Many people within the Bucks organization remain confident that Giannis Antetokounmpo will sign the five-year, super-max extension the team is prepared to offer him once the NBA’s new league year begins, writes Zach Lowe of ESPN.
As Lowe writes, the Bucks’ plan if Antetokounmpo doesn’t sign that extension before the start of the 2020/21 season hasn’t changed — the team still has no intention of trading him and is prepared to play out the year with or without a long-term deal in place.
Here’s more on the Bucks from Lowe’s super-sized offseason preview at ESPN.com:
- Confirming an October report that suggested the Bucks will pursue Bogdan Bogdanovic, Lowe says Milwaukee “loves” the Kings‘ restricted free agent swingman. According to Lowe, the Bucks have explored some sign-and-trade ideas involving Bogdanovic that would also see them take on Sacramento forward Harrison Barnes. However, it’s unclear if they’ve engaged in the Kings in any real trade talks or if those discussions have been mostly internal and/or exploratory.
- The Bucks are keeping an eye on Pacers guard Victor Oladipo, but no substantive talks have taken place yet between Milwaukee and Indiana, sources tell ESPN. Many of the teams monitoring Oladipo would like to see him in action again before engaging with the Pacers, Lowe adds.
- There has been no traction – and possibly no talks – on a potential Chris Paul trade between the Thunder and Bucks, multiple sources tell Lowe. A previous report indicated that Milwaukee was unlikely to pursue the All-Star point guard.
The Bucks should move Bledsoe for Schroeder.
Totally agree even send dj wilson or 2nd rd pick cause thunder want picks
If I were in the Bucks organization I would bend over to keep Giannis happy. Fancy clothes, expensive cars. I’d even get him his own butler. Otherwise he may look for one somewhere else…
You’re talking about a guy who would go Dutch with the video guy at McDonalds after a workout session at the gym. He’s not into luxury things. He was raised poor in a small apartment with his parents and three brothers. Fancy clothes, luxury cars and a butler are not things that appeal to him
Please don’t dismiss so quickly. Have you ever had a butler before?
Also who is the “video guy at McDonalds” ? Suspicious…
Its a guy who works for the Bucks that films Giannis’ workouts to help with his shooting mechanics. Many nights after games he goes straight to the practice facility to get some additional practice in. So these two have spent a significant amount of time together since Giannis joined the Bucks. But until he signed his 2nd contract was forced to pay for his own meals afterwards because Giannis is known to be quite frugal.
Is there a template these teams use? Because a lot of these “Giannis is absolutely staying put” stories are almost identical to “KD is absolutely staying put” stories.
Is there a template GSW fans use to try to bail out the Iguodala-for-Russell “trade” by making it be to get Giannis from a cowed Milwaukee instead of being a complete money-sucking mistake that ended the run?
Maybe Myers is not such a genius & Warriors just had a spell of luck.
The Warriors run ended when KD went down with a year-long injury and Klay Thompson went down with a year-long injury. 2020 was always going to be an unsuccessful campaign as far as competing for a championship.
When the writing is on the wall, you retool. Are you saying you’d rather keep Andre Iguodala till his age 37 year coming up and make a run minus KD and the same Squad going forward? To me that doesn’t make sense.
Bob Myers is amazing. When Oklahoma City had Kevin Durant in his walk year they did NOTHING. He walked out the door with nothing in return. Same scenario Golden State Warriors… they got younger and picked up D’Angelo Russell. AND a first-round pick from the Wolves.
Yes it cost Andre Iguodala but the last couple years, God love him and there’s no rings without him, but his playing time and availability was slipping. As I said there’s no rings without Andre Iguodala, I firmly believe that he was an amazing pick up. But at age 37 maybe you look to get younger if you can. Thank you Livingston, thank you Iguodala, in comes twenty-two-year-old D’Angelo Russell. I think that’s progress. You don’t think so?
So…. Dante, DJ, Hill, Ersan, and Bledsoe for Bogdan and Barnes? So no point guard?
i just dont get why Giannis chooses Miami. if he gets traded there. they lose a lot of talent/depth. so you are jsut stuck with really 31 year old butler and Bam. and Bam and Giannis do most of their damage in the paint so realastically they wont be playing much on the court together. maybe-18-20 min together. if he chooses to go there next offseason. then butler is 32, you do have herro but then bam is up for an extension- most likly max contract which again limits your free agent signings.
why not pick dallas? they have depth already and will have cap space. play with a top 5 player in the game with luka and play with a huge shooting big man in porzingas. dallas can spread the floor with shooters for giannis when luka and kp are out.
few years ago lebron wasnt a great shooter. esp in miami. kinda like giannias. what did the heat do for bron when wade and bosh on the bench? surround james with shooters. let james either drive and score. or drive and kick it out for a 3.
The Miami plan has always been to go after Giannis as a free agent. Not as a trade Target. And that’s because of exactly what you bring up. Their team would be depleted if they tried trading for him.
“the Bucks’ plan if Antetokounmpo doesn’t sign that extension before the start of the 2020/21 season hasn’t changed — the team still has no intention of trading him”
I’m old enough to remember when the Pelicans said that about Anthony Davis.
Davis wanted to bail on his second contract, got tired of mediocrity. Giannis, besides being a separate person, and from another country, has not had an opportunity to sign a second contract, and the Bucks have dominated in the RS.
Giannis is currently on his second contract. They are identical contractual situations. AD drafted in 2012 and Giannis in 2013
Giannis is clearly not Davis. However, he plays in Milwaukee, so all bets are off.
Two totally different scenarios bro. Anthony Davis wanted out and that was very clear. The Pelicans held out hope to the very end and finally realized, we better trade this guy.
Giannis is totally different. He has said nothing about leaving, yet. And Milwaukee has no aspirations to become anything more than mediocre. “We’ll bring in a guy or two that we can fit within our salary situation.” But no stars are coming to Milwaukee that remains very clear. “And we’ll let Giannis play out his contract in Milwaukee,” that remains very clear. If he walks, he walks.. and the Milwaukee Bucks will go back to being the Milwaukee Bucks before Giannis.
Hopefully they draft well, sign a guy here and there, Brook Lopez, trade for Eric Bledsoe, you know.., huge acquisitions such as those. But they’re fine going back to being the Milwaukee Bucks. And that’s okay.
There ARE differences, but they’re not super relevant if Giannis doesn’t sign on the dotted line. If he leaves Milwaukee and they get nothing in return, that would be a catastrophic loss.
Small market teams know that they have to “cash in” in these situations, and you can bet that Giannis will be traded if he doesn’t sign the extension.
Bucks fans need to hope that EITHER:
a) Giannis is too loyal for his own good (no offense, but he’d be a fool to stay in Milwaukee), or
b) Milwaukee manages to make a spectacular trade (unlikely, but not impossible)
Otherwise, Giannis is a goner.
It’s happened before with Durant and lebron many times , the one off shot at a title for the bucks is not nothing either ! As long as Giannis signals they have a shot to keep him bucks have no reason to cowardly trade him , also like others where saying Davis was telegraphing what he planned to do
First of all, being a “small market” team in the NBA isn’t as big of an issue since there is a salary cap which limits a teams spending. The only difference would be for marketing purposes but Giannis is already making bank on endorsements while playing in Milwaukee. So unless you think he’s going to make an additional $80MM over the next 5 years from being in a larger market like Dallas or Miami he will be leaving significant money on the table by not signing the super max with Milwaukee.
Second, Giannis has stated multiple times he’s not interested in teaming up with other superstars to win championships. He wants to do it on his own unlike LeBron and Durant.
Third, Jason Lancaster, why do you think Giannis would be a fool to sign a super max deal to stay with the team which drafted him and has built a great team around him which compliments his game?
Finally, people seem to be forgetting the biggest factor as to why Giannis is hesitant to sign the super max this offseason. The salary cap is likely to drop this season which reduces the value of a super max contract Milwaukee can offer. If he waits until the following offseason when the salary cap hopefully increases he can maximize his earning potential over the next 5 years. Why shouldn’t he wait a year to see if he can get a bigger contract for the same duration?
1. Giannis will *absolutely* make more money in a large media market than he will in Milwaukee. More fans = more valuable endorsements = more money.
2. I remember when Durant and Davis said the same thing, but maybe Giannis is different?
3. Because Milwaukee ownership sucks, primarily, but also because Milwaukee is a miserable place to live 5 months of the year.
The owners suck because they traded away Brogdon but kept Bledsoe, despite the fact that advanced stats show Brogdon has more upside, and despite Brogdon’s awesome playoff performance his last year in Milwaukee. The team said they had “injury concerns,” but that’s nonsense: Most teams insure player contracts for exactly this reason. If they sign someone to a giant contract and he can’t play, the insurance company pays the salary.
They kept Bledsoe because he was cheaper, and he was cheaper because he can’t shoot very well. But they didn’t want to pay the tax, so…here we are.
4. You’re thinking about money all wrong. NBA salaries are great for journeyman players, but superstars make their money from endorsements. Jordan, LeBron, even Carmelo “I don’t believe in defense and never got close to a championship” Anthony all made more money in endorsements than they did in their max contracts.
And Anthony’s earnings skyrocketed after he was traded from Denver (small market, my hometown) to NYC.
Giannis is a fool if he stays in Milwaukee. Unequivocally.
Jason, you do realize Giannis is already #4 in endorsement earnings for all NBA players? There is this things called the internet which makes every market accessible to the world. So I’m not sure he can get much more exposure than he already gets. If you don’t believe me then how did both Durant and Westbrook consistently make the top 5 while playing in the smallest market (OKC)?
Also I’m guessing you’ve never been to Milwaukee based on your assessment. Also if it’s such a miserable place to live in the winter he doesn’t have to worry about that like the everyday citizens since he’s traveling half that time.
And the new owners are the reason Milwaukee is now a perennial contender. They spent money in free agency, coaching and a new arena. And are also willing to go into the luxury tax to keep Giannis happy. I’m not sure what else they can do for a superstar player.
The reason they kept Bledsoe was because he wanted to stay in Milwaukee and took a hometown discount to do so. Brogdon wanted to play PG and knew it wasn’t going to happen with Bledsoe there. Brogdon also has injury concerns which have kept him from playing an entire season since his rookie year. So spending $20MM per on a player who a) doesn’t want to be there, b) has injury concerns and c) has obvious physical limitations and very likely has reached his ceiling make him expendable.
And the insurance will cover a player’s salary while he’s injured but it still counts towards the salary cap which limits their ability to bring in a quality replacement in the event he does go down for an extended amount of time.
Btw Giannis is different than Davis and Durant because he isn’t an American. He still values a thing called loyalty which is something you see from foreign players who come to the NBA.
Whoa! I don’t know why you gotta be so mad acting like I don’t know what the Interwebs are. LOL.
Yes, I know Giannis is already making money with endorsements. I’m saying he’ll make more in a bigger market.
Yes, I’ve been to Milwaukee. I stand by my assessment. In fact, I’m about as certain as I can be about my assessment. LOL.
Yes, I understand your analysis of the Brogdon situation. I think the problem is you’re way, way too willing to accept the team’s official explanation. My explanation makes way more sense, which is probably why you’re so mad.
Yes, I get that Giannis isn’t Davis or Durant. FWIW, I like Giannis quite a bit, and I appreciate that he may indeed be quite loyal. But if Milwaukee really loves Giannis, they’ll let him go. If he comes back? It was meant to be.
Jason you don’t know what your talking about Brogdon has a bad injury history and we didn’t have a lot of cap space and if we kept him we would have not had Bledsoe who is a good defensive guard unlike Brogdon who is a technical shooting guard but can play PG and we would have had to find a better PG than George Hill but we found Wes Matthews who improved and Brogdon costed a lot of money so we did better in the long term and Brogdon wanted a lucrative contract and he’s been injured 2 times with us and now again with the Pacers so look what we did in the long term.
1. NBA player contracts are usually insured – Brogdon’s injury risks are irrelevant. If he misses a season or his entire career because he’s injury prone, his contract gets covered.
2. The only cap related reason they had to let Brogdon leave was to offer more to Lopez…but the only reason they had to choose was because the extende Bledsoe.
3. Obviously, the Bucks extended Bledsoe because they liked the deal he was willing to sign (in terms of value). If they thought they could have gotten a younger player who was a better shooter (Brogdon) for similar money, they would have kept Brogdon for the same money, right?
So this was all about the money, which is fine. Teams make money based decisions all the time. Hopefully Giannis didn’t view this as a lack of commitment on behalf of ownership, eh?
We did this because if we want players to come to small market teams you have to overpay and Brogdon is better with the Pacers anyway he gets injured pretty much every season. And this year we are trading Lopez and signing a rebounder if we have some cap space available by trading people away.
Althogh Wes is a SG we have George Hill a good shooting PG and Bledsoe a good defensive PG and Wes a good defensive G and Donte a good shooting guard
Althogh Wes is a SG we have George Hill a good shooting PG and Bledsoe a good defensive PG and Wes a good defensive G and Donte a good shooting guard and Giannis doesn’t care about money he would rather win and he wants to be the star if he goes somewhere else he won’t get as much playing time as right now.
Why would he leave if he already has a family here?