Going to the Nets? Will Antetokounmpo choose the opportunity?

In today's league, most of the trends of superstars directly affect the power structure changes of a team and even the entire league. For Antetokounmpo, who is at the MVP level, since joining the Bucks in 2013, he has gradually become the team's ace core from a character puzzle.

From MVP to the championship trophy, Antetokounmpo has brought all the honors to the Bucks. But looking at the current situation, as the team's core lineup ages and its combat power declines, the Bucks have stopped in the playoffs many times with Antetokounmpo's performance as a top star. It is precisely because of these failures that Antetokounmpo's stay or leave once again has been discussed.

From the market perspective, there are not many rebuilding teams with high salary space and a large number of trading chips, and the Nets in the same zone have become one of the most likely potential next players expected by the outside world. Below

, we will discuss the possibility of this seemingly exaggerated but with certain operating opportunities based on the Bucks' current status, future potential, team financial status and market environment.

Since winning the championship in 2021, the Bucks have maintained their position as a strong Eastern Conference team. Even though they failed early in the first few playoffs, they can still play top-level combat power in the regular season. However, after entering the 2024-25 season, the overall combat power of this team has gradually shown signs of fatigue. Although the team recruited star guard Lillard in 2023, his defensive performance has always been a problem, and the team's defensive quality has also declined significantly. Although Antetokounmpo can maintain MVP level personal performance, it is hard to play most of the time.

In the 2025 playoffs, the Bucks were once again eliminated by the Pacers in the first round, and this is their first round of two consecutive seasons. With Middleton being traded to the Wizards in February 2025, it basically marks the disintegration of the championship core. The inside player Daluo was dragged down by age and injuries, and his personal condition was much worse than before. Lillard's high salary limits the team's salary space.

In addition to Antetokounmpo, the entire team lacks trustworthy young main players in the lineup. Looking to the future, the team's draft picks are scarce, which makes it more difficult for the team to strengthen and rebuild. If the Bucks cannot significantly improve their competitiveness in the next one or two years, Antetokounmpo's idea of ​​staying in the team will naturally be shaken.

In 2023, Antetokounmpo said in an interview with the New York Times:

"I will not stay in a team that has no chance of winning the championship."

This sentence is also seen by the outside world as a dangerous signal to the Bucks. His contract is about to expire in 2026 and will be able to jump out of the contract in 2025. If the Bucks cannot show their direction of strengthening, Antetokounmpo is likely to choose to jump out of the contract or seek a deal. For a superstar who has played for the Bucks for more than ten years and has won the championship, his loyalty is no doubt. As for the next step, he should indeed focus more on the accumulation of personal honors.

From the Nets' perspective, after the disintegration of the three Duhauer Big Three, it officially entered the reconstruction. Although the record is not good, the team has accumulated generous draft chips and salary space. According to the estimates of salary experts, the Nets will be able to have a salary space of over 90 million in the 2025-26 season, ranking first on the league's salary space list. It has a great advantage in strengthening the puzzle lineup for taking over the maximum-salary stars. In terms of asset chips, the Nets have 31 draft picks in the next seven years, including 15 in the first round, which gives the Nets a huge chip advantage in trading negotiations. As for the part where young is the first to fight, Cameron Thomas has gradually shown stable scoring ability, and Clarkston has also begun to have defensive value.

In addition, the Nets have also trained potential rookies such as Darick Whitehead and Jaylen Wilson. Although they have not reached the star level, they have a certain trading value.

Combined with the above, the Nets have huge salary space in the 2025-26 season. They have the ability to sign super top-paid stars like Antetokounmpo, and can also strengthen the battle puzzle. As a big city, Brooklyn has global media exposure and business opportunities. Although the income tax rate in New York is quite high across the United States, for top stars like Antetokounmpo, business income may completely make him ignore the negative impact of high tax burdens.

From the perspective of Antetokounmpo, the Nets' signing attraction is not just salary and pick chips, but the New York commercial market is also a reason he can't resist. The Nets can provide absolute dominance, allowing him to become the new core of the team and rebuild a new lineup around him.

Compared with the current dilemma of the Bucks, the Nets are obviously more attractive. In addition, there are currently no other star players in the Nets. Antetokounmpo can have the only autonomy in the team as long as he joins, which is of great value to a leader star.

And if the Nets want to trade Antetokounmpo, what kind of trading chips can they make:

Cameron Johnson, Cameron Thomas, Clarkston, with 3-4 future first-round picks, and future draft pick swaps.

This is a transaction package from a personal perspective. This wave of instant combat players is enough to help the Bucks strengthen the gap after Middleton and Daluo left the team, and have both instant combat power and future potential. The Nets exchanged generous chips for superstars at MVP level, which can directly improve combat power and influence in a blink of an eye.

At this stage, Antetokounmpo's next company is still under discussion, and the Nets are currently only retaining the hypothetical topic, and there is no substantial news to support it. However, looking at the current NBA, it is no longer new to superstars' transfers. If the Bucks do not have a clear enough plan to compete for the championship in the offseason, then Antetokounmpo's departure is no longer a hypothesis.

For the Nets, under the advantages of rich assets and financial flexibility, they are one of the few next companies that are qualified to negotiate.. Whether they will take action in the end depends mainly on the Nets' evaluation of combat power and market value.

Just like Durant and Irving in 2019 and Harden in 2021, most of the superstar transfers happen in a flash. As for Antetokounmpo, if he finally put on a layup jersey, he will definitely be able to directly rewrite the combat power structure of the Eastern Conference and even the entire league.