Giannis Antetokounmpo will be a free agent in 2021, a cool four years from now. And, well, the Milwaukee Bucks and their fans better hope he’s in a position to win right where he is, otherwise he might leave.
Maybe.
Possibly.
We really have no damn idea.
Antetokounmpo has repeatedly stated his intention to remain with the Bucks forever and ever. But he recently made some comments essentially defending Kevin Durant’s decision to join the Golden State Warriors. They have been relayed to us via Ben Rohrbach of Yahoo Sports:
“A lot of people say they’re going to stay on the team, and they decide to move to a different city, but you guys have always got to remember that a guy might want to stay on a team, but the team doesn’t do the right thing or the right moves for the player to become great,” said Antetokounmpo. “KD, the only reason he wanted to stay in OKC was to win a championship, right? So, did they win the championship? That’s why he decided to leave. Did he win a championship in Golden State? So, sometimes it’s not only the player, because sometimes it’s not up to the player.”
This is kind of a big deal, because it comes on the heels of ESPN.com’s Adrian Wojnarowski talking about how teams are already trying to get Antetokounmpo out of Milwaukee:
.@wojespn says Hayward's exit from Utah should put the Bucks on high alert because teams are already trying to get Giannis out of Milwaukee? pic.twitter.com/4zw5yBRGtA
— Carlin vs. Joe (@CarlinvsJoe) July 6, 2017
This report(?) was, of course, followed by this:
I got loyalty inside my DNA ?
— Giannis Antetokounmpo (@Giannis_An34) July 7, 2017
Yeesh.
Calls for Antetokounmpo are obviously going to roll in. That’s the nature of the NBA. General managers and team presidents are always phoning rivals just to check in, and Antetokounmpo has established himself as a top-10 talent. You’d almost be foolish not to see what the deal is on a tri-monthly basis or something.
Still, Antetokounmpo is under contract. The Bucks have no reason to move him. They’ll have even less of a reason to move him if he, as expected, eventually qualifies for a designated player extension that guarantees him way more money far sooner than any free-agent destination could.
If we get to 2019, or perhaps 2020, and the Bucks haven’t visibly climbed up the Eastern Conference ladder, then yeah, maybe it’s time to start worrying. But that gives Milwaukee a minimum of two years to figure things about before it even has to start thinking about Antetokounmpo being two years away from pulling a Durant.
Which, in the end, is just a roundabout way of saying: No, these comments shouldn’t worry the Bucks or their fans.
Yet.
