One advantage the Utah Jazz has as a team with draft assets is that they have the upperhand on most of the league if a superstar wants out. The Jazz can offer the chance for a team to start over while they acquired their next franchise player.
That brings us to the next superstar that might hit the market: Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Milwaukee Bucks were bounced in the first round of the NBA again, making it three years in a row that the Bucks have been ousted that early.
Such playoff failures may get the two-time MVP to want something new. Nothing has come out yet, but many believe it's time for Antetokounmpo and the Bucks to part ways. If the Jazz are interested, they actually have a pretty good offer for the Greek Freak if they wanted to talk trade with the Bucks.
They have picks galore, including a top-five pick that they could potentially offer along with young players and other future draft assets. They could pair Giannis with Lauri Markkanen or Cooper Flagg, and depending on who they left behind, the Jazz would suddenly have the ingredients for their next playoff contender.
However, a trade may not be so simple, and a Jazz insider explained why.
Tony Jones explains why the Jazz may not trade for Giannis
Though Giannis's appeal as a player is self-explanatory, The Athletic's Tony Jones explained why the Jazz won't come up as a destination for him.
Antetokounmpo and Flagg are the start of a great roster, but the Jazz would need other moving parts to make it work. That's actually been part of the Bucks' problem for the last two years, and then some.
They thought pairing Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard would offset their roster flaws. Even if those two suffered unfortunate injuries over the last two years, they learned beforehand how exploitable the team was because of it, and that wasn't going to change in the playoffs.
The Jazz would potentially learn the same lesson, and that problem could be compounded if Antetokounmpo leaves in 2027. It's why potentially trading for Antetokounmpo is tantalizing, but so many problems could arise in Utah's case. What he can do is undeniable, but there are certainly risks.
Also, Danny Ainge has a history of making certain moves because he knows he has another one up his sleeve, from his days in Boston. It'd be hard to see what other trade or signing he would have up his sleeve if the Jazz got their hands on the Greek Freak.
Now, if the Jazz did something like this, they would do so believing that the reward would overshadow the risks associated with acquiring Giannis. However, the Jazz have never really taken a big swing like acquiring an Antetokounmpo-type, and it would breed so many questions for what else they are going to do.
Again, the Bucks had this "shoot first, ask questions later" approach with the Lillard trade, and look where it got them.
No one would have a problem with simply adding Antetokounmpo, but the problem is that adding him wouldn't be so simple.