Friday, February 10th, 2012 at 9:00 am  |  92 responses

Brandon Jennings Thinking About Playing in a Bigger Market


by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

Brandon Jennings is having the best season of his NBA career, but the 22-year old Milwaukee Bucks point guard is doing it in relative obscurity.

As a result, Jennings says that he’s considering the possibility of signing with a bigger market team once his rookie deal expires.

Jennings claims that he’s very happy with the situation in Milwaukee, but as a business man, he’s gotta seriously evaluate what opportunities exist elsewhere.

Reports ESPN:

“I am going to keep my options open, knowing that the time is coming up,” Jennings said. “I’m doing my homework on big market teams.” Jennings, 22, is in his third NBA season and will be eligible to sign a long-term contract extension with Milwaukee this summer. While he has not established himself as an All-Star or maximum-salaried player, he’s led the Bucks in scoring the past two seasons and currently has them in playoff contention despite the loss of center Andrew Bogut to injury. [...] “I’m not saying I won’t (sign an extension with the Bucks) and I’m not saying I will,” he said. “I’m just keeping my options open.”

“When you start seeing other players like Dwight Howard or CP3, you start thinking,” said Jennings. [...] “It has nothing to do with the city of Milwaukee or anything like that because that’s where I started my career,” Jennings said. “They’ve been nothing but good to me. (Coach) Scott Skiles and (general manager) John Hammond have been good to me. It’s just that I’m understanding the business of basketball now.”

Brandon Jennings didn’t achieve his dream of making the All-Star team this season, which might be part of his anxiety about playing in such a small market.

The new CBA makes it so that Milwaukee can offer Brandon Jennings the most money with his next contract, but they’ll have to work extra-hard to convince him that it’s the place for him to continue with his basketball career.

  • Add a Comment
  • Share
  • RSS

Tags: ,

← Older Comments
  • bull22

    @nbk you and allenp are like clockwork, one appears and the other one is behind him with this tag teaming bs, be a man little boy. its a shame iam not young enough to be in class with you bozos.

  • http://stapledesign.com Spaceship Jay

    Uhh.. I think he was surprised Brandon Jennings said that out loud.

  • http://slamonline.com. datkid

    bull22 it’s a share that your older than them and still in middle school… but whatever.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Do you even attempt to use your brain when you comment? I wasn’t even referring to the comment you posted to Allen. I was talking about your 11:59 Gem which illustrated your completely and utter inability to think rationally about the difference between basketball and football in America. Allen can tell you how stupid you are on his own, I am not getting involved in your stupid little emotional response, like he called you out or something. smh

  • bull22

    @nbk you wish it was emotional. but its okay i must mean some to you two
    clowns, because whenever i appear all three of you appear, LOL. please sirs continue to follow me because thats what you do..

  • bull22

    i found it hilarious how mario punked you good a few days ago and you could not comeup with a response.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    lol you little narcissist. When you appear all three of us appear? If you haven’t realized, I comment on just about every article. None of it has anything to do with you.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Actually Mario told me to comment like a man, while saying it like a child. SO i said maybe practice what you preach, and he never came back. But either way, either ways fine.

  • ab40

    Nick van Exel 2.0 Lakers anyone?

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Lol
    Nah, I used to work for the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Minneapolis Star tribune. That’s in St. Paul, the state capital and Minneapolis, the largest city in the state.
    Now I work for the Times Picayune in New Orleans. You gotta get better at using Google man.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    And, in case Bull22 was confused.
    I thought Brandon Jennings was silly for making his comment out loud. You don’t tell people in the small midwestern city where you work that you’d rather live and work somewhere else. Or that you’re even considering it. They are going to feel insulted particularly since there is already the belief that small market teams can’t keep their stars away from the bright lights and their buddies.
    Of course, this isn’t really true, but hey, most of what people believe isn’t true.

  • shutup

    @Allen did you ever consider NBK’s theory about maybe it wasnt Jennings who said this maybe his agent released it anonymously through Jennings mouth to stir up the trade discussions so he could get more offers?? Other than that obv this was in response to him feeling like he doesnt get enough recognition, evident in his all-star snub if he attributes that to playing in a small market it was an emotional response and yeah maybe he should of kept it to himself but you gotta admire his passion for the game(I’m not saying he shoulda been an all-star but a case can be made)

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    what an idiot.

  • http://facebook.com/tronjohnson Chief

    This reeks of “I want to go home” and play with Kobe/7 footers.

  • bull22

    well knick fans, jeremy lin can take a big step to bigger stages if he can slice up that laker defense, but to the kid’s defense i want to see how he does when amare and carmelo are both back.

  • Jer Dawg

    Lakers haven’t had a true point guard since, well, Nick Van Exel? Or a super skilled one at that. Geez, what is that? Since 1996 or 1997?
    Sedale Threatt was one of the best during those crap years of Lakers.
    thanks for nothing Magic. Set the bar so high everyone else sucked.
    BUT, Come back to Los Angeles, Brandon!! Bring that high-flying Demar DeRozen with you, too. Compton running thangs!

  • http://www.thesmashbrothas.com zen garden

    dude said he business man …then why dont u go crunch some numbers fool an leave the balling for cats who love the game

  • LA Huey

    How is Nick Van Exel anymore of a “true point guard” than Gary Payton?

  • iknowmybasketball

    if toronto was smart, they would pull the trigger and fire options left and right for jennings. in that way, jennings gets to play with his compton buddy demar derozan, which will keep derozan happy to sign as they hopefully can rally and save the drought in toronto. man would that ever be a story!

  • http://twitter.com/KingAkai Alpha-bet

    Who ever agent came up with the term Small Market Team come up with the ultimate cop-out.
    Milwaukee has a bigger city by population than Miami and Atlanta, 2 major free agent attractions.

    San Antonio is the 7th largest city in the country…Memphis is a bigger city than Boston..

    Small Market Team is nice way to say, “I Just don’t like the lame a** city I’m playing in.”

  • BBaller

    Does “understanding the business of BBall now” translate into now i made my millions i can pick and choose. I bet he was pretty happy to go to any NBA team at first…think back to when you were 12 or so Jennings. Millions of people would love to be where you are at, don’t take it for granted.

  • LeBryanNash

    RELAX hes just mad about not making the All Stars this year, chill brooo

  • jpm34

    I agree TOTALLY w Alpha-Bet.

  • http://Slamonline.com nbk

    The market is referring to media. It’s a media market. Not population.

  • bdogg

    yeah brandon…come home to LA..i will be very happy with that!! make it happen!!! number 3 in purple and gold..that will be nice!!

  • http://dodgers.com Joey E.

    i dont want “Mr. 24 shots, 24 points. 17 shots, 17 points”, on my team. we already have kobe. one chucker is enough

  • flipnoyce

    Milwaukee is a boring ass city. I live about 20 minutes from the city and all there is in between are farms. Move here from Boston last year and I am bummed out.It so boring as hell. I don’t blame Jennings from wanting to get out. Milwaukee is not a basketball city. Kids here would rather play football than bball. The only time the city is jumpin is on the fourth of July A.K.A Summer Fest!!! All I can say is wherever you go East or West you’re going to have a hard time making the Allstar. It’s probably the main reason why DWill move out East because he had a hard time making it out west. I bet he won’t even think about this if he has a teammate like Durant because Oklahoma is not that much bigger of a market.

  • sinjun

    surround yourself with some better players in Mil.

  • Shem

    Who would honestly want to play for Milwaukee? Forget how big the market is, Milwaukee is probably the worst city in North America. Move this team. At least small market teams like NJ (Brooklyn), Toronto, Detroit, New Orleans are good cities. Milwaukee is hopeless.

  • Ldub

    ^shoot I would! NBA contract in any team would be OKAY with me! Get your feet wet in the NBA then make moves later….just like BJ is trying to do now. I dont see him playing out his career in a Bucks uni. But then i cant really see him playing anywhere else. Every team has a decent PG (minus the lakers)…but his style is almost perfect for the Bucks, because he has the green light. Anywhere else, he wouldnt really have that. (maybe im just tired and cant think of all the teams and their rosters)? idk

  • http://www.kb24.com The Seed

    Stated all summer Brandon will be an All Star, he got robbed. BOOK IT!!

  • Shem

    I could see Brandon Jennings playing for Toronto or Atlanta, mainly Toronto. He’s mentioned several times how much he loves the city, his childhood bestfriend who he played AAU ball with since the age of 10 plays there and the Raptors would certainly overpay. They have a big market as well so I could see it happening.

  • byebye

    ask your self how many teams in the nba have more than 1 championship la boston chicago minnesota detroit san antonio ny and houston now which of those teams are small markets and which can sustain in the future of the nba minnesota wont we all know that plus back in the old days the players didnt have the power they have now

  • Tim

    Quote: Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith: “It`s easy to score a lot of points on a bad team.”

    Derek Rose shut him straight down last week. He shoots more than Kobe. Mo Williams, Raymond Sessions, and Mike Redd also shot a lot, no winning but huge contracts.

  • http://SLAM FLIGHT 9

    INCONSISTENT IN HIS CAREER… TOO MUCH HYPE.. POOR FG THAN IVERSON!!!!!

  • asylum777

    If Bogut wasn’t constantly going down with injuries, I put my money on it Jennings may just stick around? Bogut would have been there next All Star if he hadn’t had so much bad luck. Two of them would have formed a strong nucleus for the next few years wouldn’t you agree?

  • http://www.facebook.com/joe.l.brewer3 BlackPhantom

    ..yeah i don’t want Jennings I want a PG with a decent passing skills

  • Pingback: Give Me The Rock » Blog Archive » Day 49 of 124: Lin, Love and Ilyasova

  • kev

    One half way decent season does not make you an all-star! It has nothing to do with the market you play in. If you keep shinning people will eventually notice. Jennings obviously has his focus on the wrong things and this cry baby act is no good for the fans of Milwaukee. How about making some noise in the playoffs when the games really count! Shut your mouth about thinking your an all-star and just prove it!

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nAI7ShBQEk&feature=related Teddy-the-Bear

    A Brandon Jennings/Demar DeRozan backcourt in Toronto?? Make it happen, Colangelo!

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nAI7ShBQEk&feature=related Teddy-the-Bear

    And Jennings does have a point… Bogut should have been an All-Star multiple years by now. Maybe it’s a Milwaukee thing.

  • http://www.t-mac.com/tmac/index unf*ckwitable

    Why does every dude have to lay out his future plans in the media. I know they get asked and all that but just say “im keeping my options open”.

← Older Comments
Advertisement