Knicks have eye on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s unsure Bucks future
There’s apparently a storm cloud coming over Milwaukee that might doubtlessly rock the NBA.
After the Bucks have been eliminated in the first-round of the playoffs, and Milwaukee fired its head coach Mike Budenholzer on Thursday, all eyes are on Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Throughout an look on Friday’s installment of “First Take,” ESPN senior NBA author Brian Windhorst mentioned the league is monitoring the Bucks’ scenario this offseason because of “uncertainty” surrounding Antetokounmpo, who’s up for a contract extension in September.
Whereas discussing the Bucks’ future, Windhorst appeared to indicate that the Knicks are maintaining a quiet eye on Antetokounmpo’s situation in Milwaukee.
“The New York Knicks for instance, they’ve 97 % of their consideration on the Miami Warmth [in the Eastern Conference semifinals playoff series], and three % of their consideration on Milwaukee,” Windhorst mentioned, earlier than he requested repeatedly: “What’s occurring over there?
“Now, I used to be in Cleveland with LeBron James,” Windhorst, who was reported on James since his highschool days, added. “LeBron James was a nonrenewable useful resource for Cleveland. He walks out the door, he’s not coming again. In Milwaukee, Giannis Antetokounmpo is a nonrenewable useful resource… When Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] left [Milwaukee], they didn’t return to the [NBA] Finals for over 40 years.
“So I might say that the Bucks would possibly do every little thing they presumably can and exhaust themselves to maintain this collectively, however I don’t know what’s going to occur, and that uncertainty is likely one of the greatest storylines within the NBA.”
Windhorst advised that Antetokounmpo might wait and see if the Bucks resign free agent veterans Brook Lopez and Khris Middleton — however questioned if Milwaukee could have the capital.
“There isn’t a indication that [Antetokounmpo] has on condition that he needs to depart, but when he doesn’t prolong, it’s a significant pink flag for what’s occurring with the group [Milwaukee],” Windhorst mentioned. “And he’s going to sit down there and watch whether or not they signal [Brook] Lopez and [Khris] Middleton and I’m unsure they’re going to have the ability to do it. Are they going to have the identical group, are they going to put out a whole lot of hundreds of thousands in taxes for Middleton and Lopez? I don’t know.
“Is Giannis going to increase? I don’t know. And that uncertainty is what the league is watching proper now.”
Windhorst was making his rounds within the morning present circuit and first touted a theory on “Get Up” that former Bucks proprietor Marc Larsy bought the group mid-season in February as a result of “he knew there have been issues coming for the franchise.”
“One of many huge causes he bought was as a result of he noticed a storm cloud on the horizon with this group and the primary clap of thunder simply occurred,” Windhorst mentioned. “… Budenholzer needed to take the autumn as a result of they went out within the first spherical.”
Milwaukee fired its head coach Thursday, after his top-seeded group was eliminated in the first round by the No. 8 seed Warmth.
It might be a rocky offseason for the Bucks entrance workplace because the group is within the luxurious tax repeater for the primary time with two star free brokers.
In the meantime, within the playoffs, the Knicks are presently targeted on making it to the Jap Convention Finals for the primary time since 2000.
Sport 3 of the Knicks-Warmth sequence is ready for Saturday in Miami.