Is Rob Pelinka going to bring in another franchise cornerstone to the Lakers? After the successful trade to bring in Luka Doncic, now the reports link Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Purple and Gold franchise. With LeBron James already 40 and looking for contending teams, can the Lakers’ GM pull off another blockbuster trade? But the Lakers nation, hold your horses, these plans are not for the immediate season but for the future. So, how can it plan out?

Bill Simmons, on his podcast, was rating the offseason moves so far. But he was not on board with how the Damian Lillard situation was handled by the franchise. He felt this was a last-ditch effort from the Bucks front office.”Giannis doesn’t want to go and they don’t want to lose Giannis. So they have a two-year window with him, and then he’s got the player option. So they’re basically looking at it like, ‘These next two years like this Dame thing f—– us. We have to figure this out. We don’t want to trade Giannis. What can we do?‘”

In fact, this was such an effort that they are even seemingly putting their job on the line. Since the Turner-Dame trade only made them have the eighth-best odds on FanDuel to win the East.

“But the big thing is you did nothing, you throw away Giannis here. So I really tried to see it from their side. I never would have done this, and I just want to make that clear again. But I understand, like they’re just they’re so far all in that at this point it’s like well, ‘Everyone’s getting fired anyway if this doesn’t work out we might as well try this.’ I still wouldn’t have done it,” Simmons concluded.

The contract situation is clear for Giannis Antetokounmpo; even if he doesn’t ask for a trade now, he has two years left on his contract. The Greek Freak holds a $62 million player option for 2027–28. His deal does not include a no-trade clause. That’s when Rob Pelinka can capitalize. Because of the recent decision to let Dorian Finney-Smith walk this summer, and reportedly chose to keep their cap space clear for 2027. ESPN’s Dave McMenamin also reported that maximizing cap flexibility for the summer of 2027 is the long-term goal for the Lakers.

Did Giannis Antetokounmpo, for his better future, betray Damian Lillard?

The Bucks officially waived the veteran guard, stretching the remaining $113 million on his contract over five years. That means they’ll be paying Dame $22.5 million per year until 2030, as he recovers from the Achilles injury during the playoffs. They added Myles Turner on a four-year $107 million deal, according to Charania. Trading for a young star for a 34-year-old makes sense on paper. But reportedly, there were other things happening behind the scenes.

Evan Sidery reported, “Giannis Antetokounmpo helped recruit Myles Turner to the Bucks, they both loved the idea of pairing up, per @ShamsCharania.”  Just like that, as Damian Lillard is recovering from his injury, this report would have hurt more. But there is a conflicting report that clears the 2x MVPs name from any involvement.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is reportedly “not pleased with the Bucks’ decision to buy out Damian Lillard” and “just didn’t like how it was handled.” This was ESPN senior insider Chris Haynes. And while it remains a mystery whether the Greek Freak was involved or not, one thing is sure that the air has shifted in Milwaukee. This also brought a lot of positivity for Rob Pelinka and co. as their plans seemingly fell into place.