Bucks F Giannis Antetokounmpo's decision to stay furthers team's image as championship contender NBAE/GETTY IMAGES
Bucks President Peter Feigin called Giannis Antetokounmpo signing a five-year, $228M supermax contract extension with the team a "monumental event" and "one of the great days in Bucks history," according to Tom Haudricourt of the MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL. During a Milwaukee Press Club luncheon Zoom session yesterday, Feigin said, "This is a really great, great moment. I'm going to call my wife, circle the troops and have a little shouting party" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 12/16). In Milwaukee, Jim Owezarski writes rather than Antetokounmpo being "one of the greatest to play in Milwaukee -- he can be the greatest." The extension "clearly means the window to win a title remains open." For the city, this means a "longer run in the national spotlight, to be talked about as a legitimate championship contender." It also means "more nationally televised broadcasts, marquee matchups on special days, a continued place on the global stage and frankly, relevancy" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 12/16).
BREAKING THE TREND: SI.com's Michael Rosenberg wrote the NBA "does have a big-market/small-market problem," but what it "really has is a superstars-teaming together ... dynamic." The Bucks have "pulled off a rare feat" in signing Antetokounmpo to a third contract. The Trail Blazers did the same with G Damian Lillard. In both cases, the player was "committed to finishing what he started." Rosenberg: "But again, they are exceptions. The question for aspiring teams is how they get an exception of their own." There is a way to make Antetokounmpo the "rule instead of the exception," and it is "pretty simple, actually: Keep the salary cap, but get rid of the whole concept of 'max' contracts" (SI.com, 12/15). In N.Y., Marc Stein notes teams such as the Heat, Raptors and Mavericks had been "managing their payrolls in hopes of making a free-agent run at Antetokounmpo in 2021, but to the Bucks' great relief, teams in flashier markets won't get that chance" (N.Y. TIMES, 12/16).
TRUE BLUE: USA TODAY's Jeff Zillgitt writes the bottom line is the Bucks "can't spend" like the Warriors. They may be "willing to pay some luxury tax, but they're not in [a] financial position to pay what the Warriors do." To exacerbate the problem this season, luxury tax bills "will be lower because actual basketball-related income will be less than pre-pandemic projected BRI." Had Antetokounmpo not signed the extension and left for another team in free agency, it would have been a "massive setback" for the Bucks (USA TODAY, 12/16). In DC, Ben Golliver writes in the "never-ending tug-of-war for superstar talent between big markets and small markets," Antetokounmpo's decision "cuts against the grain." He "didn't show much interest in surveying alternative homes or forming friendships with other stars because he never took for granted Milwaukee's role in his rise" (WASHINTON POST, 12/16).
NEW PLAYING FIELD: In Toronto, Dave Feschuk writes next summer's "most intriguing free-agent target ... was suddenly off the market" and the subsequent "drop-off in viable free-agent options looks awfully steep." Yesterday's announcement "clearly didn't come as a massive surprise to executives around the league" (TORONTO STAR, 12/16). The GLOBE & MAIL's Cathal Kelly writes even by the "outsized standards of right now," the deal is "enormous." It is by some distance the "largest contract in NBA history," and it is "not that far off what they pay entire NHL teams" (GLOBE & MAIL, 12/16). Meanwhile, CBSSPORTS.com's Sam Quinn went with the header, "Here's Why Giannis Antetokounmpo Could Lose Over $25 Million Off Super-Max Contract Due To COVID-19 Fallout" (CBSSPORTS.com, 12/15).
