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Milwaukee Bucks already looking ahead to the future
The Milwaukee Bucks are poised for another title run during the 2023-2024 season after retaining key players such as Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, and Jae Crowder, along with acquiring solid vets in Robin Lopez and Malik Beasley. As primed as the team is to dominate on the court now, it appears the franchise’s decision-makers led by general manager Jon Horst are also looking for flexibility in the future.
Contract situations
A look at the Bucks’ contracts uncovers that Crowder, Lopez, and Beasley are on one-year deals. In addition, the deals for Pat Connaughton, Bobby Portis, Middleton, and Lopez are all aligned with that of superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, which means the core of this squad can all become unrestricted free agents after the 2024-2025 season. This gives the Bucks some flexibility with their roster, especially if they want to sustain the success they’ve had over the last few years.
“There is, without a doubt, an intentionality to try make sure that we maximize where we’re at right now with this team and always having an eye toward the future to try to figure out what the next version of this team looks like,” Horst said.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s major changes to the roster or there is or there isn’t, it just means that we gotta have an eye toward that and continue to look at how we’re going to build this two, three, four, five years down the road because the whole goal has always been to sustain our success over a long period of time.”
Giannis is eligible for an extension
Another curious wrinkle is Giannis’ contract situation. The “Greek Freak” is eligible to sign another maximum extension before the season tips off. However, if he does so, it would be historic, as no player of his age with two seasons left on his contract has ever done so. ESPN’s Bobby Marks—a noted expert on the NBA’s salary cap—isn’t at all concerned for the Bucks.
“If Giannis had two years left and he was about to become a free agent and he didn’t sign an extension, then I’d be like well, I would be a little more concerned there. It doesn’t really concern me as much because he’s got length on this contract. I think we just talk about it because now there’s a window for him to go out there and do that,” Marks commented.
