Giannis Antetokounmpo earned his third consecutive All-NBA selection this season. After back-to-back second-team nods in each of the last two years, the presumed frontrunner for the league’s Most Valuable Player award unsurprisingly earned an unanimous first-team selection when the teams were announced on Thursday afternoon. Because of this, Antetokounmpo is now in line to make a whole lot of money when next summer rolls around.
Antetokounmpo is eligible for an extension from the Milwaukee Bucks during the 2020 offseason. According to Bobby Marks of ESPN, the Greek Freak is eligible for an extension worth a hair above $247 million, which would be the largest in league history.
Earning All-NBA for a second consecutive season now has Giannis Antetokounmpo eligible in the summer of 2020 to sign the largest contract in NBA history. The five-year extension starting in 2021-22 would be worth $247.3M and carry a $42.6, $46.0, $49.5, $52.9 and $56.3M cap hit.
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) May 23, 2019
Article II, Section 7 of the league’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement lays out how Antetokounmpo is eligible for this much cash. You can read the whole thing right here, but it’s a whole lot of legalese. What you need to know is that players in Antetokounmpo’s position are eligible for a supermax extension — one that takes up to 35 percent of a team’s cap space — if:
(i) the player was named to the All-NBA first, second, or third team, or was named Defensive Player of the Year, in the immediately preceding Season or in two (2) Seasons during the immediately preceding three (3) Seasons; or (ii) the player was named NBA MVP during one of the immediately preceding three (3) Seasons (the “Designated Veteran Player 35% Max Criteria”)
The current largest deal belongs to Russell Westbrook, who signed an extension worth $205 million during the 2017 offseason, and as Tim Bontemps of ESPN pointed out, the Oklahoma City Thunder star is one of three players to sign a supermax deal, the others being Steph Curry, James Harden, and John Wall.
