NBA Rumors: Unlikely team named favorite to possibly land Giannis in 2025
NBA Rumors: An unlikely Western Conference team has been named a possible favorite to land Giannis Antetokounmpo in free agency in 2025.
Heading into the 2023-24 NBA season, the Milwaukee Bucks can’t solely be thinking about trying to win a second championship with Giannis Antetokounmpo. For better or worse, it’s officially “Giannis Watch” time.
That much became clear with his recent comments about waiting to sign an extension with the team. The good news for the Bucks is that Giannis can’t officially test free agency until 2025, when he can opt out of the final year of his contract.
However, the talk of Giannis potentially leaving Milwaukee is only just beginning.
Interstingly, according to a recent report, there are some around the NBA who believe the early surprise favorite for Giannis in 2025 can be the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Why the Oklahoma City Thunder could make sense for Giannis Antetokounmpo
While there are certainly some arguments as to why the Thunder being the favorite to land Giannis doesn’t make sense, let’s explore why, in a vacuum, the idea of him signing in OKC is not as outlandish as some may believe.
For one, the Thunder has one of the best young rosters in the league, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is arguably the most underrated great offensive player in the league and OKC has a couple of other budding stars on their roster. Josh Giddey and Chet Holmgren, specifically, are two other players that many believe will eventually reach star-level status in the NBA. And probably at some point between now and the summer of 2025.
At that point, especially considering how many other draft picks that OKC is slated to have come into the program as well, it wouldn’t be that surprising for the Thunder to emerge as a possible landing spot for Giannis.
And if Milwaukee wanted, they could get a strong haul via trade from OKC (say, if they wanted to trade Giannis after this season). As unlikely as that may seem, you can never completely count something out in the NBA.
It may be extremely premature to say that the Thunder is good enough or are on the right enough track to presume they’ll be a favorite to land Giannis, but it’s also hard to argue that they’re not in a great spot right now.
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Ultimately, the biggest question falls on the shoulders of Giannis. What does he truly want to do next?