The Milwaukee Bucks can breath a sigh of relief as superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo has committed to signing a five-year contract extension that will keep him in town through the 2025-26 season.
Antetokounmpo announced the decision on social media and terms of the deal have since been relayed through ESPN and The Athletic. Antetokounmpo’s supermax contract will pay him roughly $230 million over the five-year term.
Antetokounmpo will have the ability to opt out in the 2025 offseason if he so chooses.
Antetokounmpo is eligible to sign a supermax contract extension – technically a designated veteran extension – because he met the criteria for doing so.
Players with between seven and 10 years of experience can earn 35% of the salary cap, as opposed to the usual 30%, if they’ve won MVP, been named to an All-NBA team or won Defensive Player of the Year. Antetokounmpo has done all of the above.
The MVP’s decision to remain in Milwaukee completely shifts the narrative that many franchises have clung to heading into the 2021 offseason. Organizations like the Toronto Raptors and Miami Heat had long been linked to a potential pursuit of the veteran and made financial decisions to preserve their flexibility in 2021.
Antetokounmpo’s new extension will pay him drastically more than what he could have earned had he hit free agency in 2021. He wouldn’t have qualified for the 35% max, for one, had he turned down the supermax opportunity. He also wouldn’t have been able to sign for five years, with 8% raises between campaigns. Those numbers max out at four years and 5% for players changing squads.
