The simple reason why the Spurs are unlikely to trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo

The idea of an opposing team's guard attacking the rim against the Spurs, only to find both Victor Wembanyama and Giannis Antetokounmpo waiting in the paint to swallow their shot whole, is enticing. I won't lie. But Spurs fans shouldn't get too giddy at the thought of a potential Giannis trade — and that's a good thing, actually. When a rebuild is going so well that it's smart to not trade for one of the five best players in the league? That's rare. But that's the situation the Spurs find themselves in.

Dylan Harper is 19 years old, Stephon Castle is 21, Wemby is 21, Carter Bryant is 20 (and shouldn't be forgotten). Giannis Antetokounmpo, for all his greatness, is on the wrong side of 30 and doesn't mach the timeline the Spurs are working on. That may sound like an obvious take, but a team's two superstars being nearly a decade apart in age is a dangerous game to play.

But perhaps even more importantly... Why change anything about this Spurs rebuild? The fact that a Giannis trade is even feasible means the assets and players the Spurs currently have are incredibly valuable. If a team has a package good enough to trade for Giannis, they might not want to trade for Giannis, as strange as that seems.

The Spurs are currently orchestrating a perfect rebuild

Things are progressing faster than anyone expected, but everything we're seeing from the Spurs still feels sustainable. These aren't random players who are all playing above their heads right now. This team is a combination of high draft picks with star upside and talented players who fell through the cracks elsewhere, but were always talented enough to be rotation players in this league.

Every package the Spurs could build for Giannis would make fans wince at the possibility of losing whichever young players would be included. That's not typical fan delusion, either. In this case, Spurs fans are accurately rating their guys. They just all happen to be really good.

Of course, Giannis is a better player than Dylan Harper, Steph Castle, Devin Vassell, and any other player or picks they could send to Milwaukee — but the strength of the combination, plus the upside all of them possess, and how well we know they all work around Wemby makes me think that passing up a trade for Giannis is the right path forward. And yes, I know how absurd that sounds.