COULD WARRIORS BE SETTING UP FOR ANTETOKOUNMPO?
Kevin Durant may have left town, but the Warriors might not be done “ruining the NBA,” according to an ESPN report.
Should Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo become a free agent in 2021, the Warriors are “a big threat” to sign the NBA’s most recent MVP and create another super team, Ramona Shelbourne said Monday on “The Jump.”
Milwaukee has said it will offer the super max (five years, $247 million) to Antetokounmpo as a means of keeping the threetime All-Star who just led the Bucks to the NBA’s best record. However, there may be reasons to believe he could look toward the Bay Area to play with Stephen Curry, with whom he’s developed a friendship with off the floor.
“The one team lurking out there — I don’t know how this would happen — but the Warriors have always been the big threat to go after Giannis,” Shelbourne said. “It would be a difficult construction to make happen, but that is the one looming threat.”
Those into reading the tea leaves will point out Antetokounmpo shares the same agency as Curry and, when making the first pick for the NBA All-Star draft, the 6-foot-11 Milwaukee star selected Curry. Two years ago, it was Curry who grabbed “The Greek Freak” with his first pick as an All-Star captain.
In addition, the small-market Bucks may have hurt their chances of re-signing Antetokounmpo with a controversial trade this summer. Bucks general manager Jon Horst admitted the team traded restricted free agent and former Rookie of the Year Malcolm Brogdon to the Pacers partly because of a desire to avoid paying the NBA’s luxury tax. Faced with a decision of matching Brogdon’s four-year, $85 million offer sheet, the Bucks dealt a core starter for a firstround pick and two second-round picks.
If Antetokounmpo is looking to play for a team that will pay whatever it costs in order to win a championship, he needs only to look at the team opening a new arena with three recent NBA championship banners hanging in it.
Of course, with a salary cap, there are always going to be financial obstacles to overcome before squeezing multiple All-Stars onto a roster. The Warriors did it to bring in Durant and they would certainly have to get creative if acquiring Antetokounmpo becomes a serious possibility.