It’ll be the talk for a while, Giannis Antetokounmpo signed a three-year contract extension to remain a member of the Milwaukee Bucks.
There had been a ton of speculation thrown around prior to the signing, saying his future was unclear, people were saying he was going to find a different team if the Bucks didn’t win a championship, but all that got thrown out the window once Giannis put the pen to paper and made it official.
Giannis Antetokounmpo Reveals Why He Signed the Extension
Giannis spoke to members of the media on Tuesday, who were all buzzing to hear what he had to say about signing the extension, his future in Milwaukee, and why sign it now. Andrew Wagner of the Journal Sentinel asked him of all places he could go to win a championship, why Milwaukee? Why stay here and sign an extension? Giannis’ answer just might have you loving him a little more:
“For me, one of my, I don’t know, disadvantages, I’ll say, (is) that I’m very loyal. Even though you might hurt me or do something to me, I always try to forgive you and see the best in you. If you were there for me in the beginning, I’m there for you for the rest of our lifetime.
“For the Milwaukee Bucks organization, they’ve been there with me since the beginning, they’ve changed my life, they changed my family’s life. My kids were born in Milwaukee, WI. That’s what their passport says. My mom is here enjoying her life. My dad spent a couple years here before he passed away. My brothers went to school here – private school that before I came here I was not able to afford in my lifetime…They’ve changed my life tremendously. I’m extremely happy.
“I know the ins and outs of the city. The city shows me a lot of love and also whenever I go out there and have time with my family, they also give me space, which is crazy to me. When they see me on the street, they give me space. They respect who I am as a person and what I’ve done for the city of Milwaukee. And for that, I can’t turn my back. Not now, not in the future, not never. And I want to be committed, I want to give back to the city of Milwaukee.
“We won one championship, but I believe that we can win a second. I’m going to try my best, I’m going to do what I always do, which is try to have fun while playing the game and I hope I can create another parade in the near future that 600,000 people, the whole (city) of Milwaukee can be out there celebrating, no matter the color of your skin: white, black, everybody was out there celebrating something that happened after 50 years. For me, I cannot take that lightly and I hope that we can do that again.”
Giannis even revealed that he didn’t even take a look at the numbers in his extension, he just signed it. He said it was the first time in his career that he didn’t know the numbers, he just signed it because he wants to be here in Milwaukee.
“It was the first time in my NBA career I didn’t know the number of my contract. I just signed it because I wanted to be here.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo wasn’t sure when his new contract extension runs through (2026-27 season with a player option 2027-28). pic.twitter.com/uXAB7nNcaf
— Scott Grodsky (@ScottGrodsky) October 24, 2023
It’s hard to hate a guy that wants to stay in a city not for the money, but for the people. Even though there had been comments made that he was more than willing to leave the city, the team came back and showed Giannis that the number one objective of winning a championship is still their top priority. Antetokounmpo demanded of the Bucks that they make the right moves in order to have a winning roster and they did, so he committed his future to being a Milwaukee Buck for the rest of his career.
Giannis is here to stay. pic.twitter.com/eaQXay5Z6k
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) October 25, 2023
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