NBA Second Team and Defensive Player of the Year accolades during the 2024-25 season, his fourth since the Cavs drafted him third overall in 2021.
Although Mobley had bright moments in 2025-26, especially in the playoffs, he regressed coming off his best NBA season in 2024-25. Still, Mobley is versatile 7-footer who’s young (he turned 25 on June 18). His career regular-season averages are 16.7 points on 54.7% shooting from the field (30.9% on 3-pointers), nine rebounds, three assists, 1.6 blocked shots and 32.4 minutes.
In the 2025-26 regular season, Mobley played 65 games and missed time with two left calf strains. He averaged 18.2 points on 54.6% shooting from the field (29.7% on 3-pointers), nine rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.7 blocks and 31.9 minutes.
In the 2026 playoffs, Mobley played all 18 games. He averaged 17 points on 53.5% shooting from the field (33.8% on 3-pointers), 8.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.8 blocks and 35.5 minutes.
When the Cavs traded 2019 fifth overall draft pick Garland, 26, for Harden, 36, they aged their starting point guard spot by 10 years. They would have surrendered roughly 6½ years if they had swapped Mobley for Antetokounmpo.
During an interview with the Beacon Journal on the eve of the 2026 playoffs opening in Cleveland, Mobley was asked how he viewed rampant speculation about him being traded for Antetokounmpo. Mobley said he was focused on the postseason and his own improvement, yet he also unequivocally stated, “I want to stay here.”
In a season wrap-up news conference on May 29, Cavs president of basketball operations Koby Altman called Mobley “part of our future” and gave him a vote of confidence.
“Since Evan’s been here, we’ve had the third-best record in the league,” Altman said. “… All Evan has done is impacted winning. He’s been remarkable for us in terms of our ascent the last five years. He’s a huge part of what we do. He knows he needs to get better. When we sat down and talked to him, we talked about the intangible stuff, not even the skill set stuff. How are we going to get stronger? How are we going to build your body up so you’re going to be able to sustain? Man, we played him a lot of minutes this postseason.
“We are very fortunate to have drafted Evan Mobley in a spectacular rookie class. You think about that rookie class, right? [Detroit’s] Cade Cunningham, right? MVP candidate. [Toronto’s] Scottie Barnes, who has emerged to be one of the best players in the NBA. [Orlando’s] Franz Wagner. Evan Mobley. That’s a spectacular class, and out of those guys, who’s the first to the conference finals? Evan Mobley. So, we have to be proud of that. We have to take pride in that. It’s easy to knock someone down. We’re in the weeds. We can point to this. We can point to that. He’s a franchise-caliber player, and we’re very fortunate to have him.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo stats
In the 2025-26 season, Antetokounmpo averaged 27.8 points on 62.4% shooting from the field (33.3% on 3s), 9.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 28.9 minutes.
Drafted 15th overall by the Bucks in 2013, Antetokounmpo has played 13 NBA seasons. His career regular-season averages are 24.1 points on 55.4% shooting from the field (28.5% on 3s), 9.9 rebounds, five assists, 1.1 steals, 1.2 blocks and 32.7 minutes.
Antetokounmpo has 84 playoff games on his resume. His postseason averages are 27 points on 53.2% shooting from the field (25.9% on 3s), 12.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, one steal, 1.3 blocks and 36.2 minutes. He was the 2021 NBA Finals MVP, averaging 28.1 points, 11 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.2 blocks to lead the Bucks to the championship with a 4-2 series win over the Phoenix Suns.
Giannis Antetokounmpo contract
Antetokounmpo is under contract for one more season with a salary of $58.5 million. He also has a player option for the 2027-28 season valued at $62.8 million.
Giannis Antetokounmpo height, weight
The Bucks list Antetokounmpo as 6 feet, 11 inches and 243 pounds.
How do you pronounce Giannis Antetokounmpo’s name?
His name is pronounced YAHN-iss ah-dedo-KOON-bo.
Nate Ulrich is the sports columnist of the Akron Beacon Journal and a sports features writer. Nate can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: No Cavs trade. But Jimmy Haslam teams trade Giannis, Myles weeks apart
Reporting by Nate Ulrich, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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By Nate Ulrich, Akron Beacon Journal | USA TODAY Network
