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Intrigue in the NBA: three champion teams lick each other to stay with MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo

For the general public, your stocks may have dropped a bit in the last year and coins. Two NBA playoffs like MVP who left without pain or glory and, in the middle, a basketball World Cup in which made toad and the one who left between complaints. That doesn’t mean he’s a beast, a top 5 (top 3?) Player in the league. Giannis Antetokounmpo is nearing the end of his contract with the Milwaukee Bucks and sets the stage: Can you change teams? The intrigue grows.

The Greek, on vacation in his country, has a contract until 2021; that is, for one more season. However, with players of his caliber you have to secure the hare Before any surprises come

The twice Most valuable Player reigning has the possibility to sign an extension of your contract with the so-called “super max”, a figure that qualifies after meeting certain requirements and that allows the current team of a player to offer five more years of bond, in exchange for a millionaire that no other franchise can legally offer.

However, that tool that would benefit Milwaukee is on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It happens that the league must negotiate with the players’ union the new Collective Bargaining Agreement and, due to the losses suffered due to the stoppage and to finish the championship in a bubble without an audience, the salary limits most likely will not rise as expected.

This would imply that of approximately 250 million for five seasons, the offer could suffer a “loss” of between 20 and 30 million And it could undoubtedly cause Antetokounmpo to delay his renewal and leave it until next year, when he becomes a free agent, to see if the salary cap will then increase. And there will be a battery of teams waiting hungry, a la Isidoro Gómez waiting for his plate of food in “The secret of their eyes.”

There are already reports that give an account of the franchises interested in seducing the forward. According The AthleticOne of them is Miami Heat, recent runner-up and the team that precisely eliminated Giannis and the Bucks from the East playoffs.

Even the franchise headed by Pat Riley could delay the renewal of one of its figures, Bam adebayo, in order to expand its economic capacity.

Crossing to the other coast, the journalist from ESPN Brian Windhorst assured that the Dallas Mavericks will also be among the first interested in adding the Greek.

The Texas franchise is being built little by little with the intention of being a contender for the title: in 2018 he chose in the draft Luka Doncic and last year he added Kristaps Porzingis. In this last season they got into the playoffs and won two games against the Los Angeles Clippers candidates.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, to receive the 2019 MVP. Photo AP

Now they would avoid adding a third figure in this break, with the intention of waiting and hiring Antetokounmpo to complete a trio of european superstars.

All this scenario of uncertainty also raises a logical question: Would Milwaukee dare to play with Antetokounmpo without signing, knowing that next year he could go “for free”? Could it be possible that they opened the door to a handover, before resigning themselves to the potential catastrophe of lose it without receiving anything in return?

If that were to happen, Ramona Shelburne (ESPN) said there would be no team better positioned than the Golden State Warriors to give the Bucks a compelling offer. And it is not very wrong.


Giannis Antetokounmpo, against Miami. Will he play “The Great Kevin Durant” and join the team that beat him? AFP photo

The Warriors have nothing less than the second pick of the next draft and other “pick“from the first round of 2021, which they traded with Minnesota when they gave the Wolves a D’Angelo Russell.

The value of those selections, plus one or more players of weight (the recently incorporated Andrew Wiggins? ¿Klay Thompson The Draymond Green?), undoubtedly could contribute to the cause of the San Francisco Bay, whose figure -Stephen Curry- also has a great relationship with Antetokounmpo.

Anyway, the ball is still in Milwaukee’s hands. After being eliminated and ending the season, the player left a tweet thanking the fans and saying: “I can’t stand it until next season!”

Giannis Antetokounmpo and Stephen Curry have already played together in the All Star. AFP Photo

Giannis Antetokounmpo and Stephen Curry have already played together in the All Star. AFP Photo

Days before, even just after the defeat in the conference semifinals with the Heat, Antetokounmpo told Yahoo when asked if he would leave: “It will not happen. Some see a wall and go to another direction. To me I like to go through them. We just have to improve individually and collectively. “

Although at other times, Giannis had also been clear about what he wanted to happen to play his entire career with the Bucks: sustain a competitive team.

So much will depend on how the franchise moves to reinforce a team that paraded in the regular phase, but did not show the Greek’s companions with enough level and regularity to prevail at the moment of truth.

HS

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