Milwaukee Bucks
MILWAUKEE, WI (WSAU-WRN) — It’s an unavoidable question for Milwaukee Bucks players and coaches as training camp continues.
What’s the situation with Giannis Antetokounmpo’s contract?
The Greek Freak is in the last year of his latest deal with the Bucks and qualifies for one of the NBA’s rare “Super-Max” extensions, also known as a “Designated Veteran Player Extension.”
Coach Mike Budenholzer says he doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking about the situation, but he knows it’s there.
“To me, it’s all about winning with Giannis. That’s all he cares about. So, from a coach’s perspective, it makes it very easy to have great conversations with him. I think he’s in a really good place, we’re in a good place. We want to win at the highest levels, and he wants the same thing,” said Budenholzer.
Budenholzer adds that he doesn’t get many calls about the issue either, and even if he did he likely wouldn’t answer or return the message anyway. “I’m not the best phone guy,” he added.
Teammate Pat Connaughton adds that the issue isn’t being talked about much in the locker room, but says Giannis knows that his teammates have his back.
A Super-Max deal would be a costly one for the Bucks, as it would give Giannis a five-year deal valued at 35% of the current salary cap, with an eight percent pay raise each year. The deal is designed to help teams like the Bucks keep their star players and build around them, instead of watching them leave for bigger markets like Los Angeles or New York.
To qualify a player must meet one of three sets of criteria for service time and be recently recognized as an NBA MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, or All-NBA team in the last three years. A player with seven or eight years of service in the league and two years remaining on his current deal can sign a four-year Super Max contract as long as he will have six years of service with his current club at the end of the deal.
A player with seven or eight years of service and one year left on his current contract can sign a five-year Super Max deal, again as long as he will have six years of service with his current club at the end of the deal.
Lastly, a free agent with eight or nine years of service can sign a Super Max deal for five years with any club.
Only a handful of players qualified for Super-Max contracts in 2018, the last full NBA season. The 2019-’20 campaign was cut short due to COVID-19. The playoffs were then contested in a single-site bubble format in Orlando without fans.
It remains unclear what impact that will have on league revenue, which is a large factor in determining the salary cap each season.
A team can have no more than two “Super-Max” contracts on the books at once, but it’s rare for a team to have even one at a time. Two such deals would tie up 70% of the salary cap, leaving little room for role players.
Comments