“You talk about taking a charge, absorb the drive all you want but it’s coach speak, it’s fool’s gold, you can’t do it.” This is how Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown described Giannis Antetokounmpo after falling to the Milwaukee Bucks at the Wells Fargo Center.
But is this really a surprise to anyone? Is this a hidden fact or something up to debate? Not at all. By now, everyone knows of Giannis’ dominance of the NBA. Becoming the earliest team in league history to clinch a playoff spot (56 games), Giannis has taken the Milwaukee Bucks to historic feats. With career highs in points and rebounds, the reining MVP looks primed to win the award in consecutive seasons. However, despite the NBA community’s universal acknowledgement of Giannis’ talent and skills, there still does remain one question clouding him. The supermax.
Will he sign the Supermax?
This has been the question surrounding Giannis, the Bucks and the NBA since the past off-season. We all know how good he is, how good he will be, and how good his team is. But what everyone wants to know is, will sign the supermax with the Bucks?
The NBA supermax is a new bargaining tool implemented by the NBA to give players an incentive to re-sign with their current team. Now there are a number of criteria that have to be met, which I will go over in a further article but all you need to know is this. Giannis’ supermax offer will 5 years for roughly 250 million. This would become the most lucrative deal in NBA history.
However for Giannis, dollar bills are not a concern as of now. Back in September of 2019 during the Bucks’ media day, Giannis was asked about whether he would re-sign with Milwaukee.
Though professional in nature, his response didn’t give the utmost hope for Bucks fans. Giannis simply replied that he didn’t want to talk about it at the moment and the time wasn’t right. Now this wasn’t terrible news though, it was probably the smart thing to say being put on the spotlight like that. We all do remember what happened with Kyrie Irving don’t we? Early in the season, coming out in front of everyone in the stadium and saying he wanted to re-sign with Boston. Ultimately ended up leaving for Brooklyn the very next summer.
Therefore, this response by Giannis shouldn’t be nothing to stress over too much about. Additionally, Bucks fans can get a little assurance by all the belief from the NBA community that Giannis will in fact sign the supermax. Despite Jalen Rose claiming it’s a bad sign for Bucks fans that Giannis dodged the question, many others, including Tom Thibodeau and Tracy McGrady, firmly believe he won’t go anywhere.
Lakers or Warriors?
Now there are many out there that have been going around and blowing up the Giannis to LA or Golden State rumors. And it easy to do so, especially after Giannis’ comments about teaming up with his brothers at some point, whether in “Milwaukee or LA.”
Frenzy regarding his off season decision was also stirred by headlines from Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report, who reported that the Warriors may be compiling a package to trade for the superstar if he decides not to re-sign.
“Some around the league believe the Golden State Warriors acquired a first-round pick from the Minnesota Timberwolves, along with Andrew Wiggins, with the notion of a potential future trade with the Bucks.”
Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report
The best sign for Bucks fans is what league executives currently believe. Tim Bontemps of ESPN reported that execs across the league expect Giannis to re-sign with the Bucks, which would presumably be the supermax.
“Given how well the Bucks are playing, every executive we spoke to expects Antetokounmpo to re-sign with Milwaukee.”
From Tim Bontemps article, ” Nine chaotic moments that could shake up the suddenly stable NBA
My thoughts
I too believe Giannis will sign the supermax with the Bucks. Giannis is still so young, even if he ever wanted to leave, he can do so after his next contract. But for now, I do not see him being lured by the draw of the big city markets. Giannis is a basketball guy. He’s not the lifestyle guy, the money guy, the endorsement guy, the trophy cabinet guy, or the party guy. Basketball is first when it comes to him. That is why Giannis will not be leaving.
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