The Los Angeles Lakers are among the betting favorites to land Giannis Antetokounmpo if he asks out of Milwaukee after this season.

The Lakers have the third-best odds at +450 behind the Brooklyn Nets (-200) and the San Antonio Spurs (+325), according to online sportsbook Bovada. The Miami Heat (+500) and the Toronto Raptors (+1600) are also on the short list of betting favorites.

The Brooklyn Nets are the favorites to land Giannis Antetokounmpo if he’s not with the Milwaukee Bucks next season, per @BovadaOfficial

Brooklyn Nets: -200
San Antonio Spurs: +325
Los Angeles Lakers: +450
Miami Heat: +500
Toronto Raptors: +1600 pic.twitter.com/Z9CaqY0nHl

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 25, 2025

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Following the Luka Dončić trade, Bleacher Report’s salary cap expert Eric Pincus named Antetokounmpo as a potential trade target for the Lakers.

“The Lakers already landed a dream target in Luka Dončić, but the franchise is greedy. If Antetokounmpo demands out, a combination of salaries, talent and picks could get him to Los Angeles. It’s a stretch, but it’d be remiss to leave him out if this is a team’s wish list,” Pincus wrote in March.

The Lakers are in need of a big man who can serve as a lob threat for Dončić. And there’s no bigger name out there who can do that and more than Antetokounmpo.

However, Antetokounmpo won’t come cheap if he becomes available. But he could steer himself to Los Angeles if he wants to play in a big market and compete for championships.

Lakers New Big 3?

A Big 3 of Dončić, Antetokounmpo and LeBron James will make the Lakers the prohibitive favorites. It will take a paycut from James, provided he declines his $52.6 million player option, to surround them with depth to compete in the stacked Western Conference.

The Lakers will have to be creative to land Antetokounmpo, with his potential availability tied to how the Bucks’ season ends. They are low on draft capital, but it’s hard to bet against Rob Pelinka and his front office after they shocked everyone with the Dončić blockbuster trade.

It will be hard to see the Lakers keeping Austin Reaves in a potential trade for Antetokounmpo unless they shock the world again and swap James for the much younger Greek Freak.

The Lakers have made Reaves untouchable even in the Dončić trade. But they are running low on trade chips to make a swing for a bigger star.

Giannis Antetokounmpo Facing Uncertainty in Milwaukee

The Bucks are in danger of a third straight first-round exit. Such a result will be disastrous for the small market team, as they are already out of draft picks to reshape the roster around the 30-year-old Antetokounmpo.

In February, the two-time MVP dropped an interesting quote in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about staying hungry to compete for championships.

“Don’t fall into your comfort zone,” he said. “I don’t want to stay in my comfort zone. I want to be challenged. And if the challenge is here, which it is right now – we have a real challenge, people don’t respect us, we have a good group, it’s good. But we might not have a challenge one day. We might be rebuilding as a team, or we might not be chasing nothing.

“So, will my individual athlete be more important than the championship? This is a thing that maybe some players make a mistake. They stay in the place maybe too long.”

He understands that change is inevitable.

“I really believe, don’t stay in a place too long to taint your legacy,” he said. “Like, you’re a parent. It’s going to be a time that you have to let go.”

Alder Almo is a basketball journalist covering the NBA for Heavy.com. He has more than 15 years of experience in local and international media, including broadcast, print and digital. He previously covered the Knicks for Empire Sports Media and the NBA for Off the Glass. Alder is from the Philippines and is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey. More about Alder Almo