Giannis - 2X MVP - FMVP - DPOY - Store Grand Opening + Autographs 10/7

[AussieBuck]

Classic Bucks board reactions

[BroncoBuck]

The time away from family line does seem intentional.

It also comes after a particularly disastrous year for Middleton.

FanSpo’s trade machine says:

Recently Signed
Khris Middleton cannot be traded because 3 months have not passed since he was signed. He will be eligible to be traded after Oct 04, 2023.

That accurate?

Khris actually had a very good postseason. 46/40/86 splits. Jrue was the disaster.

[Milbucks96]

The time away from family line does seem intentional.

It also comes after a particularly disastrous year for Middleton.

FanSpo’s trade machine says:

Recently Signed
Khris Middleton cannot be traded because 3 months have not passed since he was signed. He will be eligible to be traded after Oct 04, 2023.

That accurate?

Khris actually had a very good postseason. 46/40/86 splits. Jrue was the disaster.

Right, I will continue to wonder why Khris’s name continues to come up every time some negative bucks news comes out that doesn’t involve him at all lol.

Khris played through an injury in the playoffs and played great, and then signed a really team friendly deal. Idk what more people want from him.

[RiotPunch]

Khris was cheeks defensively in the playoffs, but no denying his commitment/loyalty with that new contract.

[Gianstoppable]

Khris was cheeks defensively in the playoffs, but no denying his commitment/loyalty with that new contract.

To be fair did anyone play good defense vs the Heat this year? Seemed like we were slow to cover but the Heat also shot abnormally well. Khris was the only guy that could knock down a shot.

[Gianstoppable]

Kinda funny cuz if Giannis could hit his free throws they could have repeated

[Ron Swanson]

Can't even blame the media talking heads anymore. Cuz nobody feeds the GIANNIS IS LEAVING panic more than posters on Real-GM-dot-com-slash-Bucks-Board.imo

[emunney]

It did occur to me that he's subtweeting Khris or Jrue with the commitment angle, and the subtext of the interview is "you need to trade him, but not for kids". I just don't think he'd be that indirect, but who knows. I could imagine he might be frustrated by us not being publicly involved in the Dame saga, given their friendship and apparent fit.

[PG Graveyard]

Assuming we don’t trade him. How much less money can another team pay him than we can? I can’t keep track of the contract rules anymore.

[ReasonablySober]

I can't think of another player who would signify the Bucks were all in on winning/spending than going after a dude who's going to be paid $60 million-plus into his late 30s.

[emunney]

Assuming we don’t trade him. How much less money can another team pay him than we can? I can’t keep track of the contract rules anymore.

Because he's at 10 years of service, the first year salary would no longer be different; it'd be 35% of the cap. The difference is we'd be able to offer larger raises (8% vs. 5% of the first contract year) and an extra year. Collapse the numbers and it's 4.3x for another team and 5.8x for us, where x is whatever 35% of the cap is in the first year of the new contract.

But just comparing the shared timeframe (1st 4 years), it's 4.3x vs 4.48x, only a ~4% difference. Not a compelling reason to stay by itself.

[buckboy]

This one is different. He went to the NY Times and gave an interview to a reporter, who frankly I hadn’t heard of before.

The big statements I took away:

-Don’t ask about an extension. I’m not signing one this year.

-I’m not staying for any type of rebuild around me.

What I’m reading into it is his recent knee surgery put the first fear of god in him that his career isn’t infinite. He’s passed the halfway point or more. He wants a big move.

I think we need to put it all out there for Dame and hope Portland bites.

Jrue to a third team for young players the Blazers want or expiring salary and picks, Portis to a third team for one more late first to pass along to the Blazers, Allen’s expiring to the Blazers, Marjon to the Blazers, 29 first and 28/30 swaps to the Blazers.

Not directed at you specifically because others have suggested something similar, but do we think that team wins it all?

Because I don't. Every guard/wing worth a **** will feast. I have no interest in Dame personally.

[raferfenix]

It did occur to me that he's subtweeting Khris or Jrue with the commitment angle, and the subtext of the interview is "you need to trade him, but not for kids". I just don't think he'd be that indirect, but who knows. I could imagine he might be frustrated by us not being publicly involved in the Dame saga, given their friendship and apparent fit.

I could see this too.

Seems more likely to me that Khris would be the one accused of not sacrificing doing whatever it takes to get his body right. Jrue having brain farts in the playoffs seems like a different issue.

The Bucks were strongly linked to Bradley Beal of course which would have required one of them. If Giannis is down on either and wants to trade 1 and the rest of our picks for Dame that absolutely could lead to this kind of NYT interview.

[emunney]

It did occur to me that he's subtweeting Khris or Jrue with the commitment angle, and the subtext of the interview is "you need to trade him, but not for kids". I just don't think he'd be that indirect, but who knows. I could imagine he might be frustrated by us not being publicly involved in the Dame saga, given their friendship and apparent fit.

I could see this too.

Seems more likely to me that Khris would be the one accused of not sacrificing doing whatever it takes to get his body right. Jrue having brain farts in the playoffs seems like a different issue.

The Bucks were strongly linked to Bradley Beal of course which would have required one of them. If Giannis is down on either and wants to trade 1 and the rest of our picks for Dame that absolutely could lead to this kind of NYT interview.

I could be imagining it but I feel like Jrue has put on weight. If you remember at the time of the Beal stuff, it was specifically leaked that Khris was *not* involved. And then Khris was let in the room for coach interviews. No reports on Jrue in either case.

By all accounts, Jrue seems like a wonderful human being. But he does have priorities beyond (ahead of?) basketball. Could be Giannis has had his inner Jordan bottled up but a mid-career crisis has it scratching at the walls.

[jimmybones]

Would be weird to declare anything about future contract. Not a big deal.

Sent from my LM-K500 using RealGM mobile app

Yup. Waiting until next summer was always the smart financial move. Keeping his options open is also smart. I'm not going to spend the next year all worked up about it.

Love your optimism but comes off more like denial to me. Of course he has no obligation to declare anything definitive yet but his tone is pretty clearly different here. He's even talking in past tense of his time here. Of course it means nothing official at this moment and I hope you're right but it doesn't feel great.

[jimmybones]

Seems more likely to me this is directed at teammates not committing to the work it takes to win like he is and not a shot at the organization for not doing more to build the team/make a splash move. Obviously could be wrong, but it seems totally plausible that Giannis's hunger to win another title is that much greater than some of his teammates and he perceives them (right or wrong) as coasting and not wanting in bad enough.

[stillgotgame]

Seems more likely to me this is directed at teammates not committing to the work it takes to win like he is and not a shot at the organization for not doing more to build the team/make a splash move. Obviously could be wrong, but it seems totally plausible that Giannis's hunger to win another title is that much greater than some of his teammates and he perceives them (right or wrong) as coasting and not wanting in bad enough.

Hard for me to think he’s more hungry than other players when he can’t make his free throws. Making 10/23 in an OT elimination game is inexcusable. Should be building the form for them and practicing all summer.
He also needs to lay off the strength training. As he gets older his knees will get progressively worse. He should focus on getting lighter not heavier and stronger.

[VooDoo7]

Kinda funny cuz if Giannis could hit his free throws they could have repeated

This take is so silly, and quite a stretch.

His FT shooting cost them one game. Had he made more and we won, MIA still would've been up 3-2 in the series...in the 1st round. Long ways to go to win the Chip.

People acting like he crapped the bed at the line during game 7 of the Finals or something.

[MickeyDavis]

Would be weird to declare anything about future contract. Not a big deal.

Sent from my LM-K500 using RealGM mobile app

Yup. Waiting until next summer was always the smart financial move. Keeping his options open is also smart. I'm not going to spend the next year all worked up about it.

Love your optimism but comes off more like denial to me. Of course he has no obligation to declare anything definitive yet but his tone is pretty clearly different here. He's even talking in past tense of his time here. Of course it means nothing official at this moment and I hope you're right but it doesn't feel great.

Denial? I'm not denying anything. Of course he might not sign the extension. I'm just not going to worry about it for the next year ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Ryan5UW]

Yup. Waiting until next summer was always the smart financial move. Keeping his options open is also smart. I'm not going to spend the next year all worked up about it.

Love your optimism but comes off more like denial to me. Of course he has no obligation to declare anything definitive yet but his tone is pretty clearly different here. He's even talking in past tense of his time here. Of course it means nothing official at this moment and I hope you're right but it doesn't feel great.

Denial? I'm not denying anything. Of course he might not sign the extension. I'm just not going to worry about it for the next year ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

How dare you not Chicken Little this article!