Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob has big dreams for his team while Stephen Curry is still playing at an elite level.
According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, Lacob’s longtime dream is to pair Curry with two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“One that I think is just always going to be monitored around the NBA is if the wheels fall off the [Milwaukee] Bucks and we know that Joe Lacob has had kind of dreams of Giannis coming the Warriors’ way for a very long time,” Amick said on “The TK Show” podcast on September 12. “Again unlikely, but Khris Middleton is going to be a free agent next summer. He’s been hurt so much.
Damian Lillard — is he gonna have a bounceback year? Doc Rivers — how does that go in year number two? I think Giannis is kind of worth monitoring.”
Antetokounmpo signed a three-year extension with the Bucks last year that will run through the 2027-28 season when he’s 33.
Injuries, chemistry issues and midseason coaching change derailed the Bucks last season.
Warriors’ Chance at Giannis Antetokounmpo
Antetokounmpo is now three seasons removed from being an NBA champion and he aspires for more he revealed in an interview with the New York Times in August 2023.
The “Greek Freak” said that he would leave Milwaukee if he felt their championship window had closed.
“At the end of the day, I feel like all my teammates know and the organization knows that I want to win a championship,” Antetokounmpo told the New York Times last year. “As long as we’re on the same page with that and you show me and we go together to win a championship, I’m all for it. The moment I feel like, oh, yeah, we’re trying to rebuild —”
“There will never be hard feelings with the Milwaukee Bucks,” he continued. “I believe that we’ve had 10 unbelievable years, and there’s no doubt I gave everything for the city of Milwaukee. Everything. Every single night, even when I’m hurt. I am a Milwaukee Buck. I bleed green. I know this.”
If the Bucks’ season goes awry in Lillard’s second year in Milwaukee, who knows what could happen next.? If Antetokounmpo becomes available, the Warriors will be among the first in line knocking at the Bucks’ door.
Warriors’ Aggressive Pursuit of Steph Curry’s Next Co-Star
As Klay Thompson plummeted from Curry’s sidekick to a bench player last season, the Warriors have started plotting their next move.
The Warriors have been aggressive since the February trade deadline in finding Curry a co-star to extend their rapidly closing championship window.
They checked in with the Los Angeles Lakers for LeBron James before the trade deadline. But it never reached James as his agent Rich Paul quickly shut down the idea.
After the Warriors failed to make the playoffs, they went after Paul George and Lauri Markkanen.
But the Los Angeles Clippers did not accept the Warriors’ offer and the Utah Jazz were asking for the farm.
So the Warriors settled for role players Buddy Hield, Kyle Anderson and De’Anthony Melton.
Will that be enough?
Alder Almo is a basketball journalist covering the NBA for Heavy.com. He has more than 15 years of experience in local and international media, including broadcast, print and digital. He previously covered the Knicks for Empire Sports Media and the NBA for Off the Glass. Alder is from the Philippines and is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey. More about Alder Almo
