Boston’s shot at Giannis Antetokounmpo may have slipped away over contract terms as much as trade assets, if Bill Simmons is right.
That’s the latest twist in a brutal stretch for Celtics fans, who watched a Wednesday blockbuster send Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers for Paul George, two first-round picks, and two second-round picks. Not long before that, Boston had been dreaming about a run at Antetokounmpo.
Then came the Brown deal. Then came the reality of Miami.
Multiple reports said the Celtics had put Brown and two first-round picks on the table for the Bucks’ two-time MVP. Milwaukee, though, wanted more - specifically second-year wing Hugo Gonzalez - and Boston refused to include him. Antetokounmpo eventually landed with the Miami Heat.
On Thursday, Simmons added another layer during an emergency episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast on Netflix. He said Boston’s talks with Antetokounmpo over an extension were part of what derailed the deal.
“He didn’t sign off on the Miami trade for a couple of days there,” Simmons said. “They were talking about an extension with the Celtics.
It came down to it either being for two years at 30% of the salary cap or three years at 35% of the cap, and the Celtics were pretty entrenched at two for 30 and Giannis wanted the three for 35. They couldn’t agree on it and that’s when he greenlit the Miami trade and Miami threw in [Kasparas] Jakucionis.”
That leaves the Celtics in an awkward spot: if they had been more willing to go to Giannis’ preferred extension number, would the trade have tilted their way?
Nobody can say for sure. Simmons’ version suggests Boston was still in the mix until the extension talks broke down, but the broader reporting throughout the day made it sound like the race was between Boston and Miami, not a one-team path that only opened once the Celtics backed off.
Even so, the asset issue still looms large. Boston’s refusal to part with Gonzalez appears to have been the final stumbling block, at least from the reporting that surfaced during the saga. And in hindsight, that stance looks a lot more defensible before the Brown trade than after it.
That’s what makes the whole thing sting. On paper, the Celtics were right to hold firm rather than chase an aging star on a massive commitment. In reality, they ended up getting burned anyway, with their own push to move off Brown helping turn a bad day into a disastrous one.
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