The Boston Celtics have entered the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes with more than just interest — they have made an offer.
The Ringer's Bill Simmons reported on his podcast that Boston put a proposal in front of the Milwaukee Bucks within the past week, a development he admitted caught him off guard given how quiet the Celtics had been earlier in the offseason.
"From what I heard, they made an offer in the past week, a couple days before I mentioned it on Thursday," Simmons said. "I don't know what the offer was, and I don't know who's in it. But they are in, the hat was in the ring, which I was really surprised by, because I thought they were sitting it out."
Simmons went a step further and put a timeline on it. "I think Boston's going to get Giannis, and I think it will happen in the next week," he said. He added that he believes Antetokounmpo would prefer Boston, then Miami, for the best chance to chase another championship.
Simmons is not the only insider tracking the Celtics. Yahoo Sports' Kevin O'Connor reported last week that Boston was pushing to land the two-time MVP and was willing to part with every player on the roster except Jayson Tatum.
Not everyone is convinced a blockbuster is the right move. Speaking alongside Simmons, Zach Lowe pushed back on the idea that breaking up the roster is the obvious play for a team that already projects as a contender.
"I don't think they were ever out," Lowe said. "The safest bet is always inertia. We know that the nucleus we have works really well, and there's some degree of risk in shaking that up for a 31-year-old who's been injury prone, and we're going to have to sign him to a ginormous extension."
He framed the decision as a gamble against a roster built to win now. "That's a big pivot for a team that has a pretty large window now of being one of the best teams in the NBA when everyone's healthy," Lowe said.
Any package Boston puts together would almost certainly be anchored by Jaylen Brown's contract — the kind of franchise-altering price that has left some around the league skeptical the Celtics will ultimately pull the trigger.
The chatter lands as Milwaukee is widely expected to move Antetokounmpo before the June 23 draft, with Miami long viewed as the front-runner and Boston, Minnesota and others circling. The Bucks are reportedly working to draw out final offers before settling on a direction.
As always with offseason leaks, teams routinely use the media to nudge negotiations in their favor, and a reported offer is not a finished deal. But the Celtics have done the one thing that turns speculation into a story: they put something on the table.
