Bucks Sign “Greek Freak” to Supermax Deal

The Milwaukee Bucks and forward Giannis Antetokounmpo have agreed to a five-year contract extension, the largest contract in NBA history.

Antetokounmpo has agreed to a new Supermax deal and will get paid $228 million over the next five seasons.

The deal does include an opt-out after the fourth year, but Antetokounmpo sounds confident that he wishes to remain in Milwaukee. The “Greek Freak” could have signed a four-year, $145 million deal with another team but decided to stay with the team that drafted him.

If a deal was not reached, Antetokounmpo would have been an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2020-21 season. The Greek Freak would have been the best player to hit the free-agent market since Kevin Durant in 2016.

The Bucks selected the forward with the 15th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, and the product from Greece averaged just 6.8 points per game as a rookie. In his third year, his scoring average went all the way up to 16.9 points per game, earning him the Most Improved Player Award that season.

Antetokounmpo became the third-youngest player in NBA history to win back-to-back NBA MVP Awards at the conclusion of the 2019-20 season. He also became just the third player in league history to win the MVP Award and Defensive Player of the Year Award in the same season.

The Bucks have had the best regular-season record in the NBA during the last two seasons but have yet to reach the NBA Finals. Antetokounmpo made it clear that his goal is to win an NBA Championship, and he believes that staying in Milwaukee gives him the best chance to accomplish that. When checking out the odds, DraftKings sportsbook have been best priced so far.

Reaching the Eastern Conference finals is the first step for the Bucks, and it has happened just once in the seven-year career for Antetokounmpo. Milwaukee hasn’t reached the NBA Finals since 1974 when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar led the team.

Several franchises were hoping that Antetokounmpo would reach free agency, and many teams have been building their teams around that possibility. Now that the Bucks have locked up Antetokounmpo, the team will work to building around its superstar.

Doncic MVP Favorite

If Antetokounmpo is going to win his third straight NBA MVP Award, he is going to have to do it as an underdog. Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic is now the consensus favorite to win the NBA MVP Award at sportsbooks in the United States.

Doncic and Antetokounmpo both opened up as +550 co-favorites to win the award, but Doncic was attracting the most betting action. Now, Doncic has odds set at +400 to win the MVP Award, while the “Greek Freak” now has odds set at +450.

There have been just three players in NBA history that have won three straight MVP Awards, and it hasn’t happened since Larry Bird accomplished the feat in 1984-1986. Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain both accomplished the feat as well, but that happened back in the 1960s.

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