On Tuesday, two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo announced that he has agreed to a five-year extension with the Milwaukee Bucks. Antetokounmpo announced the decision on Twitter, where he said that he is excited to stay in Milwaukee for at least the next half-decade:
This is my home, this is my city.. I’m blessed to be able to be a part of the Milwaukee Bucks for the next 5 years. Let’s make these years count. The show goes on, let’s get it. 🤎🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/895tCBE9RK
— Giannis Ugo Antetokounmpo (@Giannis_An34) December 15, 2020
Antetokounmpo will make the maximum amount of nearly $230 million over the next five seasons. The Bucks will pay Antetokounmpo about $27.5 million this season before his current contract expires.
While some around the league believed Giannis would ultimately agree to stay with the Bucks, nothing was certain. The Greece native had the ability to enter unrestricted free agency for the first time after the 2020-21 season. Had he done so, he would have become the most highly-sought-after free agent in the NBA since LeBron James left the Cleveland Cavaliers for the first time in the summer of 2010.
Giannis’ Rise Continues
Antetokounmpo has won the league’s Most Valuable Player Award in each of the last two seasons. The Bucks have had the best regular-season record in the NBA over that stretch, but a championship has continued to elude the franchise. Milwaukee was beaten in six games by the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals before losing in five games in the second round of the playoffs at the hands of the Miami Heat this past season.
The Greek Freak has improved his statistical production in each of his first seven years in the NBA. He was originally the No. 15 overall pick in the 2013 draft. He has quickly gone from being a little-known prospect to arguably the NBA’s best player.
Last season, the 26-year-old set career-highs in scoring (29.5 points) and rebounding (13.6) while helping the Bucks to the top seed in the Eastern Conference for the second year in a row. This despite the fact that he averaged just 30.4 minutes per game, which was the second-lowest total of his career. Antetokounmpo didn’t need to play a full complement of minutes on a nightly basis with the Bucks being on the right end of so many blowouts last season.
However, because of the team’s repeated playoff shortcomings, there was the potential that Antetokounmpo could decide to skip town after this season. With the clock potentially ticking on his time in Milwaukee, the Bucks’ front office took an aggressive approach to the offseason.
Bucks’ Busy Offseason
Last month, the Bucks traded Eric Bledsoe, George Hill, and a number of future first-round draft picks to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for Jrue Holiday. Milwaukee swung-and-miss in an attempt to lure Bogdan Bogdanovic out of Sacramento, but the Bucks were able to surround Antetokounmpo with a number of useful veterans, including DJ Augustin, Bobby Portis, Torrey Craig, and Bryn Forbes.
The move certainly solidifies the Bucks as likely championship favorites for the foreseeable future. As of this writing, the Bucks are tied with the Clippers for the third-best odds (+675) of any team to win the title this season. Milwaukee is behind only the Lakers (+250) and Nets (+650).
The Bucks are massive -3300 favorites to win the dreadful Central Division, and they have the best odds of any team (+250) to win the Eastern Conference.
Taylor Smith
Taylor Smith has been a staff writer with GamblingSites.org since early 2017. Taylor is primarily a sports writer, though he will occasionally dabble in other things like politics and entertainment betting. His primary specialties are writing about the NBA, Major League Baseball, NFL and domestic and international soccer. Fringe sports like golf and horse racing aren’t exactly his cup of tea, bu …
