Trading For Damian Lillard Is Already Paying Off After Giannis Agrees To A 3 Year/186M Extension To Stay In Milwaukee

John Fisher. Getty Images.

And that my friends, is why the Bucks traded for Damian Lillard.

In late August, Giannis put the basketball world and his current team on notice when he publicly declared that it was no lock he extended and stayed in Milwaukee. About 3 weeks later he doubled down on that notion, stressing that he would leave MIL if he felt there was a better shot at him winning a ring. That was on September 13th. 

Two weeks later, this happened

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When Giannis made his first comments in late August, to most who have paid attention to his career it was pretty obvious what he was doing. It was the exact same pressure play he put on the franchise back in 2019, which ultimately led to the Bucks forking over a ton of assets for Jrue Holiday. That proved to be a pretty good decision seeing as he helped them win a title.

Fast forward to 2023, and that's basically what this "threat" was, and guess what? It worked! The Bucks pounced and paid the hefty price it took to bring Dame to the Bucks. Giannis wanted to see the front office and team committed to winning, and well I'm not sure there is more of a win now move you could possibly make outside of what took place in PHX. So now that the Bucks did their part, now it was time for Giannis to do his, hench this extension. 

This new deal now keeps Giannis in MIL in theory through the entire Lillard contract (he has a player option in 2026-27 for $63M), and guess what will happen in the summer of 2027? Giannis will once again put pressure on the Bucks to make a move by saying he may not stay, they'll do something to stay in contention and then he's re-sign. When a player is of this caliber you certainly don't fuck around and dare him to actually leave, and it's nice to see Giannis back up his word. He said as long as the Bucks did their part that he would do his, and I guess a cool $186M sure doesn't hurt either.

I also think this is big for that entire franchise because now if the Bucks go on any sort of skid during the year as everyone gets familiar with one another, the team won't have to deal with the whole

"What does this mean for Giannis' future?"

thing. The Bucks killed that before it even got going, which should only help during the year. They locked in Middleton/Lopez this summer, Dame still has 2+1 after this season on his deal, and now Giannis is locked up through 2027-28. All that's left is for them to make it work on the court and get back to contending for titles, and they certainly have the talent to do just that.

All eyes now probably turn to guys like Joel Embiid and KAT as the next major stars to hit the market, and you can through Paul George/Kawhi in there as well if they also don't reach extensions by 11:59pm tonight.