There is a time for patience but there鈥檚 also a time to pounce. That time has arrived for Masai Ujiri.
With a very real likelihood that Giannis Antetokounmpo has played his last game with the Milwaukee Bucks, it is imperative that Ujiri starts loading up the offer to finally get the Greek Freak to Toronto.
Whatever the cost聽鈥 and it will be a large one to obtain one of the top five players the NBA聽鈥 it鈥檚 incumbent on the Raptors president be ready to pay it.
Scottie Barnes? Sure, if that鈥檚 what it takes.
Barnes and a young player or two? No question, if that鈥檚 where the bidding goes.
Barnes, a player and bunch of draft picks starting with this year鈥檚 lottery selection? Pay it and start dreaming legitimate championship dreams.
Antetokounmpo鈥檚 future is one of the great talking points around the NBA today after the swift and shocking elimination of the Bucks by the Indiana Pacers in a five-game, first-round series that ended so dramatically Tuesday night.
Just as the madness ended in Indianapolis聽鈥 the Bucks spat up a seven-point lead in the final 40 seconds of overtime, and Antetokounmpo was engaged in an unseemly post-game kerfuffle聽with Tyrese Haliburton鈥檚 father聽鈥斅燗ntetokounmpo鈥檚 future had become unclear.
The Bucks are a mess and the best way to start the long process back might be to give Antetokounmpo a new home and reap the riches. Damian Lillard is likely out for the entire 2025-26 season after tearing his Achilles, the team鈥檚 two next best players are free agents, and maybe it鈥檚 time for Milwaukee to move on from 37-year-old Brook Lopez and 30-year-old Bobby Portis. The rest of the roster is sketchy at best; the way to restock the pantry is by maximizing on Antetokounmpo, the gifted 30-year-old perennially in the 鈥渂est player in the game鈥 conversation.
Bucks general manager Jon Horst just got a contract extension and that should provide him the kind of cover to start a rebuilding process without fear of dealing a generational talent and putting his job in peril.
Enter Ujiri, who has been biding his time trying to get the Raptors back to Eastern Conference relevance for about four seasons.
It鈥檚 a convergence of circumstances that call out for an aggressive move by Ujiri.
The Raptors president has long coveted Antetokounmpo, trying to buy into the 2013 draft to take him, and there was a dalliance with him when the superstar almost became a free agent in 2020. The relationship between the two men dates back to Antetokounmpo鈥檚 youth in Nigeria; it is a deep connection based on mutual respect.
It’s one that Ujiri has to leverage if there鈥檚 a sniff that Antetokounmpo is on the market.
The cost will be high but it should be. Antetokounmpo has averaged 30 points a game for three seasons in a row, he has finished fourth or higher in MVP voting for seven straight seasons, and he鈥檚 won an NBA title and an NBA Finals MVP award. He鈥檚 only 30 years old, under contract for at least two more seasons, and he automatically puts his team into championship contention.
So Barnes, two young, relatively cheap players and a handful of picks? Why not? And if the Raptors don鈥檛 win this year鈥檚 lottery and get the chance to take Cooper Flagg, do you think anyone else they might get would come close to what Antetokounmpo would give them immediately? Not a chance. So tossing in this June鈥檚 pick should hardly be a difficult decision.
I understand the reticence some might have to include Barnes, who the Raptors insist will bloom into a dominant NBA star. Maybe he will; he certainly is a talent and he is still quite young. But Antetokounmpo is the third best player in the game, at worst, today. Barnes is probably the third best player 鈥 maybe second聽鈥 in the Atlantic Division today.
Of course, the Raptors wouldn鈥檛 be bidding in a vacuum. Houston has a ton of young talent, draft picks and a dying need for a true star. San Antonio has two lottery picks this year and some young talent to dangle. Brooklyn. Miami. New York. Phoenix. The list of suitors would go on and on and on.
But 海角社区官网has to be in the chase and has to be aggressive.
Every time Ujiri meets with the media, he vows that the Raptors will win big again in his 海角社区官网tenure and he and general manager Bobby Webster have amassed an intriguing, young team that is ascending, without doubt.
And despite their insistence that the process takes time, patience is necessary, steps have to be followed in an orderly fashion聽鈥 all of that should be tossed in the garbage.
If a generational talent gets to the market, it鈥檚 time to act quickly and decisively. It’s time to pounce.
Now.
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