Giannis Antetokounmpo inked a 4-year, $100 million extension back in September that will keep him with the Bucks through 2021, ensuring Milwaukee that its budding superstar will lead the way into his prime. However, despite the Bucks having four more years of control over Antetokounmpo (and Giannis being willing to take a discount to help them out), that hasn’t stopped the rumors from circling about the future of the Greek Freak.
If you’re projecting the next wave of superstars to take over the league in the 2020s, Antetokounmpo is at or near the top of the list, along with Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Davis, the other under-25 stars in the league. When he hits free agency in 2021, Giannis will be 26 years old with at least two more max deals to come during his prime years (health pending), and he will be the hottest commodity on the market.
Free agency in 2021 seems like an eternity from now, but teams are already thinking about how they can potentially pluck Antetokounmpo away from the Bucks four years from now, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Wojnarowski went on The Russillo Show on ESPN Radio on Wednesday, and explained how the Bucks’ organizational dysfunction that was on display this offseason with their GM search has sparked the idea that Antetokounmpo could grow frustrated with Milwaukee and look to go elsewhere when he’s able (as transcribed by Jordan Heck of Sporting News).
https://twitter.com/RussilloShow/status/882997405280604166
“Milwaukee’s going to go through this with the Greek Freak,” Woj said. “That day’s coming, right? Where he’s going to look and say, ‘Where is this organization? What are they doing here?’ Like, you don’t think Giannis has been watching what went on there for the last several months? Of what they allowed to go on with the front office? He’s watching it. And the clock has started. Everybody in the league is trying to figure out how they are going to get him out of there. That has started.”
It’s, if nothing else, a message to the Bucks organization to figure their internal issues out soon or risk losing the biggest star their organization has had in the past few decades and a guy that has the potential to be the best player in the league. Teams will line up to get a chance at bringing in Antetokounmpo as he enters his prime years, and the Bucks’ dysfunction has, to this point, been masked by Giannis’ other worldly abilities.
Like Utah did around Hayward, Milwaukee has done very well piecing together a playoff team that seems to be growing together, but the alleged infighting and inability to come to a consensus on important decisions, such as hiring a GM, make it plausible that Antetokounmpo and his camp could be wary of sticking around long term. Giannis has embraced Milwaukee and the fans quickly embraced him, which would make it terribly sad if that market were to lose a star that seemed to actively enjoy being there because of frustration with ownership or how decisions were being made.
The rest of the league is licking their chops at the thought of adding Antetokounmpo and if you thought the Gordon Hayward saga was interesting this year, just wait for 2021 when Giannis hits the market amid a feeding frenzy of teams trying to snatch him out of Milwaukee.
