Shams Has Finally Broken His Silence And Declared That Giannis WILL Be Traded Before Tuesday's NBA Draft

Patrick McDermott. Getty Images.

One thing that always felt weird as all the Giannis Trade bullshit was going on, was the fact that we have heard NOTHING from Shams. The guy who has been singlehandedly trying to speak this trade into existence for years now, had been completely radio silent. It's not as if there weren't "reports" and "sources" putting stuff out there to try and play the leverage game, but it was hard to ignore that when it came to Shams, we had nothing. Not a single peep. No "I'm hearing", no "this is being discussed", no nothing.

Until today.

Now, this isn't the first time Shams had called his shot like this. You may remember last summer when he told us "not to go to sleep" while on with SVP only for absolutely nothing to happen. That was fucked.

But this? It's hard not to feel like we're on the verge of this bomb dropping. The way Shams was talking in that clip, it didn't really feel like someone speculating did it? That felt rather definitive, which again, is notable. We went from radio silence to THAT type of tone and reporting, which does not feel like a bit or that it's made it. It feels sourced.

You then combine that with the most recent reporting from Marc Stein, another plugged in reporter who isn't really about the bullshit/hot air approach

and then you combine that with Windy suddenly changing his tune as well

and this all does feel more than just "smoke". 

Now, could this be one final smoke screen to squeeze even more out of the Heat? Sure, technically anything is possible. But that feels like wishful thinking to me. You could then say, OK, if Jaylen is in fact on the table then why isn't this deal done? To that I would say, these things take time. For all we know the heavy lifting is done and the talk is more about the pieces around the edges. Maybe the Bucks went back to MIA and let this try one last time to improve their offer. Maybe they are haggling with Brad over minor details, who knows.

But what I do know is that it feels a little unlikely that Brad Stevens was going to enter these discussions and not be ready to press the red button (including Jaylen Brown) should that be required. I'm sure he also knows that if he were to press that button, he presents the best possible package for Giannis. The interesting part is VERY RARELY do Celts trades operate like this. I'm not saying Brad always moves in silence, because I do think that stuff is overplayed. But what I sure as shit know is that never before have we seen their offers/trades be talked about so publicly like this. That may all end up not mattering, but it is interesting when you look back at their prior deals, especially the big ones. 

Make no mistake, breaking up Tatum/Brown is a franchise altering decision. You are effectively ending the most successful pairing in the entire NBA since 2017-18

This is something you can't get wrong. Not only do you have to win the title, you have to do it immediately. There is no 3-5 year window with Giannis at 32. You're in theory potentially shortening your window to bring in a top 5 player, and there's no denying that a Tatum/Giannis pairing has the potential to be absolutely lethal. I'm not sure I agree with the Windy part where he said Jaylen would be moved for other things outside of Giannis, but I can absolutely understand from a basketball standpoint why Brad Stevens would take the swing for someone like Giannis. 

The point is this. The #1 rule with all this stuff is that at the end of the day, I trust Brad Stevens. That's the rule. Until he proves otherwise, he gets my complete trust. As painful, and boy will it be painful, to finally see the Jays Era come to an end, if Brad feels like it's the right way to go, then who am I to complain? If he ends up walking away and not doing the deal, I trust his ability to still build a contender through a different path. He's the best in the world at this shit, we just have to trust whatever he decides to do.

So yeah, these next 48 hours are going to be hell, but what else is new?