Brandon Jennings is starting sway back and forth like a palm tree.
For the past few months, Jennings has been throwing subtle hints through the media that he was looking to escape Milwaukee. He turned down a 4-year $40 million contract extension from the Bucks, said that he wants to play for a contender and has voiced his displeasure with coaching decisions on more than one occasion.
Before the Bucks succumbed to the Miami Heat in four games in their playoff series on Sunday, Jennings did an interview with Scoop Jackson of ESPN, and backtracked on his aforementioned stance with regards to his future in Milwaukee.
“I said some things, you know, that I probably shouldn’t have to make [the fans] think that [these might be my last days],” Jennings said to me after the Game 3 loss. “But in general I wouldn’t want to leave without actually accomplishing something here and that’s getting out of the first round or something like that.”
Jennings is a restricted free agent after the season meaning, he can sign a deal with another team with the Bucks having the right to match it if they so choose or, he can sign a qualifying offer and become unrestricted in 2014. But it seems that the Bucks point guard has had an epiphany of sorts and may not want to leave after all.
“At the end of the day they have supported me here since day one,” Jennings said about the Bucks and Milwaukee. “The good and the bad. From my rookie year, from being a little guy that came from Italy that nobody knew about, they still had my back through it all. So at the end of the day, I still love this town and hopefully I’ll be here.”
Jennings didn’t give a good account of himself in the playoff series against Miami, and his stock has taken a significant hit because of it. The best option for him would probably be to take the qualifying offer and become an unrestricted free agent in 2014.