Bucks ‘cautiously confident’ they’ll sign Giannis Antetokounmpo to long-term deal
The Milwaukee Bucks are pulling out all the stops in order to secure Giannis Antetokounmpo’s future with the team beyond next season.
The team’s biggest effort this NBA offseason was to trade for Jrue Holiday, who is arguably the best perimeter defender in the league today. That move and others that were made ahead of the 2020-21 campaign might be enough to convince him to stay long-term as the Bucks are reportedly “cautiously confident” they can keep him, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
Want $250 to bet on NBA futures?
Internally, league sources said, the Bucks have gone from cautiously optimistic to cautiously confident in recent weeks that the outcome will be favorable when Antetokounmpo returns from Greece, where he has been since mid-September.
Although the Bucks have made a solid effort to make the team intriguing enough to convince Giannis that this is the place to be, there’s no way to tell at this point whether it will get him to put pen to paper before the upcoming season or after next season.
Read: Drew Brees Rib Injury More Serious Than Initially Reported
If Antetokounmpo hits free agency after the 2020-21 season, the majority of the teams in the league with cap space to sign him will try everything within their power to bring him in. The Bucks will have no shortage of contenders with the Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors and Miami Heat potentially at the top of the list of suitors.
