TOUGH TITLE ROAD
Giannis’ deal with Bucks could be major roadblock on Nets’ road to NBA title
Giannis staying with Bucks on max deal certainly makes Nets’ bid for championship even tougher
F or the next five years, the Nets’ long road to the NBA Finals runs the risk of hitting a big, Greek roadblock. Giannis Antetokounmpo isn’t going anywhere. The two-time, reigning NBA MVP, signed a supermax contract worth $228 million on Tuesday to stay with the Bucks for another five years. Antetokounmpo — who averaged about 30 points, 14 rebounds, six assists, a block and a steal with the Bucks last season — wants just one thing: to win a championship for the franchise that gave him an opportunity and developed him into a superstar. That’s a problem. The Nets want the same thing, but they have a shorter window. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving signed max contracts in Brooklyn before the 2019-20 season. One season later, the Nets have nothing but one of the deepest, most overloaded rosters in the NBA to show for it. And it’s unclear whether they even have the best player in the conference. And there’s even more competition in conference than there was before.
STILL THE SAVIOR?
Durant, when healthy, can be the best player in the league, but he still must prove he is the same player who secured consecutive Finals MVP honors with the Warriors before rupturing his Achilles in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals.
That injury cost him all of last season. In his first official game as a Net — albeit a preseason game against a Wizards team that rested both Bradley Beal and Russell Westbrook — Durant scored 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting from the field, recorded three assists, three rebounds and two blocks.
His first basket was a driving dunk. Durant, though, admitted after the game he felt every bit of the charge he took when the 6-8, 230-pound Rui Hachimura trucked him on a drive to the rim. For reference, Antetokounmpo is three inches taller, 12 pounds of muscle heavier than Hachimura and Durant was the only player on the Nets roster remotely capable of matching his size and speed.
Whether Antetokounmpo or KD is the better player to get their respective teams across the finish line has yet to be seen. In Brooklyn, however, all roads to the NBA Finals travel through Milwaukee — and if they somehow avoid a series with the Bucks in their pursuit of a title, something went grossly wrong out north.
NOT THE ONLY THREAT
The once-weakened Eastern Conference is no cake walk.
The Boston Celtics are hoping they can finally crack the code. Gordon Hayward left for Charlotte, but Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart are as talented a group of four players as you’ll find in the league. Their title hopes hinge on Tatum taking his next, biggest leap toward superstardom.
The 76ers found their new head coach. It was out with Brett Brown and in with Doc Rivers, who is now tasked with mission impossible: finding ways to open up the floor so Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons can co-exist with one another.
Then there are the Washington Wizards, which you can’t count out anymore. John Wall was replaced by Russell Westbrook. So, Bradley Beal finally has the help he’s needed every time Wall’s string of injuries kept him off the floor.
And the Miami Heat somehow went back to being underdogs even though they just went to the NBA Finals. The Heat kept their core and improved, adding bulldog defender Avery Bradley and Queens-native Moe Harkless.
The Nets, meanwhile, still need to develop team chemistry, after an offseason headlined by new faces, a new coach, roster uncertainty and roles and rotations that have yet to be defined.
The Nets’ have their work cut-out for them ... and Antetokounmpo has the scissors.
The Bucks suffered a disappointing second-round playoff exit to the Heat in the Orlando bubble, but immediately improved their roster by trading Eric Bledsoe to the New Orleans Pelicans for star guard Jrue Holiday.
They can’t afford another second-round exit — not if they’re serious about fulfilling Antetokounmpo’s wishes to legitimately compete for a championship during his five-year window. By trading Bledsoe (and nearly acquiring Bogdan Bogdanovic) Bucks management proved it will do whatever it thinks is necessary to get “The Greek Freak” his championship trophy.
For Antetokounmpo, that means this championship-angling, star-powered Nets team might as well be Public Enemy No.1 — and if the Nets try to build a wall to stop him, the league MVP will attempt to bum rush right through it.