There’s a lingering question Milwaukee Bucks fans hope is answered soon, and positively: Will Giannis Antetokounmpo remain a Buck or enter the free agent market?
Much of the balance of NBA power could be at stake with the answer.
In an exclusive interview with WTMJ news partner TODAY’S TMJ4, Antetokounmpo agent Alex Saratsis doesn’t give a full answer, as he leaves the defending NBA MVP’s options open. But the odds seem very possible that his long-term home could be Milwaukee.
“Is he a client you could see staying with one team for his whole career?” asked Zervakis.
“Yeah, I think so. Obviously everybody talks about his impending free agency, and I think everything is open,” Saratsis said. “I think he’s someone who could easily say, ‘I’d like to be in Milwaukee my entire career.’ I think he’s also someone who, depending on how the team does, could say, ‘I need a change.’ But for him, staying is absolutely a viable option.”
The Bucks are expected to offer the “supermax” contract to Antetokounmpo. As Forbes describes, that contract would last five years and run 35 percent of the team’s salary cap, with eight percent yearly raises. Only the Bucks would be allowed to sign him to that contract this off-season, per NBA rules.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the salary cap would reach $115 million last year based on current NBA projections. Such a supermax contract would pay Antetokounmpo $40.25 million his first year and more than $56 million in his fifth year, leading to more than a $233 million five-year contract.
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