Former LeBron James teammate angles for Giannis Antetokounmpo-Luka Doncic teamup with Lakers

Carlos Boozers believes that Giannis Antetokounmpo should force his way to the Lakers and join up with Luka Doncic.

Former LeBron James teammate angles for Giannis Antetokounmpo-Luka Doncic teamup with Lakers

Carlos Boozer, Giannis Antetokounmpo

The Los Angeles Lakers were tipped to make a deep playoff run after their trade for Luka Doncic 12 weeks ago. However, LeBron James and co find themselves down 3-1 in their first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Giannis Antetokounmpo himself finds the Bucks down 3-1 against the Indiana Pacers. The team was blown out in game 4 after Damian Lillard injured his left Achilles early on.

Both rosters are seeing a postmortem of sorts across national NBA media. ESPN’s “Get Up” programming on April 29th started with a segment linking the Greek Freak to the Lakers. There have been concerted calls across the NBA media landscape for Giannis Antetokounmpo to demand a trade away from the Milwaukee Bucks. They gained new momentum after an abject performance from his supporting cast and Lillard’s long-term injury.

Former NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer was a guest on “Get Up” in the aforementioned segment. The former Jazz forward deemed the Bucks’ trade for Portland’s former franchise player as an abject failure. He believes Giannis has done his time in Milwaukee and has to look elsewhere if he wants to win more rings. According to the 43-year-old, playing with Luka Doncic would be his surest chance of future success.

Boozer, who was formerly a teammate of LeBron James during his rookie contract, believes he should angle for a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers over the Miami Heat (who are also superstar hunting) this summer. Speaking about the roster situation on the Bucks, Boozer wondered if this would be a good idea:

While they have really good players, they don’t have that guy who can (support him). What’s interesting for me, and I gotta be honest, if I don’t wanna go back to Milwaukee? What would you want? Maybe, play with Luka?

Carlos Boozer on Giannis Antetokounmpo

Boozer’s suggestion was met with a mixture of disbelief, disgust, and dissent by Jay Williams and Monica McNutt. Host Mike Greenberg kept a more neutral expression, but his dismay for the proposed trade was still obvious.

After all, the Doncic trade has left 29 NBA fanbases fuming because of the advantage the Lakers front office enjoyed in the negotiations. The notion of the team being ‘gifted’ another generational talent would be too bitter for some people to consider.

What are the best landing spots for Giannis Antetokounmpo?

Giannis’ future may be up in the air, but the Lakers will be far from able to offer a big enough trade package for the Greek Freak without offering either Doncic or James. Trading Doncic would be illogical, while James by himself wouldn’t be enough of a package at this age. Austin Reaves and picks as a package simply won’t cut it for the team.

The Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder have been suggested as two of his best landing spots. Both destinations make sense for different reasons – though they are both top two seeds, OKC has a genuine co-star for Antetokounmpo. Both teams have enough first-round picks and other assets to get a deal done.

The NBA trade landscape usually clears up after the Finals are played and the new class is drafted. Speculating about Antetokounmpo’s destination is a completely hypothetical exercise at this stage. However, we can assert with reasonable confidence that if the Thunder are unable to capitalize on their 68-14 season at this stage with a championship, they would undoubtedly throw their dozens of draft picks Milwaukee’s way in order to get this deal done.

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