Giannis has sent a message to the Bucks and the rest of the league by signing an extension that no one saw coming, and NBA insider Brian Windhorst was admittedly a little confused by the move.
“It’s questionable. This is a gift he’s given to the Bucks organization,” Windhorst said on First Take. “Yes, it gives him some financial protection. But he could’ve signed the same deal at the end of the season. So now he gets in the position where if they have a down year — I don’t expect that to happen, but I thought they were going to maybe win it all last year — now he’s locked in for four more years.
“So Giannis gave up a marginal amount of leverage to lock in some financial security and set up his contract for the rest of his career. Absolutely not something that needed to happen for the Bucks, so a huge win for them locking him down. And a vote of confidence for this team going into this regular season.”
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith was not having any of Windy’s logic and claimed that his ESPN colleague should be drug tested for his take.
“When they told me they were going to ask me this question, I have to confess to you that I said for the first time I think that Brian Windhorst needs to be drug tested,” Smith said. “The reason why I came to that conclusion, Windy, is because all I could see was three years, $186 million. You divide that by three and it comes up to $62 million a year. What the hell you mean it’s a questionable decision? There’s no questionable decision about $62 million a year.”
Windhorst replied with, “Were you worried he wasn’t going to get paid for the next three years?”
“No, it wasn’t that,” Smith replied. “But you never know — injuries. Anything could happen. Life is life. Tomorrow ain’t guaranteed baby… you don’t sit up there and pass up $62 million.”
Giannis’ contract is a three-year, $186 million max contract that includes a player option in the final year.
The move certainly makes it appear that Giannis believes they’ve got all the pieces to compete for a championship.
With a new point guard in Damian Lillard and a fresh coach at the helm, it seems as though Giannis is completely buying in.