Bucks' Horst Avoids Giannis Talk, Frames Draft as 'Building' Start
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Bucks agreed late Monday to trade Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat for Tyler Herro, Kel'el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, three first-round picks (including the No. 13 selection), one pick swap, and a second-round pick, per ESPN sources, with the deal not official until July 6.
- GM Jon Horst repeatedly emphasized "a theme of building" at the Bucks' practice facility Tuesday, declining to discuss trade specifics and summing up his last 24 hours as simply "busy."
- Milwaukee negotiated with two finalists — the Heat and the Boston Celtics — before choosing Miami's package because of the flexibility it gave the team to build for the future.
- Brayden Burries, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound guard who helped lead Arizona to the Final Four, was taken No. 10 — a pick Horst said Milwaukee targeted for his size and winning track record, calling him "one of the best two-way guards in the draft."
- Nate Ament, a 6-foot-10 forward out of Tennessee described as a project with perimeter skill, went No. 13 — a selection that originated from Miami in the Antetokounmpo trade.
- Burries and Ament are the first two lottery picks of Horst's tenure (which began in 2017) and Milwaukee's highest draft selections since Thon Maker went No. 10 in 2016, ending 13 years of building around Antetokounmpo.
- Coach Taylor Jenkins, per Horst, has stressed style of play, identity, and players who can "attack space and create advantages" on both sides of the ball — the vision Horst said this draft class begins to fulfill.
Why it matters: The Giannis era in Milwaukee ends with a haul of young players and draft capital but no immediate star return, and the Bucks' choice of the Heat over Boston signals a preference for long-term flexibility over a win-now pivot — leaving Horst's first lottery picks tasked with defining a new identity.
