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Holiday remains a Trail Blazer as we speak and, as The Stein Line first reported over the weekend, Portland has conveyed to Milwaukee that it would love to trade for Antetokounmpo directly if it could. Sources say, however, that Antetokounmpo's camp has continued to signal no interest in a contract extension with the Blazers, which would dissuade them from surrendering good assets to trade for him and likely limits Portland's realistic involvement in an eventual Antetokounmpo deal to third-team facilitator status.
Bobby Marks: Portland is $1.3M below the tax The goal is certainly to create 2 spots on the roster for their Two-Way player(s)
Portland is $1.3M below the tax
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) February 1, 2026
The goal is certainly to create 2 spots on the roster for their Two-Way player(s) pic.twitter.com/FbmxCSeYQI
Trading two second-round picks for Vit Krejci makes sense for Portland because he fills a glaring need and has a great contract. He’s signed for the minimum for two seasons after this one, with 2026-27 non-guaranteed and 2027-28 a team option. The Blazers desperately need both rotation-ish caliber wings and shooting, and Krejčí can provide both. A 40.5-percent career 3-point shooter with deep range, Krejčí mostly subsists on catch-and-shoots. But he has a good handle for his size at 6-foot-8 that can gives him some utility as a second-side operator.
The Stein Line has learned that Portland has also expressed its own interest to the Bucks that it would like to acquire Giannis Antetokounmpo ... even as the Blazers realistically understand that it would be an extreme longshot to convince Giannis to sign a contract extension that keeps him in the Pacific Northwest. The far more likely scenario remains Portland participating in such a deal as a facilitator to snag an impact veteran (or two) as part of a multi-team trade structure.
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You were twenty when you arrived in the NBA. Looking back on your American adventure, what are the moments that first come to mind? Sergio Rodriguez: Coming to the United States was the fulfillment of a dream, after two years at Estudiantes. The first big moment was the Draft, the second was arriving in Portland, where I trained with an NBA team for the first time, immersed in everything that entails at that level and sharing the court with players I'd only seen on television until then. The third was the opportunity to compete in the best league in the world, facing idols I'd admired since childhood. Beyond basketball, I'll always carry with me the personal experiences of those years: getting my driver's license, learning to live on my own, growing up far from home.
The New York Knicks have been one team that has been linked to Antetokounmpo for some time, and NBA insider Zach Lowe recently brought up a rumor that he's heard involving them, the Bucks, and the Portland Trail Blazers. “A three-team trade between New York, Milwaukee, and Portland. Because Portland owns pieces of three consecutive Bucks picks from the trades that they’ve made together, including the Dame trade. ‘28, ‘29, ‘30 swaps and pieces of picks etc…. I’m like, so how does that work? Like what is the rumor,” Lowe said. “And I’ve heard a couple different versions of it. One of them had the Knicks getting both Giannis and Jrue Holiday, which would make sense because if the Knicks are trading multiple for one, they’re hurting their depth. And I’ve played with concepts where they get Giannis and Kuzma in a two-team trade with the Bucks.”
Rumbles that the Knicks have explored pathways to try to acquire Portland's Jrue Holiday. There are at least two clear reasons why New York would have interest in a player who helped both Milwaukee and Boston win championships this decade: 1) The presumption that acquiring Holiday — if there's a way — would make the Knicks an even more attractive destination to Holiday's former Bucks teammate Antetokounmpo; 2) New York is believed to hold a longstanding fondness for Holiday as a potential backcourt complement to Jalen Brunson.
League sources say that the Bucks, frankly, were already struggling to generate difference-making trade discussions by making the likes of Kyle Kuzma and Bobby Portis Jr. available. Brooklyn's Porter, Sacramento's Zach LaVine, Cleveland's De'Andre Hunter, Portland's Jerami Grant and Charlotte's Miles Bridges have all been mentioned as potential targets, but the Bucks' lack of available draft capital to sweeten trade offers has clearly complicated the search for reinforcements.
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Josh Lewenberg: RJ Barrett is available tonight in Portland. The Raptors are 16-7 with him in the lineup, 11-12 without him. Collin Murray-Boyles is out (along with Poeltl and Walter).
Josh Lewenberg: RJ Barrett and Collin Murray-Boyles have both been upgraded to questionable for tomorrow’s game in Portland. Poeltl and Walter are out.
Ira Winderman: Davion Mitchell now listed as doubtful for tonight in Portland, which typically is the downgrading process for a player who will be out. So Dru Smith likely back in the mix after being held out vs. Kings for the first time this season.
By Monday, Macdonald was back to the grind. Hockey, baseball, arena league football, surfing, volleyball — name it and Bill Macdonald called it. That night, a West Coast Conference basketball game between Portland and San Diego needed a broadcaster and Macdonald showed up at the Jenny Craig Pavilion — the “Slim Gym” — armed with stats about Portland’s Pooh Jeter and USD’s Ross DeRogatis. He’d spoken to the Sports Information Directors. He called the game that night, packed up and moved on to whatever pregame show or gymnastics meet was next. The Lakers gig, he thought, was a one-off. Twenty years later, before a Lakers game against the Trail Blazers in Portland, Macdonald started telling that story and Lantz cut him off. “When you walked in,” Lantz said with a grin, “they said, ‘Didn’t you do Kobe’s 81-point game last night?’”