Cleveland Cavaliers fans, along with the rest of the NBA universe, were checking their phones constantly on Monday night in anticipation of the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade news.
When that news arrived, it was the Miami Heat landing Antetokounmpo for a trove of first-round draft capital and multiple players. All in all, the Heat sent the Milwaukee Bucks the following assets for Giannis and Bobby Portis: three first-rounders (including the No. 13 overall selection in Tuesday's draft), one second-rounder, one pick swap, plus Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., and Kasparas Jakucionis.
Cavaliers never had a shot at Giannis Antetokounmpo, even if they wanted him
Cavs fans have long been resigned to being out of the Giannis sweepstakes. For many days leading up to Monday, it was widely known that the Giannis race had become a two-horse affair between the Heat and the Boston Celtics. And when you look at Boston's offer for Giannis -- which ultimately fell short -- it becomes even clearer that the Cavs wouldn't have won the Giannis sweepstakes even if they'd stayed in.
According to ESPN's Shams Charania, the Celtics offered the Bucks Jaylen Brown and two future first-round picks. When the Bucks asked Boston for more than that -- namely, further draft capital and young players like Hugo González and Baylor Scheierman, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens didn't budge from his offer of Brown plus two first-rounders.
Celtics' Giannis package was similar to what a Mobley-centric package would have been from Cavs
If Cleveland had been trying to get Giannis, its offer would have been similar to Boston's: One All-NBA talent in addition to draft capital. Instead of Jaylen Brown, it would have been Evan Mobley.
The difference is that the Celtics have more draft capital (and more intriguing young pieces) than the Cavs do. If Cleveland had offered Mobley and their only tradable first-rounder on Monday night, and the Bucks had inevitably asked for more draft capital, the deal would have died right then and there.
Cavaliers shouldn't be too upset about missing out on Giannis
At the end of the day, the Heat sacrificed a ton of future firsts for Giannis, and they cleaned out all of their young talent, too. You can argue that this was kind of an unwise trade for the health of the franchise moving forward. There's a reason the Celtics didn't budge from their own offer.
The Cavs shouldn't be too miffed about watching Giannis join another East team. The Heat aren't a contender as of right now, even though they just added Antetokounmpo. That tells you a lot about the state of their roster and the precariousness of the trade they just executed at a tremendous cost.
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