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It is like dominoes. When the first falls, the next pieces fit.
There are many winners in the Greek Freak re-signing with the Milwaukee Bucks. The most obvious would be the Bucks. You can hear the collective sighs of relief all the way here in Manila. The next sound is Milwaukee jubilation. If it weren’t for the pandemic, they might even have held a parade. This is almost on par with winning a title – they have guaranteed containment for the next five years.
On the other hand, if Giannis didn’t sign, it would have been a total disaster. The Bucks were forced to bet on a title, trading future draft picks (a “new normal” in the NBA now) for Jrue Holiday. There were doubts as to whether it was enough movement to win the title, which is the corollary to the bigger question, was it enough to convince Giannis to stay?
The answers were “Probably” and “Yes”. The most important question was answered and now we live with the consequences.
A victory for secrecy
The signals were already there, it’s just not what we wanted to hear. Giannis already said he wanted to be like Kobe, Tim Duncan and Dirk. His ESPN date in July 2019.
“As long as we have the same mindset and the same approach to the game, there is no reason for me to move and not be like Steph [Curry]don’t be like dirk [Nowitzki] or Kobe [Bryant] or Tim Duncan “.
A very specific set of players whose common denominator is that they stayed with their team and won titles with them. Yes, there was a condition for having the “mindset.” I guess for Giannis, Holiday was evidence enough of that.
Maybe Giannis really is built differently: the perfect small market hero, one that you wait generations to draft. Teams like OKC will take a chance, which is why they make so many bets in the draft, while teams like the Lakers are on the prowl.
Side note: not that they totally ignore the draft. The Lakers have written well in the draft and Talen Horton-Tucker is the latest proof of that. A 46th pick that could become a rotation player.
Another 46th pick for the Lakers is now the sixth man and one of the Utah Jazz’s top contributors: our very own Jordan Clarkson. This allowed the Lakers to assemble pieces for the Anthony Davis trade, and they could be assembling pieces for the next disgruntled, sun-hungry superstar.
There were no media leaks, and Giannis was throwing us off with those comments from the super team. But when Bam Adebayo signed his extension followed by Anthony Davis and LeBron James, who saw the Lakers pull out of a peak superstar hunt next year, that should have been confirmation.
Agents and teams knew … the media didn’t. As in the Paul George exchange, they kept us in the dark. Perhaps they have already sealed the cracks, and now the media has to penetrate again.
Big loss for NBA Media
There won’t be a free agent frenzy next summer. Giannis, James and Davis have signed, including Paul George, and Kawhi Leonard most likely will too. He left a starting team to return to Los Angeles. He made a wrong bet with PG, but that won’t be enough to get him out of his new comfort zone again.
It is a loss for the media, as we would not have interesting things to cover in the offseason. There’s the United States team, if the Olympics go forward. God forbid, we would still be covering coronavirus cases.
Is this what the NBA wants? They made these safeguards to ensure players stay with their teams. So far, it worked for Giannis and players like Bradley Beal. Jayson Tatum, Brandon Ingram and Donovan Mitchell have also made sure.
There’s more balance in the league, but probably less excitement in the offseason. It will translate into a better product on the court, but sadly, Milwaukee still has fewer national television games (12) than the Celtics, Warriors, and even the Mavericks and Pelicans (Luka-Zion effect).
If Giannis wasn’t there, it would probably be zero.
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