Giannis Antetokounmpo just sent a message to the Bucks and they better take him serious.
We are in a new era of player empowerment and it makes teams much more accountable. Players can opt to go elsewhere or ask for a trade if their current situation isn’t going to put them in the best position to win a championship. Some hate it but it that’s the way things are now.
Giannis recently did an interview with The NY Times and said that he wouldn’t sign an extension with the Bucks until he knows the team will be in position to compete for championships. The Bucks can offer a 3 year $173 million deal next week but he says it doesn’t make sense.
“Next summer it would make more sense for both parties. Even then, I don’t know,” Antetokounmpo said in the interview. “I would not be the best version of myself if I don’t know that everybody’s on the same page, everybody’s going for a championship, everybody’s going to sacrifice time away from their family like I do. And if I don’t feel that, I’m not signing.”
“At the end of the day, I feel like all my teammates know and the organization knows that I want to win a championship,” he told The Times. “As long as we’re on the same page with that and you show me and we go together to win a championship, I’m all for it. The moment I feel like, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re trying to rebuild’ … there will never be hard feelings with the Milwaukee Bucks.”
“At the end of the day, being a winner, it’s over that goal,” Antetokounmpo told The Times. “Winning a championship comes first. I don’t want to be 20 years on the same team and don’t win another championship.”
He wasn’t just saying that either because he kind of doubled down on those comments. While on a recent podcast, Giannis said that he is a Milwaukee Buck but he’s a winner and if there’s a better situation for him to get a championship he’s going to take it.
"I'm a Milwaukee Buck, but most importantly I'm a winner. … If there is a better situation for me to win the Larry O'Brien I have to take that better situation."
– Giannis 👀👀👀
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) September 13, 2023
The Bucks will be very wise to build a championship team around him or it sounds like he will be gone.
