Late yesterday evening, the 22nd of June, we saw the news that the Milwaukee Bucks had officially traded their star man, Giannis Antetokounmpo. But the eventual destination has caught people by surprise.

The Greek power forward has been on the books at the Bucks since 2013, after beginning his career in Greece before making himself available for the 2013 NBA Draft, where he was selected 15th overall.

But after 13 years, Giannis has sought pastures new, and after rumours circulated that he would join Jayson Tatum at the Boston Celtics, he has instead been traded to the Miami Heat.

Why Antetokounmpo Was Traded to the Heat & Not the Celtics

Jeff Hanisch via Imagn Images

Miami’s trade package was the best deal for the Bucks, and Shams Charania, who is ESPN’s NBA insider, has explained why it was difficult for the Boston Celtics to complete any deal for Antetokounmpo.

The offer on the table from Miami consisted of Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, three first-round selections, one swap option for 2030, and a second-round selection in 2033. This completely blew Boston out of the water, and they were unwilling to even attempt to match it.

Speaking on SportsCenter, Shams Charania reported that: “The Celtics were not willing to part with enough young players and assets to get a deal done.”

The Celtics offered Jaylen Brown and two unprotected first-round picks for the Greek superstar. But despite Brown being a player that interested the Bucks, the deal as a whole just wasn’t enough for Milwaukee to even acknowledge.

Benny Sieu via Imagn Images

It has been reported that the Bucks would have entertained the trade had Boston added young player Hugo Gonzalez, or even Baylor Scheierman, as well as more trade options. However, the 2024 NBA champions were far away from what Milwaukee wanted and this allowed Miami to come in and get the deal done.

With Giannis turning 32 this year, and injuries becoming more and more recurring, Boston may have been savvy in protecting their youth. The Celtics deemed it more important to hold on to the likes of Brown, Gonzalez, and Scheierman — who are all in their 20s — than put all their eggs in one basket and hope an injury-plagued Antetokounmpo can bring them success.

Miami have perhaps showed their hand too early in the deal for Giannis. Including four young players as well as a plethora of future trades for their top target completely blew Boston out of the water. With no competition for the Bucks power forward, the Heat could have potentially been more conservative in the deal.

Miami will be happy with their acquisition of such a huge name in Giannis, and Milwaukee themselves will be thrilled with what they managed to recoup for their star player, meaning the deal works for all parties involved.

A 2026 World Cup pundit has come under serious fire for disgusting comments he made during the match between Belgium and Iran on Sunday afternoon.

Belgium and Iran both opened up their World Cup campaigns with a draw. Iran shared the spoils in an entertaining match against New Zealand, while Belgium were held to a goalless draw by Egypt.

Both sides went into their clash at Los Angeles Stadium knowing that a victory would almost certainly see them seal their progression to the knockout rounds of the competition.

However, neither side could find a winner as they drew 0-0.

REUTERS/Daniel Cole

Belgium needed Lille ace Nathan Ngoy to step up in the absence of star player, Jeremy Doku. However, the 23-year-old was shown a straight red card in the 67th minute after dragging Mehdi Teremi when clear on goal.

Rade Bogdanovic, a former Serbian footballer who was capped three times by FR Yugoslavia, has come under fire for making racist comments in the aftermath of Ngoy’s error.

The 56-year-old, who played for the likes of Atletico Madrid and Werder Bremen in his playing career, said on RTS, per the Mirror:

“I played with them. Sometimes we had to protect our own players from making mistakes. Modern football doesn’t allow this kind of error at World Cup level.”

After being challenged by the presenter, the 56-year-old added: “If we wanted to go into details, we could. They make mistakes too. Of course I’m not generalising, but the majority lack concentration and then situations like this happen.”

Bogdanovic and RTS Release Statements

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Kirby Lee

Bogdanovic has apologised for his comments. He told Reuters, per the BBC: “I sincerely apologise for my statement regarding black football players.”

RTS also released a statement. They said: “We would like to inform the public that Mr Rade Bogdanovic is not employed by our company, but has been engaged as an expert commentator for the duration of the tournament.

Despite his comments, Bogdanovic was back in the RTS studio on Tuesday for Argentina’s 2-0 win against Austria.

Arsenal could make an astounding transfer decision this summer as Mikel Arteta and Andrea Berta look to carefully tweak their squad. The Gunners are coming off the back of a superb season that saw them win the Premier League and come within a whisker of the Champions League title.

Having had such success, Arteta won’t want to make big changes to his squad, but there are a couple of positions he wants to upgrade, and it’s likely he will need to source replacements for some of the depth players who could be offered starting jobs elsewhere.

But it’s the more ruthless upgrade decisions that are going to be the hardest to make, and indeed the most difficult to get right, and one reported idea is certain to split opinion.

Odegaard could be up for sale

According to the BBC’s Sami Mokbel, Arsenal could be open to the idea of selling captain Martin Odegaard this summer. He said: “There have been some whispers over the summer that Arsenal might be interested in letting Martin Ødegaard go for the right price.”

Selling Odegaard would be a stunning decision from Arsenal, given how important the Norwegian has been during this successful run.

Odegaard has had some injury issues in the last couple of seasons, but there hasn’t been anything truly lengthy, and he made 36 appearances across all competitions during the season just gone.

The Norwegian provided eight assists during that time, but he did only manage one goal, and there is no doubting he will have wanted to have produced more in front of goal. While ruthless decisions have worked out for Arteta in the past, you do wonder what selling such an important member of the team would do to a largely settled Arsenal squad.

With Odegaard under contract until 2028, it’s not clear what Arsenal would view as a suitable offer to sell, but it would likely be a big fee.

Arteta is clearly a big fan of the attacking midfielder, saying in October: “That creativity is part of his nature. It doesn’t bring any pressure to him because it’s his best ability to generate things that not a lot of players can do. He has total freedom from my side to do and to explore and to take risks and to feel the movement and where he needs to be to generate those spaces. I think he’s certainly done that in the last two games.”

The Rogers factor

One possible key factor is the potential signing of Aston Villa star Morgan Rogers this summer. Rogers’ best position is in the attacking midfield role, and it’s not ideal to sign a player for £80million or so and play him away from his best position. Arsenal also have Eberechi Eze to use in the attacking midfield role.

Though, if Rogers was signed for the number 10 position, it would still leave Arsenal needing a left-winger, albeit the Odegaard fee might help pay for one. Still, the questions will come back to how much Arteta wants to disrupt this team at a moment when there is so much positivity, and given Odegaard’s quality as one of the best number 10s in the world, it’s not as if the upgrade is going to be a sizable one.