In just mere hours, the NBA trade deadline will pass, and with it, we’ll finally know the fate of Giannis “The Greek Freak” Antetokounmpo this season. It appears his relationship with the Milwaukee Bucks is all but dead, but will the Bucks be able to reach a trade acceptable to all parties? That’s a question I wanted to know the answer to, so I turned to NBA 2K26 to try and find the answers. NBA 2K MyLeague bills itself as the most in-depth, realistic, and customizable franchise mode in all of sports video games, but can its trade system make this kind of trade work?
A Giannis trade would be a Herculean task. Finding a team with the motivation, desire, and massive capital needed to pull Giannis away from the Bucks is few and far between, and maneuvering the financial and NBA rule technicalities can, in itself, be nearly impossible, which leaves very few possibilities open to make a trade like this possible. Luckily for us, ESPN and its insiders have compiled a list of six potential trades that could work in the current NBA landscape. I wanted to see if any of these theoretical trades are solid and realistic enough to pass through the NBA 2K trade system, or if these are more pipe dreams than anything else. So I copied the trades into NBA 2K‘s trade system for both the Bucks and the other trade teams.
What I found was a series of failed trades that was more an indictment of NBA 2K’s faulty trade system and the NBA’s antiquated rules than of ESPN’s insider predictions. Here is a breakdown of the six trade predictions and how they failed in NBA 2K26.
Warriors Send Jimmy And Company + Five Picks
Warriors get:
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Myles Turner
Bucks get:
- Jimmy Butler
- Jonathan Kuminga
- Brandin Podziemski
- 2026 1st rounder
- 2028 1st rounder
- 2030 1st rounder
- 2031 1st round swap
- 2032 1st rounder
2K Results
Warriors uninterested. Bucks uninterested, consider Giannis Antetokounmpo untouchable
Technical Details
Couldn’t fit the last two draft picks into the trade because NBA 2K only allows six assets per team to be traded.
Summary
This was a fascinating trade that I could see working, given the four unprotected picks and the presence of young stars like Kuminga and Podzienski. Still, overall, I felt like the trade didn’t quite reach the asset level needed to bring in a future Hall of Famer like Giannis. Obviously, NBA 2K agreed, and had both teams reject this deal, which I understand as it drains the Warriors of young talent, as well as taking a true star from the Bucks without returning another sure thing back to them.
Knicks Get Their Superstar In A Three-Team Puzzle
Knicks get
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Jrue Holiday
Trail Blazers get
- Karl-Anthony Towns
- Mikal Bridges
- Miles McBride
Bucks get
- Jerami Grant
- Matisse Thybulle
- Guerschon Yabusele
- 2026 1st rounder (WAS) top 8 protected
- 2029 1st rounder (best of BOS, POR, MIL)
- 2030 1st rounder (POR)
- 2030 1st rounder (NYK)
- 2032 1st rounder (NYK)
2K results
Trail Blazers accepted.
.Knicks uninterested, consider Karl-Anthony Towns untouchable.
Bucks uninterested, consider Giannis Antetokounmpo untouchable.
Technical Details
Couldn’t fit the last two picks because of the league’s antiquated rules about back-to-back first-rounders.
Summary
This trade doesn’t make sense to me; the Blazers accepted it in NBA 2K. Portland ends up with KAT and two solid role players from the Knicks, but what does the Bucks get? Absolutely nothing but a bunch of picks, a few of which are even allowed to be traded because of the back-to-back first-round trade ban that the NBA has implemented, which makes trades so unbelievably hard to do. Meanwhile, the Knicks decide that they don’t want to trade away KAT, which I would understand if they weren’t getting Giannis in return. NBA 2K needs to change its trade logic to allow untouchable players to be traded for other untouchable players, because such trades are becoming increasingly common in the real NBA.
Heat Get A Steal
Heat get
- Gianni’s Antetokounmpo
Bucks get
- Tyler Herro
- Terry Rozier
- Kel’el Ware
- 2029 1st rounder
- 2030 1st round swap
- 2031 1st rounder
2K results
Heat is uninterested; they say they are already set at PF.
Bucks uninterested, consider Giannis Antetokounmpo untouchable
Technical Details
Only able to trade one 1st round pick from the Heat because of the 1st round pick rule, so I swapped two of them with second-round picks.
Summary
This trade was obviously not going to work in NBA 2K because it would never work in real life. Even in the ESPN article, they acknowledged that this trade would only happen if Giannis himself demanded to be traded to only Miami. Even if NBA 2K allowed me to trade the three 1st round picks, the result of this trade wouldn’t change. I also find it ridiculous that 2K said the Heat wouldn’t accept this deal because Bam Adebayo already played power forward and they didn’t need Giannis, as if they couldn’t play Bam at center.
ESPN Figures Out How To Get Giannis To The Wolves
Timberwolves get
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Thanasis Antetokounmpo
- Gary Trent Jr.
Bucks get
- R.J. Barrett
- Joan Beringer
- Rob Dillingham
- Julius Randle
- Terrence Shannon Jr.
- 2026 1st rounder (TOR)
- 2029 1st rounder (TOR)
- 2028 1st round swap (MIN)
- 2030 1st round swap (MIN)
- 2027 2nd rounder (CLE)
- 2030 2nd rounder (MIN)
- 2031 2nd rounder (HOU)
Raptors get
- Cole Anthony
- Jaden McDaniels
2K Results
Timberwolves uninterested, Consider Robert Dillingham to be untouchable.
Raptors uninterested, they’re not getting back enough for what they would be giving up.
Bucks uninterested, consider Giannis Antetokounmpo untouchable
Technical details
All of the picks except the first two were unable to be traded for various reasons. I also had to add two junk players to the trade to keep the Timberwolves from going under the player cap.
Summary
Apparently, Rob Dillingham is too much to give up for Giannis Antetokounmpo! I don’t understand that aspect of this trade. Although the Raptors and the Bucks are well within their rights to deny this trade, it wasn’t super well thought out.
The Sixers Leverage A Young Guy’s Value For A Sure Thing
76ers get
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
Bucks get
- Paul George
- V.J. Edgecombe
- 2028 1st rounder (LAC)
- 2030 1st rounder
2K results
76ers uninterested, consider V.J. Edgecombe untouchable.
Bucks uninterested, consider Giannis Antetokounmpo untouchable
Technical Details
Had to switch out the 2028 1st rounder for a 2029 pick swap because of the rules.
Summary
This trade was maybe the most interesting trade on the list, because it included a bidding superstar in V.J. Edgecombe, who could easily be a top ten player in the league in four to five years from now. Of course, he could just as easily flame out and end up being the Michael Carter-Williams of this generation, so it would absolutely be a shot in the dark for both teams in this trade. Ultimately, I agree with NBA 2K that both teams have reasons to reject this trade.
Cavs Build A Package Around Mobley
Cavaliers get
- Giannis Antetokounmpo
- Thanasis Antetokounmpo
Bucks get
- Lonzo Ball
- Evan Mobley
- Jalen Wilson
- 2031 1st rounder (CLE)
Nets get
- Max Strus
- 2030 1st round swap (CLE)
- 2032 1st round swap (CLE)
2K results
Cavaliers uninterested
Nets uninterested
Bucks uninterested, consider Giannis Antetokounmpo untouchable
Technical details
I had to move the picks up because the game only allows you to trade picks up to 2030.
Summary
I like Evan Mobley, but even I think this is a stretch for the Bucks to even consider contemplating this deal. They aren’t getting much in terms of draft compensation, and besides Mobley, I don’t really see the value for them in accepting this trade. I do, however, think it’s a no-brainer for the Cavaliers and likely should have been accepted by the Nets, too, but for whatever reason, the game told me that both New York and Cleveland rejected the trade.
Final takeaway
NBA 2K26 and 2K in general have a very stubborn trade system that is in desperate need of tinkering. Superstar trades like the one(s) we are likely to see today are happening more and more in the real-life NBA, and 2K needs to reflect that in their games. It is too hard to trade superstars like Giannis Antetokounmpo in the game (using the trade finder, the Bucks find zero trade matches for Giannis), and the limitations of the game’s trade system are too extreme. There needs to be more trade slots, fewer financial rules, fewer roster space rules, and no more draft pick limitations (which is more of a recommendation for the NBA than 2K).
