And then a g̶y̶r̶o̶ Herro comes along

The Bucks traded Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Heat. What now?

Good morning. Frankly, that was the second most interesting trade of the day. Let's basketball.

At long last, the Greek Freak-out is over: the Milwaukee Bucks have traded Giannis Antetokounmpo (along with Bobby Portis) to the Miami Heat for a package led by Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, three firsts, a swap and a second. Giannis will allegedly sign an extension with Miami once he's healthy, and pair up with Bam Adebayo in an attempt to get Heat above the play-in tournament for the first time since 2021.

What comes next for Miami is easy: they need some more guards and wings. Everyone expects the Heat to work out a longer-term deal with Andrew Wiggins, who has a pricey player option, and leverage those savings to bring back Norman Powell. The Heat don't have much else to trade unless they flip an opted-in Wiggins or Portis, so they'll need to time the official Giannis deal to maximize their mid-level exception and find some bargains out there. This is similar to how other teams who trade everything not nailed down for a superstar operate in Year 1. Miami's front office is capable for conjuring NBA players from stardust. Or at least they have been. We'll see what's up their sleeves this time.

Milwaukee is more intriguing if only because they don't have control of any of their own first-round picks (other than the No. 10 pick on Tuesday) until 2031. Meanwhile, their roster is basically the remnants of an East play-in team minus its best two players (Bam and Norm), with the addition of Milwaukee's lottery roster minus its best player. There's little incentive for the Bucks to be bad for the next four years, unless you think there's a chance for the Blazers to be awful in 2028 and 2030. (Portland has pick swap options for those years. Theoretically if both teams are bad, the Bucks can tank into a lottery pick. But it requires the Blazers to be bad. They don't look like they are on track to be a lottery team for the rest of the decade.)

The aim for Milwaukee should be to build a competitive roster and search for potential stars wherever they can until they can cash in on Miami's picks ... which don't start rolling in (excluding Tuesday's No. 13 pick) until 2030. That's right: Miami sent a 2030 pick swap option and 2031 and 2033 picks. The only Bucks firsts after Tuesday's draft until 2031 will be the worst of the Blazers and Bucks picks in 2028 and 2030.