The Bucks Immediately Respond To Giannis' Threat Of Potentially Leaving By Signing Another One Of His Brothers To The Roster

Jesse D. Garrabrant. Getty Images.

About a week ago, Giannis strategically planted the seed that if the Bucks don't remain serious about contending for a title and really going after it at all costs, he was perfectly fine finding another place of employment. There was no guarantee he would be a Buck for life if he felt like the team was rebuilding or didn't have the singular focus of bringing in another title. It was a bit of a shockwave, not all that different from what he said in 2019 before the Jrue Holiday trade happened, and as a result everyone since has been debating if he's going to be a Laker or a Knick. 

Well we now have the Bucks' first move in an attempt to prevent that from ever happening

What a move. They already had one Antetokounmpo brother on the sidelines to be Giannis' cheerleader and that seemed to make him happy, so naturally the next logical move is to add the other brother now that Giannis might be getting a little antsy. I'm sure some out there are going to clown this move and honestly giving up two guaranteed spots to two guys who maybe aren't NBA caliber players on a team that is in WIN NOW mode and full of aging players is certainly a little risky, but it's also smart from the standpoint that the Bucks need to do literally everything they can to keep Giannis on their team. If that means giving his brothers a job? No problem. That is the easiest decision they will ever make as a franchise.

When you're talking about end of bench players anyways, it's not as if those are make-or-break roster spots. No team out there is bringing in a 14th or 15th man that is drastically going to change anything about their season. You may as well give that spot to a guy who you know is going to make your franchise player happy and not want to leave. It's also a bit of a leverage play by the Bucks too. If Giannis wants his brothers to stay in the NBA, that's probably only going to happen in MIL unless any potential team that brings Giannis on in free agency is also willing to take his brothers as a packaged deal. That would be very funny. 

The more you think about it, Giannis might be the best brother of all time. He's made sure to have Thanasis on the roster with him and now in an effort to get his other brother some NBA money he decides to drop that NYT article. I can't hate on that. Even if I don't really understand how either of these moves helps the Bucks get closer to a title, I don't really care about that. It's not like I'm a Bucks fan so if anything if Giannis is serious about dipping if the team never wins, this might actually end up speeding up that decision. 

I do think we now need to keep this in mind when talking about Giannis' potential free agency. It's not just going to be what teams have the combination of contention + max money to offer, we're also going to have to consider who has 1-2 additional roster spots for Giannis' brothers. The Bucks are certainly not the only team that will cave to every Giannis demand if he ultimately decides to join their team, which seems like a pretty good gig for the brothers. They get to live the NBA life without ever having to really play. That's the dream.