Could Giannis Antetokounmpo Give Miami a New Big 3?

Giannis Antetokounmpo may be purchasing a one-way ticket to South Beach when he hits free agency in 2021.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is one of the NBA’s stars. Over the past two years, he has not only solidified himself as one of the best basketball players in the world, he has also proven to be the future of the NBA. At the young age of 25, Giannis Antetokounmpo is already a four time all-star, an MVP, an All-NBA First Team member and a two time All-NBA Second team member.

With this list of accolades for such a youthful player, there is no question as to why every team in the NBA is preparing for when Giannis is on the market. One team rumored to be making a huge run at him is the Miami heat.

As these rumors slowly start to leak out, fans can only imagine Giannis Antetokounmpo being placed on an already fairly talented Heat roster. Featuring names like Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, there’s no doubt that Antetokounmpo would elevate this team to the next level.

This season, the Miami Heat are currently 41-24 or fourth in the eastern conference. Add a guy who is arguably the best at both sides of the ball and this team looks like a true title contender. Defensively, this team would have very few weak spots. Butler is a four-time all-defensive team member, Adebayo is known for his paint presence and Giannis is one of the most versatile defenders in the league.

Offensively, this team would keep every opposing defense on their toes. Adding Giannis, a player who averaged 30 points per game this season, would give the Heat their fifth player averaging over 15 points per game. Having that many players with high tier offensive production would certainly be hard to gameplan for.

One question that seems to be brought up in this hypothetical is how would the duo of Jimmy Butler and Giannis Antetokounmpo work? Over the past couple of seasons, the NBA world has gotten to see Butler on a number of teams. On almost all of these teams, he hasn’t seemed to get along with his teammates very well. These teams are the same in the way that Butler was not the best player on them.

In this past season, there were very few problems with the Miami Heat and the team chemistry seemed amazing. Surprisingly enough, Butler was the best player on this young squad. This poses the idea that unless he is the best player on a team, Butler will not be happy.

Aside from these allegations, the duo would most definitely work. Jimmy and Giannis are both considered the best of the best when it comes to two-way players in today’s league.

Their offensive production matches their defensive production which in turn creates a player that has very little holes in their game. Having two of those players would certainly equate to wins, which at the end of the day, is most important to this duo. Although Butler would become the second option and obviously get the ball less because of Antetokounmpo’s dominant play style, he would still get meaningful touches as Giannis isn’t as skilled a shooter as he is.

All in all, if Giannis Antetokounmpo chooses to take his talents to South beach, they would certainly become an instant contender to win the NBA finals. Their mix of defense and offense would keep opposing teams baffled on how to gameplan for them.

When 2021 rolls around, don’t be surprised if Giannis highly considers the Miami Heat as the next franchise he plays for.